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Two legislative groups hear different reports about inmate deaths
Chris Hill's mother tells group two tragedies could have been
prevented
Posted by Ann Bates to South Dakota Prisoners Support Group
By Hazel Bonner
PIERRE In two different rooms on Capital Hill last week, two
groups of the South Dakota Legislature heard very different
testimony about a death on August 4, which resulted from a fight in
the Jameson Annex, Unit A, a segregation unit of the South Dakota
State Prison.
Glenda Hill, mother of Chris Hill, 26, facing murder charges
in the death of Steven Heckels, 49, told the State Tribal Relations
Committee on November 15 that her son should not have been double-
celled with the other man.
Friday was the second day that committee heard testimony
about conditions for Indians in the South Dakota penal system. Ms.
Hill said that her son, who is adopted, is black but was raised to
consider himself Indian. She said that Heckles was a self-identified
member of the Ku Klux Klan with tattoos identifying himself as such.
She said he taunted her son about being a "nigger."
She also said that her son had some mental health problems,
had a temper, and was on medication to calm him down. Ms. Hill with
trembling voice said her heart went out to Heckels' family because
they had suffered a tragic loss. She broke down and cried when she
added, "My family suffered a loss as well. My son could get the
death penalty for a death that could have been prevented."
Ms. Hill testified that the fight had occurred a few days
after the South Dakota District Court had denied a permanent
injunction in a prison conditions lawsuit. A major claim of that
suit was that forced double celling in the super max segregation
unit had caused inmate assaults and deaths. The Lawsuit is Turner et
al v. Janklow and was filed by 26 inmates in the spring of 2000. Ms.
Hill said that if the courts or the prison had listened to the
complaints about the policies in the segregation unit, the deaths
last summer could have been prevented.
"Forced double-celling in the small cells, about the size of
an average bathroom, where inmates are locked down for 23.25 hours
per day, is a problem for any inmate. However," Ms. Hill,
said, "when the inmates have racial or other conflicts, it becomes a
death sentence."
Ironically, the Corrections Commission reviewed a report
last Wednesday that exonerated prison officials in the death. The
review was requested following the death of Heckels. His was the
second death at the prison last summer. Andrew Young, 23, died on
July 6.
The report was based on internal review and outside expert reviews
by Charles Kehoe, president of the American Correctional Association
and David Sandahl, who has been involved in accreditation of prisons
and jails for a number of years.
The report concluded that the prison acted responsibly in the
placement of inmates in certain cells. The report then stated that
the deaths of Heckels and Young could not have been predicted or
prevented.
According to an article in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader on November
15, Warden Doug Weber of the South Dakota State Penitentiary
said, "Single-celling all the violent inmates is impossible unless
the taxpayers want to fund a new prison." The two deceased inmates
and the two charged in their deaths were housed two to a cell in
single-man cells in the segregation unit of the Jameson Annex. The
state is asking for approval from the legislature to add 150 beds to
the segregation unit.
Inmates in segregation can remain there for many years. Another
mother of an inmate, Carol Hatten, told the State/Tribal relations
committee that her son, Darrell Young, has been in the segregation
unit since the day he arrived at the prison in September, 1998.
Hatten said her son has a history of mental health problems and she
fears the isolation and sensory deprivation will intensify it.
Richard Bonner, who was held in segregation in the Jameson
unit at the age of 22 said he could not imagine being in those tiny
cells with another person. Bonner said, "Even being in those cells
with your best friend would lead to disaster." Bonner pointed out
that a bright light is on 24 hours per day and you smell feces,
urine, and other body odors around the clock. There is no fresh air
in the unit. "Sometimes you feel like you can't stand it another
second."
Bonner said those inmates "struggle to maintain sanity, and when
they can't, turn the anger and pain in on themselves or take it out
on others, or the cell, usually leading to disciplinary write-ups
and perhaps a new charge. With another person in the cell, that
person becomes a target for any inmate with anger management or
mental health problems."
Bonner added, "If Heckles had certain tattoos, it was said to mean
that he has killed a `nigger' or that he is a member of a white
supremacist group. The prison would have known that."
The report presented to the Corrections Commission said both Andrew
Young and Christopher Fonseca had a history of mental health
problems. Chris Hill also has a history of mental health problems
and difficulty with anger management.
Families of the inmates charged in the deaths were not contacted by
investigators from the Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI),
or by persons who completed the report for the corrections
commission. Lori Feiler, from DOC administration, told the
State/Tribal Relations Committee that all deaths from other than
natural causes are investigated internally and by the DCI. She also
reported that two of the three Indian suicide victims during the
last 10 years were in disciplinary segregation when they died.
According to a survey of segregation units in the United States
completed by the Department of Justice in 1997, these units, often
called supermax units, hold persons in cells from 22 to 22.75 hours
per day in the United States. On that survey South Dakota is shown
as having no supermax housing. Unit A has existed since placement of
inmates in segregation following the prison disturbance in May 1993.
South Dakota officials do not acknowledge that Jameson Unit A is a
supermax unit as Warden Weber's comments indicate. It is one of the
most restrictive in the nation. While some segregation units allow
in-cell education through distance learning cable programming, or
group education and programming, the Jameson segregation Unit does
not have any such programming, according to the Unit A handbook.
Hazel Bonner is a free lance writer who writes from her home.
Comments on this article can be sent electronically to
hbonpidge1@hotmail.com. She may be contacted by mail at PO Box 3712,
Rapid City, SD 57709-3712.
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