3705 East Mountain Vista Road Hereford, AZ 85615-9192 Tel 520 378 7048 Mercedes Maharis Cell 520 234 7167 MA MS MA [email protected] To: Justice James W. Hardesty and From: Mercedes Maharis MA MS MA To Each Member of the Nevada Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice (NRS 176.0123) —FOR THE RECORD— Date: 11/19/2008 Re: NV Prison Medical and Inmate Deaths CC: Can a Nevada prison sentence become a death sentence? We think, yes, it can. Two Nevada Inmate Death Lists: (See Enclosed.) a) 09-08-1905 to 04-13-2000 b) 01/01/2000 to 06/04/2007 No deaths? Or no deaths reported, in Nevada prisons 1913 - 1924==11 years? No deaths from natural causes? Or none reported 03-03-1930 to 11-21-1953==23 years? Inmate Death List a), precludes data analysis because it appears to be incomplete. The data on Inmate Death List b)... January 2000 to June 2007 is not up to date... 17 months behind. But we hope to receive current, correct, data shortly, to have complete data to study. We are requesting NV prison inmate death data that can hopefully reveal: 1) The average time inmates were in NV prisons until they died; 2) The average age at death; 3) The average time in NV prisons before death by race. 4) The average time inmates were in NV prisons before their deaths 5) The population of prison deaths per thousand compared to the NV general population. Advisory Commission on Admin, of Justice, Exhibit (\j pg \_ ofo2^Date: SubmittecNbv: PC November 19, 2008 It appears that the most recent 11 deaths in NV prisons (March to May 2007) list "Natural" as the reason for death. Have prisoner autopsies stopped? Why is this data so difficult to keep current? It is reported that Mr. Guy W. Martens had no prior felonies and that he came to prison in NV in a wheelchair going directly into the Regional Medical Facility in Carson City. For your consideration, we offer an account of the NV prison medical experience from Mr. Martens in 2001 and an account in 2008. Both are "white collar crime" prisoners. Both suggest that improvement in prisoner care may not be progressing so quickly as prisoners, families, advocates and proponents of true justice in NV would wish. Mr. Guy W. Martens1 penned letters to us asking for help for himself and others in NDOC Regional Medical Facility in Carson City. The name of the second correspondent is being withheld. (NOTE: If you care to read the entire contents of these gut wrenching letters, please advise. We can provide copies of them for you, if you can assure no retaliation will occur.) I received your letter of 12-10-00 today. 36 days after you mailed it to me. You addressed it right and the delay was no fault of yours. This is just one way they mentely [sic] abuse us here. I am writing this letter to you hopeing [sic] you might be able to help us who suffer here at N.N.C.C. I am a big man. 6* 3" and 334 pounds. In my younger years I was a football player. In 1989 I suffered a heart attack that left me with sever [sic] medical problems and now in a wheelchair. Becouse [sic] of a involuntary bankrupcy [sic] my company had some N.S.F. checks out that I could not cover... So, becouse [sic] of my health I could not work. And the judge sayed [sic] he felt prison best for me. I received the max sentence five years. After sentencing, I was taken to N.N.C.C. R. M. F. = Regional Medical Facility. Becouse I did not go through normal intake - fish tank. I was unable to get a compleat [sic] issue of clothing in my size. I was finally issued 1 woren [sic] out shirt. To this day, I still don't have a second shirt to change into so that I might wash the one I have... I have been forced to wash my cloths [sic] in the cell tolet [sic] and then remain naked and cold for hours becouse [sic] the prison has no cloths [sic] for me. I have endured ridicule and teasing by some female staff regaurding [sic] my nakedness and large size. I have tryed [sic] to complain, but my complaints have fallen on deaf ears. In fact, when I tryed [sic] to complain the luentent [sic] cut me off with a threat of disiplinary [sic] sactions [sic]... I have given a lot of thought to how I might help you help others. I feel I can best do by giving you as much information as I can from the inside. Brutality, inhumane medical treatment and timekeeping problems are big problems and issues here... Brutality has many faces in the Nevada prison system. I have seen men come in here from camp with a broken leg and bone sickness that will not heal after being cleared by Indian Springs medical staff for N. D. F. now this young man will never walk right again. This man was placed in the RMF and was forgotten about for almost 6 months. The man lost 120 days of work and camp time that he can never earn back... I watched medical staff remove a man who had died from a heart attack in a isolation cell be taken out on a gurney and hit with high voltage from the heart paddles. The body jumped so high that it fell right off of the gurney onto the floor. I heard the medical staff say (Gee that Page 2 November 19, 2008 was fun. Should we do it again) Question - Why would anyone be left in a locked isolation room with a severe heart condition and no way to contact staff or anyone else... I have personally been shorted my cardiac medication, no less than 10 times in a period of between 10-7-2000 and 1-27-2001. Sometimes I have received my medication late. But other times I have not received it at all. These meds are life-threatening to me if I don't get them... I have personally witnessed nursing staff at the RMF take over an hour to insert a simple IV. And then when the IV was started the IV needle was severely bent in the patient's vain [sic]. The same man that endured the bent IV needle was disconnected from the IV and blood dripped all over the cell floor. And all over this man's bed. We were all exposed to the open bent needle for hours . Also all the body fluides [sic]. The man was forced to lay in his own blood for over four days. We requested clean sheets and cleaning supplies, but were refused by forensic X... General crulity [sic]... sick people are punished just for being sick... the NDOP places them in the RMF and that person loses time he or she can never earn back. This unfair treatment costs taxpayers million [sic] of dollars per year and causes hard feelings between inmates and inmates + staff. There are fights over this almost every day. THIS SUBJECT NEEDS ATTENTION!! I can't stress this enough... Forensics X and Y... (He wrote the actual names.) have taken my personal oxygen wrench for my tank so I can't turn my oxygen tank on or off any more. They also had my doctors [sic] diet canceled. They took my Nitro pills and other meds. I still have not been able to get them back. By these actions they have jeopardized my life. These people are only forensics and not medical staff. They are custody staff only... END. As I recall, I called NDOC to see what had happened to Mr. Martens, only to learn that had been shipped out of state. We never heard from him again. Did he have family? We don't know and have been unable to find out. Mr. Martens is listed as dead 04/28/2003. (See Inmate Death List.) Is this not a double tragedy if he had no family to speak for him... and our mail not delivered to him, as we have experienced. Our letters have been returned to us checked "Unauthorized...", why we do not know. We want to make things better for all. This second letter is current (2008), from a minimum security inmate. Excerpts: ... I started having chest pains at around 11 AM... I thought the pain would pass, yet as the day went by it only got worse... I notified officer X, who was working in the office that my chest was hurting... Officer X asked me questions concerning the location of the pain and symptoms, I explained that my chest was hurting, throbbing in my left arm around the elbow, jaw pain and some back pain. All signs of a heart attack... I then asked him to call the ambulance... the pain was, at this time, unbearable. Officer X screamed that if I continued with my claims of chest pain, I'd be taken to the hole... in pain, yet not wanting to get into trouble, I remained persistent, asking again for emergency medical assistance... Clearly angry, Officer X, who then acted as if I was lying and gave me a direct order to return my bunk, (which I did), where I was to await further instructions. About an hour later and after count, holding my chest and in pain, barely able to walk, I returned to the officer's office, again asking for help, that seem to upset officer X.