A call for reason and fairness in the case of
U.S. vs. Walter Anderson

by Walt Anderson

June 23rd, 2006

During the 16 months I've spent at the Washington, DC Department of Corrections awaiting trial related to Federal tax charges, I talked to many people who have lived behind bars for most of their lives. These individuals are second or third generations of “prison” families with parents, uncles, cousins, brothers or sisters all having been incarcerated for some portion of their lives.  They have not only spent time in the Washington, DC jail but also in local, state and Federal institutions. This treatise is based on my personal observations and information gleaned from conversations with inmates related most often to housing conditions, jail personnel, food, recreation, medical care, libraries, Commissary, services and amenities. 

I sometimes found disagreement on small points related to the different facilities they had experienced, however, one point that had universal and overwhelming agreement was that the DC Jail, officially known as the Central Detention Facility, is one of the worst of all the facilities they had experienced.  Below are the various aspects of jail life that were a part of these discussions:

Housing conditions – The DC facility was designed and built to hold less than 1500 inmates. During the past decade, and presently, it is not uncommon for 2500 inmates to be housed here for long periods of time.  To accommodate this increase in population two people are now occupying space that was built for one person. The only change made to the facility was adding bunk beds on the top of existing beds.  No other facilities were improved or added.  Crowding has had an impact on almost all other services and has inaugurated changes such as reduced time inmates spend in the day room, cancellation of outdoor exercise, warm water instead of hot water in the showers and many daily practices.  The building itself is old and crumbling. Dented walls, scarred floors and corners that have not been cleaned in years are the norm.  A community of rats make their homes in the various units housing inmates. 

Jail personnel – Hiring practices appear to be weighted toward individuals who enjoy controlling inmates by using intimidation, sarcasm, bullying, yelling, and depriving inmates of any or all requests. Although my parents and other visitors have usually been well treated by friendly, helpful personnel when they enter the facility and visiting areas, they have also been yelled at in menacing ways as if they were noncompliant.

Many employees have managed to avoid any real changes in policy or procedures despite court orders, new top management, training and other efforts at reform. Experienced workers run the jail for their convenience and make certain that nothing occurs to increase or change their already light workload.  Inmates and visitors have witnessed the “training of willing to work new hires.”   In one instance a new staff member searched and moved a group of visitors to the visiting area exactly on time.  When they arrived at the visitor room, workers inside the room refused to open the locked door and sent her and the group back to the waiting room where visitors watched the new employee do clerical work for 20 minutes; she was then invited to move the visitors upstairs again. 

Some personnel are abusive, whereas, others can not be bothered and just do not communicate with the inmates in any way.  These practices have contributed to inmates not being able to get medical attention when needed and even to deaths.  It has also discouraged workers who take pride in their work because they often have to do the work that others are shirking.

Recreation – Each living unit for 160 inmates has an area 20 by 20 feet, which includes a basketball net. This allows only 5 or 6 inmates to comfortably play at one time.  Since no other facilities exist, most inmates do not have any way of exercising.  Inmates are supposed to be allowed some outdoor recreation on a regular schedule.  This seldom occurs since the staff for this activity is not available due to people not coming to work on a regular basis, or any excuse that will keep prisoners indoors.   During the months I have been at the DC Jail I have not been outside even once.  Other inmates have had the same lack of this privilege.

Other programs – Education courses, degree programs, art and/or hobby workshops, music activities, self-improvement study groups, vocational training, and various therapy groups are provided by some prisons.  None of these are available at the DC Jail.  By listening to inmates discuss their dubious, often self-taught vocations, it is evident that "training" is indeed going on in the Jail; however, it is training that will serve to increase recidivism rather than reduce it.  A few inmates have experienced programs where time served can be reduced by taking and passing courses. They feel time is wasted in the DC Jail.  This lack is a missed opportunity for many.  Here, there would be no distractions and study time would always be available.  Accomplishment through education and learning of various types would help people prepare for a respectable vocation and develop self esteem that would improve the community as a whole.

Law Libraries – Prisons are required to maintain complete and up-to-date legal reference materials.   The DC Jail law library is incomplete and needs updating.  Due to staff error/problems inmates are often not given the minimum time of one hour per week to visit this library.  Most prisons have a lending library offering a variety of reading material that inmates can borrow and read at their leisure.  DC Jail has no lending library.  Inmates share books sent in by family and friends.  Some families spend approximately $250.00 a month for paperback books so their inmate can have a way of passing time.  Books have to be sent from a book store or publisher and shipping costs start at $5.00.  Keeping inmates supplied with books is a major hardship for some families.  For inmates who have no one interested in their welfare, networking with other prisoners becomes their only form of recreation.  Many inmates in this population could benefit from reading and discussing books if they were made more available.  There are also persons who would be capable of “staffing” the library.  Offers made by inmates to do this have been rejected. 

Dietary – Quality of the food is one of the most important factors mentioned by inmates in rating various correctional facilities.  In DC Jail inmates have found food quality, variety, freshness and sanitary conditions all very poor.  Menus are repeated each week with the same food served each Monday, Tuesday and etc. No changes are made for holidays.  The scheduled time for meals requires that Inmates awaken at 3:30 AM for breakfast; lunch is served at 11:00 AM and dinner is served at 6:00 PM.  Even those who prefer to skip breakfast are awakened each night. A heart healthy diet is given to those who are thought to need it, but it is not significantly different from the regular diet.  Food that does not have to be cooked such as bread, lettuce and deli meats are served often.  Occasional fruits such as apples are given; however, inmates say they are not fresh. No type of dessert is ever served.   Most inmates suffer from the inadequate diet and lack of exercise.  Inmates who have requested permission to take vitamins have been denied.

Mail Service – Communication with the outside world, keeping in contact with family and friends, is very important for inmates . Each unit has a mail box for outgoing mail.  Mail sent out of the facility is sealed and stamped by inmates and is rarely screened.  For some reason  letters sent to and from local addresses often take from one to two weeks to be delivered, whereas, normal delivery time is one to two days.  Incoming mail is delivered to inmates five days per week, Monday through Friday.  No reason seems to exist for these delays other than the complete lack of care and attention by the staff.  Inmates feel no security rationale exists for these delays and that transit time for these letters could be shortened by arranging for Postal Service pickup, as is done for other businesses.

Incoming mail is opened and searched for contraband.  For most letters this is an easy process.  Although there is not much space to hide contraband in a piece of paper inside a small envelope this searching process takes one to two weeks to complete.  Mail containing time-sensitive legal documents sent by lawyers is supposed to be given priority but is delayed as well.  When the commissary has no envelopes getting mail out can be difficult and inmates use whatever they can find that can pass for a postcard; a torn-off paperback book cover is a preferred substitute.

Phone access/service – There are twelve telephones installed on the wall in the unit I am housed in.  On the best of days five work.  Other units have fewer working phones. Even the phones that work have a lot of problems that make them difficult to use.  Broken parts, low volume, distortion, static, disconnections and lack of maintenance is common.  The cost of a local call in the Washington, DC area is around 12 cents for unlimited talk time.  Inmates must dial direct or bill the calls to their commissary accounts.  They pay from $1.23 to $1.75 for a 15 minute call in the DC local calling area.   At this rate one call a day for a month would be cost from $36 to $52.  Many families in the DC area have difficulty in paying for these extras.   Some inmates say they limit calls home to once a week or once every several weeks.  When they are cut off it is a major disappointment.

The phones are located next to the basketball court in the main room of the unit where the noise is constant.  At times it is impossible to hear anything on the phone due to the shouting and loud talking.  Inmates feel this placement of the phones was a deliberate act to make it difficult for them to stay in touch with their families.

Clothing – The standard "orange jumpsuit" is provided to all inmates in the facility. Inmates say in other facilities they were given new clothing, whereas, in the DC Jail they often receive items worn by previous inmates. Orange jumpsuits are sometimes torn, or stained and once white under garments are often gray, tattered, and shapeless.  No outer jackets are provided when inmates leave the facility for court dates.  Even in freezing temperatures they are herded from their cells in short sleeved cotton underclothes under thin rayon, short sleeved jumpsuit, and then spend many hours waiting in drafty areas.  Clothing does not change with the seasons.  Most inmates would like appropriate clothing, and most often mentioned a jacket that can be worn during cold weather.  Some inmates lucky enough to have families who can pay for a daily newspaper have resorted to “wearing” layers of the paper under jumpsuits, and placing them under the thin mattresses to keep warm.

Bedding – Each inmate is issued two well-used sheets and an old blanket.  No pillows are available.  Some detention facilities provide pillows and bedding that is not torn or shredded.  When asked why a pillow was not available a staff member replied sarcastically, “Because you’re in jail.”  During the winter when the heating system broke down and temperatures inside parts of the Jail plummeted, inmates who requested extra blankets were never given any.  Many of them wore the one blanket they had all day.

Commissary – Inmates are allowed to order toiletries and other necessities such as stamps, writing paper and snack items.  In most facilities the selection is extensive and orders are filled promptly.  In the DC Jail only a very small selection of items is available.  Most of this limited selection is out of stock and remains unavailable for weeks at a time.  Some items are limited in the number an inmate can have.  For example 20 stamps are allowed but only one envelope. Orders are usually delivered in a week or two, however, the staff often “forgets” to forward orders placed by inmates and therefore they are never delivered. 

Medical Care – The DC Jail does not allow options for medical treatment of inmates.  The DC Department of Corrections has contracted with a private, outside, company to provide medical care to the population under their jurisdiction.  Unfortunately, I have experienced their “services” first hand.  For more than two months I had a very serious upper respiratory infection.  The treatment for this would have been proper antibiotics.  For two months I tried to get treatment as the infection worsened and became more painful.  My requests for treatment were ignored and/or denied.  Finally, my family called from the outside and threatened legal action and media exposure and I was given proper treatment.

Other inmates were not so lucky.  The Washington Post often reports about inmates who die due to lack of treatment and I have watched an inmate in my unit who was diabetic pass out due to insulin shock because he had not received his regular medication on time.  This inmate had to go to the hospital for proper treatment.  Applications have to be made in writing to see a doctor.  Staff members in the units decide whether or not an inmate is sick enough to see a doctor.  When applications for service are ignored by the staff and not sent on to the medical unit inmates are unable to get help.

Sleep deprivation – The DC facility, in both the physical structure, and the procedures adhered to by the staff, appears deliberately designed to foster a disconnection from normal sleep patterns in the inmates.  Many cells have no windows and those that do have frosted glass that allows only a small amount of light to filter in.  It is difficult to tell the time or the season due to this sensory deprivation.  The schedule is designed to wake everyone many times each night.  The inmates and guards often shout loudly to each other throughout the night.  There is also a “wakeup” request for collection and washing of sheets in the middle of the night while inmates are sleeping on them.   Since they have been given only one set of sheets inmates have to remove them, give them up to be washed and hope to get back to sleep without sheets.   Some inmates are awakened loudly at other times of the night to take medications.

The ultimate sleep deprivation occurs when an inmate has to go out to court and is awakened at 1:30AM, kept awake the rest of the night moving through the facility and being transported to court only 10 minutes away from the Jail.  Inmates are returned to the unit after court at around 7:00 PM, the loudest time of day, and again few inmates are able to sleep.  This tortuous schedule saves a small amount of effort for the establishment at the expense of inmates’ health.  When inmates have court for five days a week they can lose so much sleep that it becomes life threatening. Sleep deprivation is considered torture and banned by the Geneva Convention;  nevertheless, it is still allowed by the local and Federal Courts in Washington, DC.  Inmates complain of this to their lawyers, who beg judges to make other arrangements, however, no progress has been made in changing the Jail’s schedule.

Case managers – These individuals are supposed to be the primary official contact each inmate has with the DC Jail.  They are responsible for a number of critical functions such as providing phone access codes, housing assignments, arranging the weekly legal call allowed to each inmate, answering questions and solving problems.

In each unit, Case Managers are supposed to maintain regular office hours.  Inmates say in some units the Case Manager has not shown up for more than 3 weeks.  This seems to be the norm.  It leaves inmates who have urgent requests no way to get help.

Conclusion – This poorly run institution is only a few miles southeast of the US Capitol building where hundreds of elected officials, many of them lawyers, allow the Constitutional rights of prisoners to be violated every minute of every day.  The DC Jail continues to ignore local and Federal Laws and even the DC Department of Correction’s own regulations.  Many people in the DC Jail at this time have not been convicted.  Like me, they are waiting for trial.  No inmate should be subjected to these inhumane and illegal conditions, and it is unconscionable for people who are innocent and waiting for trial to be subjected to them.  Current research has shown that being “hard on crime” by stripping away every human right and every civilized amenity has not helped to shape wrong doers into model citizens.

For many young people who run afoul of the law, incarceration in a Jail will be the result.  They may spend a few minutes in front of a Judge who talks about their crime and their need for reform. More often then not, in the DC Jail they will see staffs ignore the laws and moral practices that were designed to protect them.

Many inmates say they would welcome the ability to participate in educational opportunities, to utilize mental and physical healthcare providers, to learn acceptable leisure time activities, to experience an environment that honors constitutional rights, and to develop self respect and respect for others. Others would like to work as apprentices and increase their ability to find and hold jobs when they finish their sentences.  All of these opportunities and more are possible when a correctional facility is run to improve its clientele rather than for the purpose of just holding people.         

The public is often outraged at the violent crimes which occur on the street of our cities.  Most criminals who commit these crimes have been the victims of a variety of inadequacies prior to landing in Jails.   It is probable that drug use, and mental health issues are responsible for many criminal acts.  Most Jails are not equipped to handle these social ills and communities must implement an array of institutional services that will keep them crime free and morally responsible.

[WEBMASTER'S NOTE: All articles submitted by Walt Anderson are handwritten by him, and either mailed to me directly, or transcribed by a volunteer third party, then e-mailed to me for placement in a web template. These articles are only spell-checked and style-edited. They are never edited for content - these are Walt's own words, and are respected as such.]

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