We implore Director of the BOP Colette Peters, Inspector General Michael E Horowitz to Shutdown FCC Hazelton. They do not have enough staff. The excessive use of lockdowns are torture. The suffering is immense. If there is not enough staff to manage 1700 men – why do they keep sending new people to Hazelton and why does this prison stay open?
Excessive Lockdowns = Prolonged Solitary Confinement = Torture
Based on data tracked from people inside and loved ones, in the year 2022, USP Hazelton was locked down more than half the year.
Days on Lockdown – 193
Days off Lockdown – 172
Most Consecutive days locked down:
54 days at beginning of 2022
61 days at end of 2022
(they were released on Jan. 10th 2023 so total is 71)
Lockdowns are: 24 hours in their cell with cellmate. No commissary, no recreation/yard, no medical, no law library, no programs/school, no phone calls with loved ones. Showers twice a week but often don’t happen.
Why are the lockdowns happening?
The number one excuse given is that the Security Housing Unit (SHU) is full. The SHU holds 200 – 232 men. If the SHU is full they lock down the whole prison until beds open up. In late Feb of 2023 staff stated “There will no longer be entire prison lockdowns if there is an incident, just the housing unit where the incident happened will be locked down”. How this works out is one person creates a situation that warrants SHU time (ie. Someone is found with drugs. The SHU is full so they lock down 120 men for an incident with one person.) Why would there be any incentive for people to follow the rules when they are constantly being punished for the behavior of others?
While full prison lockdowns might have decreased slightly in 2023, the lockdowns are still happening every week to half or more than half of the prison. Since the beginning of the year the longest one unit may have been out is 9 days in a row.
The CO’s were overheard competing to see which unit they can get locked down the fastest. If someone acts up on Friday and the SHU is full they will lock them down for the whole weekend. So the CO’s come on to the units looking for problems and antagonize the already very stressed out population. It benefits the guards because its less work.
During lockdowns the CO's are supposed to do rounds every hour on the hour but the officers of this institution don't seem to recognize that part of the job, instead they take that opportunity to stay in the office and sleep, watch T.V. or play card games - if they even stay on the block.
It is not safe for anyone and it is mental torture. When finally released from lockdown, the men never know how long they will be out. They are suffering from mental breakdowns, anxieties, stresses, and major depression.
Again, the real reason the lockdowns are happening is there is not enough staff.
Five and half months into the new year and what has changed?
- Visits - Finally opened up after a year and half of no visiting. After a dysfunctional start, visits are happening regularly on Mondays and Tuesdays only. The visits still happen if the prison is locked down which is positive but the limited hours are very inaccessible to loved ones.
- Mail/Legal – The mail continues to be severely delayed. With back ups in the town of Bruceton Mills causing mail to be rerouted and the mismanagement at USP Hazelton mail is sometimes 2 months behind and a lot of mail goes missing. This is a violation of constitutional rights relating to the right to access lawyers. If you are locked down, can't use the phone or email how can you communicate with your lawyer if the mail isn’t working? Not only is the prison understaffed the town itself is understaffed another reason THIS ENTIRE PRISON COMPLEX SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN. There is also lack of access to the law library which is another constitutional violation.
- Medical – Egregious and non existent. They simply don’t have staff. People don’t get treated. They get called down and then dismissed. They are not given follow ups or asked to give blood without any information. People with any medical condition are in severe danger as long as they are housed at the Hazelton Complex. There is no medical care during lockdowns.
Anonymous Testimony from USP Hazelton April 14, 2023:
Prisoners here at USP Hazelton are being subjected to the most inhumane and unjust treatment. Staff violations of BOP policies are too numerous to count - abuse of prisoners by staff is a culture here, and the abuse covers every facet from staff killings of prisoners to destroying personal property and tampering with prisoners mail.
Prisoners that dare to complain and speak out of these injustices, are subject to what’s termed here as “The Treatment! Harassment, Humiliation, and Harm”. The harassment takes many forms including verbal abuse: being belittled, insulted, and yelled at in the most hateful, degrading and demeaning ways. For example, Captain Hagemeyer, screams at the close of chow hall for prisoners to “get out”. In addition there are unwarranted cell searches where prisoner’s personal property is thrown all over the cells, most of which will be on the floor or taken and destroyed and staff failure to feed prisoners properly during these lockdowns.
The humiliation comes in many forms as well, but most humiliating of them all is the so-called “visual searches” any time a staff member here wants to get back at any person, they merely make up an excuse for said person to be sent off to the lieutenant's office for the visual search. The most degrading treatment is done in a small bathroom inside the lieutenant's office. Prisoners are ordered to strip naked in front of four or more male staff members. A body search is then done if the prisoner is too slow or voices any complaint to this treatment, he is maced, beaten, and placed in the SHU. Prisoners are ordered to “bend over the waist and place both hands on each side of his buttocks, and then to spread them apart as officers look on. Prisoners are always ordered to spread them, “wider and wider and wider, and still to do it again.”
The harm comes whenever a prisoner fails to adhere to almost any order given by staff. And the prisoner is brutally assaulted, and himself is charged with assault. In the past 10 years, many prisoners have been murdered from the assault yet their deaths have either been covered up or justified by the very staff that took part in the murder. The entire staff here at USP Hazelton is corrupt, even down to the nursing staff. Many of those staff members are blatantly racist, openly, bearing tattoos stating their hateful beliefs.
I can only hope that I’ve given you an honest glimpse of our every day, unjust, reality, here at murder Mountain. It is my hope that somebody can aid us prisoners in some type of way. We are in a never ending battle for our safety. To remain silent would be complicit.”
We implore any legal agency, concerned citizens, lawmakers with resources, anyone in positions of power to take on the issue of working to shut this prison down.
To remain silent would be complicit! Shutdown the Hazelton Complex!
Recent News:
Violent West Virginia prison plagued by officer shortages, pushing staffers to exhaustion By Kevin Johnson USA TODAY January 22, 2023
Hazelton Corrections Officers Charged for 2019 Inmate Assault
Erin Cleavenger, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va. May 4, 2023
Staffing Shortage or Toxic Culture? Prisoners say Hazelton has Both Feb 25, 2023 By Pam Bailey