PRESS ADVISORY re another death in a prison

Press Advisory

At 4 pm today I located the grieving family of Bruce Frausto who died at Pleasant Valley Prison on November ll.

Had a prisoner not tipped me off to it, this tragedy would have gone completely under the radar of the media.

I am doing my best to get his family members to the Press Conference tomorrow morning. They are in San Diego - he has four children and a large family. His 80 year old mother is in bad shape from the grief of being LIED TO by the prison as the family struggled to get him help, even offering to pay for a doctor out of their own funds.

Still he was ignored. Oh my God this man was tortured. I had that feeling when I read the prisoners letter but the minute his sister got on the phone with me her poor heart released the magnitude of this horrible tragedy. The inmates who all watched this, and there were many who wrote to her, are no doubt also traumatized.

Does anyone have a ride or rides from San Diego so that this family can be heard at our protest tomorrow? Can you spare money to get one or several of them up here?

Their family has a history of colon cancer and even after telling the prison staff about it when the inmates reported he was being medically neglected to his family in October, Bruce Frausto was told that he had hemorrhoids and given only that type of medicine.

He died an excruciating death. For ten days at Pleasant Valley Prison he did not move from his bunk and therefore did not get fed according the inmate reports given to this family.

There has been only one doctor.

This was torture. This was an execution.

I need help getting this family to the event tomorrow. Rides, money, let's not let CDC get away with hiding this, it almost fell through the cracks.

No wonder they wanted Eric transferred out of there in a hot minute. I believe God was on my side with that one.

Bruce Frausto kept a diary but Lt. Spearman, a known liar thinks that it's lost. He told the family that since he didn't give permission to anyone to get medical records that they won't be able to get them.

With all the witnesses the history of colon cancer in the family, the many phone calls and visits, I believe we have the basis for another lawsuit. Whether or not we have an attorney is another question. Bruce Frausto was only 53 years old and they just buried him last week after a ceremony in San Diego.

We must stop these unnecessary deaths and that is one of the big reasons why we are picketing tomorrow.


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A rideshare is needed from Reno/Tahoe Nevada area. Is anyone coming from there? We must bring this to the fore because it is ever so much more important than doctor raises!!!!!!!!!!!

B. Cayenne Bird

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There will be no rain according to the weatherman except for morning showers, it is supposed to clear up. But bring an umbrella and leave in plenty of time, try to be there at 10 so we can be congregated for the media who will not come for a small crowd. This is real life folks. If you don't show a voting group exists that is impressively large nobody is going to care about prisoners. Make sure you come, bring your children, they don't have to wear black, but try to wear black so that we stand out from people on the sidewalk.

Remember the new law that if windshield wipers are on your lights must also be on.

We will have some posterboard and markers at the event, paint sticks make good holders or just come and bring your holder.

This part is very important. We want to make sure that we are only one person deep on the sidewalk so that we are never blocking it. The sidewalk belongs to us as taxpayers. Stay off the State Property.

Bring kids, I love kids, we have never had any violence because we act mature and let our numbers speak for themselves. The families who are devastated include kids. Bring them. Pack an umbrella just in case.

16th St. and "S" Street in Sacramento is not that far from the Capitol but it isn't walking distance - 1515 "S" Street, it has a few stories and many CDC offices in it.

Yesterday the Barrio Defense people went to the meeting over changes in gang affiliation and SHU rules but only two of them testified I believe. However they went down to Hickman's office and while they didn't get any press coverage, they certainly were seen by CDC. They had some Aztec rituals and exorcized the area for us Indian Style. So Hickman is going to get a double hit. Remember though that it's about the press coverage and it isn't important to anyone until of us related to prisoners make it important by the number who show up. This is basic organizing.

This is how the death penalty people got 392 stories in one day - 1000 people showed up to protest. That is the magic of success but it's up to you to create it. If you shine it, everyone is blocked and dragged down. So rise to the occasion.

The 100 Corcoran prisoners are hunger striking and that prison is six doctors short. Prisoners should never be put in that dangerous position to fight for themselves especially when the journalists in the UNION have made it clear they aren't going to cover that type of suicidal behavior. The numbers of families who show up are what determines the press coverage. Riots, hunger strikers, my God we're about to see Attica and the prisoner deaths are being successfully covered up if you don't report to them to me or any journalist

I know it's difficult to make the trip, when I lived in Orange County I would hitchhike with truck drivers to get to the legislative hearings with almost no money in my pockets. Me! A grandmother with arthritis in her back! Tomorrow will physically wipe me out for two days afterward but we have to do it to save lives. So don't give me any excuses about not being able to get here.

Alexis has broken her foot and she is coming on crutches to stand out there crippled. Does anyone have a wheelchair lying around the house for her? She didn't ask for it but I think anyone that noble and dedicated deserves a wheelchair.

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Make your life easy with a fannie pack, put a sandwich and a bottle of water in it. Wear some sunblock if you have it. Forecast 60 degrees, dress warmly though, it is easier to take off clothes and than to get warm without coats and sweaters. Be smart.

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Some sign ideas

Stop Executing Prisoners by Medical Neglect

Any sentence to prison is a death sentence

Prisoners being murdered by the State

Prisoners are people - not Livestock

Prisons aren't hospitals - Prison goons aren't nurses

Shame on you Rod Hickman

ok? Now you take it from here as I am hustling to get
the details coordinated.

No doubt I will be in and out until midnight tonight. The prisoners are counting on you and I am counting you to be there. This is vitally important to everyone's future.

Everybody who didn't show up, send someone to stand for their family, send money, write letters to editors please never contact me again by phone or email unless I have you on some big special project. The list sitters are the enemies of us all and when it's a life and death situation withholding support and participation is intolerable behavior. I am really exhausted of complainers who don't help when the remedy to help your loved one is presented. Other hardworking UNION members just want to beat the hell out of you for withholding necessary support whereas I do not ever want to hear from you again. That's where we are tonight, tired and sick and tired of people who want help but never give us the tools necessary.

I cannot tell at this moment how successful it is going to be. I don't want an email box full of "my uncle died" tomorrow. Let's grab our protest signs and let them see we're real people who aren't putting up with oppression and medical neglect anymore.

Or hush up complaining. Your choice. You can't not come or not contribute and continue writing and calling me for help, got that? This is your help that I've been delivering for two months now working to make this great and the press is all eyes and ears provided you show the crowd. I am trusting in you. Be there

Cayenne


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Exciting news.

Attorney Marilee Marshall of Los Angeles has won an evidentiary hearing on Eric's criminal case. This is a small hearing before a retrial. After the recantation three years ago, the court finally sees his case.

And who made this possible? Eric filed his own habeas, then when he got a response for more information, Nora hired Marilee Marshall to do the response. If we get a retrial it will go to a public defender though as the cost for a private attorney is out of our reach. But Eric is a fierce fighter for himself and played a very big role in the entire process here. That $39 a month for the Blackstone paralegal course has been well worth it.

She scored and now it goes back to the trial court. All the records are being shipped there. Twelve years of his life, my life and his son's life, his wife's life, my family's life gone. It's still a powder keg but I am really excited about what has taken place here.

I would like to publicly congratulation Attorney Marshall on this WIN. Next step is an evidentiary hearing in Sacramento. I will keep you up to date so you can see how this process works.

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http://www.thereporter.com

12/01/2005 08:11:40 AM
Just that - a start
Two new hires not enough for prison reform

With the appointment of two health-care executives this week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is once again trying to plug holes in the dam of despair that is the California Department of Corrections.


Not that we're complaining. Any move toward rehabilitation is welcome. But by no means do we believe that the appointment of Dr. Peter Farber-Szekrenyi as chief of the Division of Correctional Health Care Services and Darc Keller, as the new assistant secretary for health-care policy will solve CDC's monumental problems.


We hope they will be part of the solution, but we understand that the solution has to be so much more than a $323,100-a-year tag-team effort.
After all, it has taken years for California's correctional system to become so inept, so mismanaged and so disenfranchised. It will take years of focus, determination, oversight and fresh blood to turn it around.
That is why we eager for federal court Judge Thelton Henderson of San Francisco to appoint a federal receiver to take over the beleaguered prison system.


After months of testimony, the judge determined earlier this year that only something as dramatic as a federal receiver would make any impact on a system so tragically incompetent.


With two prisons in Vacaville, we also watch with interest as the judge considers the need to raise pay in order to retain prison health-care workers.


A court-appointed attorney has recommended that doctors' pay be increased to $154,000 a year and nurses pay increase 18 percent, to $84,000 starting today.


Sure, it sounds like a lot of money, but when you consider the clientele these professionals serve, they are worth every penny.


And the fact is it is getting harder and harder to retain personnel at any price. Right now the health unit that oversees 250,000 inmates has 467 vacant nursing positions and 103 vacant doctor jobs.


We already know from court testimony that the care is so inadequate that inmates were dying at a rate of nearly one per day this spring.
A life sentence should not be a death sentence.


Not only that, but the doctors and nurses - hard-working members of our community - need to work in a safe environment. And that cannot happen when staffing is so low and others have to work extra hours to cover shifts.


The judge hasn't ruled on the pay proposal yet. While the state certainly has its share of financial burdens, it cannot afford to continue to cut corners in its prison system. The lawsuits alone will supersede the additional cost of personnel.


As we said, the hiring of two new health-care officials may be a start, but it is only that: a start. We have years of reform ahead and only continued diligence and determination will help California clean up this mess.
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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/13305704.htm
Dec. 01, 2005
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Judges orders higher wages for prison doctors, nurses

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge here Thursday ordered the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to increase wages of doctors and nurses to combat the agency's shoddy health care network and staff vacancies.



The agency, which oversees 250,000 inmates, has 476 vacant nursing positions and 103 vacant physician positions. A court-appointed attorney who is analyzing the agency recommended that doctors' pay be increased 10 percent to about $154,000 a year, and nurses' pay increase 18 percent to about $84,000 a year.


U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, ruling in a lawsuit by inmates to beef up medical care, agreed in a 15-page opinion late Thursday.
Henderson also is searching for a receiver to take over the prison health system, which he declared was at a "crisis" level from years of mismanagement. He also ordered the department to quickly fill the vacancies.


In a recent report, the judge said long-standing systematic failures cause an inmate to die needlessly in state prison every six or seven days. That pace quickened to almost one per day last spring.
The agency did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The case is Plata v. Schwarzenegger, 01-1351.

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Prosecution of callous guards and wardens for exhibiting deliberate indifference would be a good place to begin reform. I really think that raising wages is a minor part of the problem.

Also, holding the Inspector General's office and the ombudsmen responsible for deliberate indifference by firing them would be better than their wishy-washy performance.

Training the guards in how to recognize and treat mental illness or getting them out of the prisons immediately would be a good move.

Those patients who are high risk should be compassionately released right NOW. This is a crisis. The ones who are most likely to die are easily identified. It would be to everyone's benefit to parole these people to their families no matter what their crime.

Stop the conveyor belt laws. The glass was full five years ago and it has been overflowing ever since. It is the overcrowding causing the crisis coupled with the ignorance and callousness of the wardens and guards

Allow media access immediately so that the deaths cannot be covered up.

I will write down more solutions in my press release later tonight.

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B. Cayenne Bird
UNION
P.O. Box 340371
Sacramento, Ca. 95834

http://www.1union1.com/Join_the_UNION.html