1. The Alabama Constitution forbids cruel and unusual punishment, even to prisoners.2. Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners GA res. 45/111, annex, 45 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 49A) at 200, UN Doc. A/45/49 (1990) para. 9, states: "Prisoners shall have access to the health services available in the country without discrimination on the grounds of their legal situation."3. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that needless pain is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.4. It is a violation of medical ethics to promote needless pain.5. According to the American Medical Association, Stress is a major contributing factor in heart disease. Stress is a killer.
a. My husband has had three heart attacks since he's been in the prison system in Alabama.One contributing factor was probably because of just being railroaded, and another contributing factor was certainly being consumed by the poisonous vapors from insecticide bombs they set off while he was in lockup (the hole) at Kilby - with grossly insufficient ventilation. He's lucky he lived at all. He was not taken to the hospital until the 2nd heart attack. When he came out of surgery (angiogram for arterial blockage) and was in recovery, the doctor gave explicit orders that he was not to move his leg for 24 hours or he would bleed to death. While he lay on the hospital bed, chained to the bed, all hooked up to electronic monitors and IV's, two guards from a private corporation, hired by DOC, (each one on a different day) pulled out their guns and pointed it at him, threatening to kill him. The first time, relatives happened to be outside the door and went in when they heard the male guard yelling at Patrick. They ran into the room, saw the gun. Their entrance saved his life. On the second day when the guard pulled her gun on him, the electronics he was hooked up to went signaling off the wall! The nurses ran into his room to see the female guard pointing her gun at him. Threatening to escape, she said. Oh yeah, while he was still hooked up to the electronics, the IVs, and chained to the bed after heart surgery. The two guards were dismissed from employment. We filed a civil action on these incidents and the judge ruled the motion frivolous.
b. The surgery is documented and should be in Patrick's prison medical records. If not, the surgery would be in the hospital records.
c. Patrick carries nitroglycerin tables in case of emergency - or he used to, I don't think they allow that at Donaldson.
d. They wake him up at 2:00 a.m. for pill call. He has so much trouble sleeping with all the noise and the bunk conditions, plus the pain of his arthritis (NaphCare, Inc. has refused to renew his prescription of Disalcid for arthritis pain), and he no sooner finally gets to sleep and they wake him up for pill call. At St. Clair he was able to carry his medication on him and take it when needed.
INMATES AGE FASTER http://movementbuilding.org/prisonhealth/elder.html .because of the physical impact of these diseases on the health of individuals and because prison itself has a negative impact on the health and well being of individuals, inmates age faster. A 50 year old inmate has the health status comparable to a never incarcerated individual who is 10 years their senior.
a. My husband is 58 years old. In prisoner years, that's equivalent to 68 years old. He entered the prison system in 1989 on a wrongful conviction. We finally have a qualified team of experts putting their report together as we speak. We could not find any scientists in Alabama who would even look at this case. It is because they have a policy not to look at any Alabama post-conviction cases unless ordered by the court to do so. So we found a rather renowned forensic scientist in Washington and a highly qualified pathologist in North Carolina. The results of their findings are remarkably accurate - and every test can be duplicated by Alabama all day long and they will get the same results: Patrick was not the shooter.
b. Should he die in prison for a crime he never committed? I know you are not responsible for that. It is your job to uphold the court's orders to keep Patrick Swiney behind bars until the court orders him released. I am only giving you this background information for informational purposes. I know there's nothing you can do about Patrick's wrongful conviction.
c. However, you can do something about his physical care. Patrick is not a criminal. He is a former police officer in high standing in the state of Alabama for 13 years. His record of service will attest to this. So will his former colleagues from Captain down to street patrol. Patrick is paying a high price for being an honest cop. The highest price - his life. They could have given him the death penalty, but then his case would be scrutinized, and they had to avoid such scrutiny as a death row inmate receives. He would be out by now and the real killers would be taking his place behind bars. But if he dies behind bars before we can get this scientific information to the courts and published, who will be responsible for that? His present keeper, right or wrong - his jailer.
d. Commissioner Campbell, have you ever known what it feels like to be a warden and know that one of the inmates really is innocent? What if I am flat lying to you, making up this wild story? Would you still not be obliged to place an old and infirmed inmate in the Old Folks Dorm? Would you feel right keeping an old and infirmed inmate in a 3-bunked one-man cell? I don't believe you would feel right about that. I believe it's a felony to lie to a Commissioner - actually, I believe it's a felony to lie to anyone, but that's just me.
e. If you cannot do this on a moral basis, then perhaps you can do this on a Legal basis. With all the information I have given you in this letter about the health condition and age of my husband, no doubt - if God forbid he dies, and the evidence shows that he suffered from wanton medical abuse, that would indeed be a problem for the department of corrections and the state of Alabama.
INMATE WAS ALREADY PROMISED TWICE - When Patrick was transferred from St. Clair to Donaldson on October 10, 2002 he was told that he would go to the Old Folks Dorm. Two weeks later, they transferred another inmate over there, but not Patrick. They said he had to wait for another bed - yet there were already some young guys in there who weren't old and infirmed. In December, Patrick's mother and I went on a vigil phone-a-thon and we were promised that Patrick would be transferred the next day. Lt. Joe Tew told Patrick he was going to be transferred for sure the next day. Well, the next day the prison authorities in their wisdom decided to place the guys in Patrick's cell block under quarantine so no one was going anywhere!
49 POSITIVE TB CASES - All of the inmates in Patrick's cell block were tested for tuberculosis. 49 inmates tested positive. TB is a contagious air-borne disease. Today there is effective treatment. The treatment takes 6 months and the tuberculosis is cured. People don't have to die from TB any more, like they did when I was a child.
a. The Alabama Health Department told me they knew about the 49 cases and had everything under control.
b. Later the Alabama Health Department told you me that it was okay for the TB-positive inmates to serve the food because TB was an air-borne disease.
c. Epidemiology of Infectious Disease - ... most commonly involved common vehicles are food and water ... Skin squames can also serve as air-borne vehicles of ... result in droplet nuclei and tuberculosis is an example of disease spread from man to man by this means. http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/MBChB/10a.html
d. My husband, the heart patient, tested TB-negative.
Respectfully,