Thursday, July 30, 2009

2006, Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail, "2009, Things Remains the Same?"

Friday, September 29, 2006

2006----“LOWNDES COUNTY JAIL PROBLEMS BY LOCAL MEDIA AND INMATE THEMSELVES GIVE THEIR STORY ABOUT OUR LOCAL JAIL" (Friday, Sept 29, 2006)

Information Provided From: [Inmates/Sheriffs own: Capt. Yeager. Report to the County Commissioners/Valdosta Daily Times on 29 Aug 2003] [Located in Valdosta, Georgia problems 1989 – 2003]

1. Inmates are incarcerated for months without seeing their Court Appointed Attorney. Therefore, they are denied due process.

2. Deputy pulls out a pistol like object and waves all around before aiming squarely at inmate and telling inmate to “get against the wall.” All because inmates want to complete a complaint form on a deputy.

3. Inmates kneed in back by deputy and his forearm in the back of his neck and trying to push inmate (Name withheld), face into the wall – at which time inmate (name Withheld), rightfully defended himself against those unwarranted, unprovoked acts by deputy.

4. Inmates denied the right to file a legitimate complaint form in the State of Georgia when it is against a deputy.

5. Georgia Inmates have problems getting regular complaint forms notarized as proof that action was taken deputy said; “I ant’s signing a damn thing – get it signed yourself.”

6. Inmates must show copy of sixth amendment to educate deputy on inmate rights. (The deputy tells inmate to “get out of my face,” and pushes inmate, unprovoked. All as a result of attempting to fill out a Georgia complaint form.

7. Incidents are swept under the rug rather than being properly investigated. And no one will listen to inmates concerns within Jail facility.

8. Inmates must endure cruel and unusual punishment at the jail. There must be an outside agency to inspect this jail for things to change.

9. Many tours are done through the jail. But the bad areas are not shown. Only tailored tours are given. The kitchen is not always shown; therefore, no valid review of the jail is done.
10. Drinking water is unfit to drink and food is terrible.

11. Inmates are required to live in inhumane, unsanitary and abusive conditions. (Squalid Conditions).

12. Cell doors sticks when opened from control booth --- that creates problems! Inmates are locked in cell because of malfunction!

13. Deputies play with the fans and taunts and agitate inmates in cellblocks where there is no ventilation or air conditioning.

14. Inmates must endure leaky water pipes, in dormitory; pools of water are over the floor. This is a hazard because inmates are required to wear flip-flops.

15. When inmates try to keep a potential bad situation from getting worst. Deputies often make things worst by not paying attention to the needs of inmates—as it was on 23 July 2003!

16. Lowndes County Administrations lie and don’t acknowledge the handbook they give out to inmates.

17. Food is not nutritional, and inmates have questioned its cleanliness.

18. Two cells (cell 12 A & B) has no bed frame or nothing in it at all, besides out of order toilets and the sink does not work at all.

19. If an inmate does something, like cursing a Sgt. or Officer. He will be booked 9 out of 10. He is going to one of these cells depending what Sergeant.
20. Inmates are stripped naked left in this conditions for long periods of time.

21. Jail staff will not provide water as needed and inmates do not get showers or wash his/her hands face or do any hygiene customs.

22. Inmates are placed in cell (12B) with no mattress or nothing else for necessities.

23. Inmates are placed in handcuffs and shackled for 7 days and six nights straight. (Copy of incident on File in Jail).

24. The jail has a restraint chair, inmates are not allowed to use the bathroom, and a chance to stretch as provided by polices in force by the State of Georgia.

25. Medical staff is very much on the side of the Sheriffs office, and does not administer the needs of inmates.

26. The Medical Staff lies, hides issues, and don’t document incidents that happen that could cause legal trouble for the administration.

27. Inmates families are lied to by Jail administration when they call concerning their love ones welfare.

28. This jail is very unconstitutional and several inmates say that it is ran in a racist manner.

29. The jail handbook is a fraud; in fact, it is so easy to prove.

30. Inmates needs to be interviewed, and the facility should be inspected everywhere there is a swinging doors.

31. Vivian Miller Cody was recently fired; she could be a vital witness in every issue if she is willing to do so --- to confirm these horrendous conditions.

32. Since the Jail started toting lasers to Las inmates when out of control. But that’s not how they are being used and I believe the situation will get worst.

33. Inmates are denied their rights to have access to the Law Library even without requests and that’s not happening.

34. Inmates are taxed when they buy stamps and on store items. (Inmates believe they are exempt from this practice.)

****35. PERSONAL REQUEST: Inmates requested that I (George B. Rhynes) call on the community to sign a petition for the inspectors office and the U. S. Marshals Office to inspect and investigate the Jail Administrations.

36. Inmates (Name Withheld) was left in the restraints chain for 18 hours straight on one occasion in the past.

37. HANDBOOK VIOLATIONS: Each inmate may designate up to twelve immediate family members etc. [This is not being done we are limited to six]

38.Each inmate will participate in an organized and supervised program of daily cleaning within his housing and common areas. [This is not being done at all]

39.Inmates in the hold (cell 8) do not ever get to clean his call --- practically have to beg to receive cleaning materials.

40. Each inmate will be entitled to shower daily and required to shower three (3) times a week. [This is not happening. Inmates in (cell 8,) and the (MP) area. Also medical isolated inmates are forced to receive the minimum (3 showers a week). Even officers try to rush inmates out of showers.

41.Disciplinary process must be fair and systematic so that no person staff or inmate may plead ignorance of the rules or bias in the procedures. Hasty arbitrary decision and/or corporal punishment shall not be allowed. [This is not the case]

42. Inmates are convicted by one person, where inmates are suppose to be placed in lock-up then incident is supposed to be investigated and then a hearing. [This is not being done}

43. ABOVE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT VIOLATIONS: But there are many more!

44. The Medical Staff and Administration: Shirley Lewis LPN/RN is the Head Nurse. She distributes medication in water out of the capsule before she’s in inmates presence. This violates inmates rights to confirm exactly what’s in the water and if it’s the correct medication.

45. Shirley Lewis (LPN) ignores inmates verbal complaints. If it is about issues and Sheriff Admin Office say, “they can’t make medical to nothing.”

46. Some nurses will refuse inmates his/her medicine if the inmates and nurse has had an altercation and jail Administrators condone the action and will not stop it.

47. Constitutional Rights and Civil Rights are still being violated as of 2003.

48. Inmates have exhausted all their avenues, and they seek outside help from any body that will help them. They believe many people only procrastinate about providing relief about the ill Administration in the Lowndes County Jail.

49. Some inmates are willing to take some steps but not nearly, enough that would be significant to bring enough stress on the jail to change their ill actions, inhuman, treatment towards inmates.

50. The whole issue of the extreme bad conditions in the jail rests on Sheriff Ashley Paul because of his lack of concern and interest of the Jail’s operations.

51. Sheriff Paulk is intentionally accepting fabrications from jail administrations to hide the facts that there are some serious violations inside his jail and with its operation in my opinion.

52. SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT OWN ADMISSION: Capt. Yeager from the Sheriffs Department! We have massive plumbing problems.

53. Water runs non-stop in sections of the jail creating safety hazards.

54. Toothpaste tubes are stuffed into showerheads in attempt to stop leaks.

55. Water in cell refuse to discharge any water this is typical.

56. Staff has to pour acid down all of the drains to keep leeches and other pests from entering the jail especially shower areas.

57. Rusty shower frames, which Capt. Yeager said inmates are using to make shanks.

58. Heat swelter to over 100 degrees and no air.

59. Many windows no longer opens and oscillating fans only serve to push heat air around.

60. Cell locks are obsolete larger security pods can be opened with as little as a bed sheet or an identification card, giving the inmates undesired freedom of movement.

61. Control boards are also fading that controls operate most of the doors. The alternative is to give jail personnel individual keeps, which is a liability risk.

62. Jail held 570 people, but jail staff was forced to cook three meals in a 1956 kitchen designed to feed 80 prisoners.
63. Capt. Yeager said “A jail our size should have a kitchen four times this size.”

64. Jail intake area was designed to handle 120 people though they have 500 and there is no way to segregate male and female prisoners at the intake desk.
65. The Infirmary has a capacity of only 10 prisoners. It has no negative air flow areas to handle infectious disease cases---it has become a logistic nightmare.
64.Transporting prisoners to court appearances are so inadequate that inmates are stacked in visitation areas.

66. Sewer lines are also corroded and the City of Valdosta has put the Sheriffs Office on notice that they jail will soon need its own lift station and grinder to keep solid waste out of the city’s treatment system.

66. Doors jambs are stifling, creating unstable doors, which could potentially be forced opened.

67. The conditions at the jail also effect the 108 jail employees.
68. Employees should not be exposed to such bad conditions that now exist in the jail.

CONCLUSION: For more monsters: Read the legal section on page 6B of the Valdosta Daily Times dated 5 September 2003. And ask the real question- Who is responsible for allow this jail to get into this• condition?

Note: Most of the violations are the same ones identified in U. S. District Court For the Middle District of Georgia Valdosta Division. Civil Action No. 89-54-VAL, Consent Order And Decree, and Class Action dated June 6, 1989, and should have been corrected and complied with.

a. The Question to this community should be—who ensured that this order was complied with? Was it the DA, County Commissioners, Sheriff, or the concerned citizens! Somebody should be held accountable! Compiled from letters received from Inmates & Valdosta Daily times

Saturday, July 25, 2009

2007- Valdosta/Lowndes County Jail, No Phone, Medication Problems, denied food, No privacy for women, mold, filty walls, keep people hole

Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail, State of the ACLU, Leigh Touchton a WHITE FEMALE gives her report!,

Submitted by gbrhynes007-2 on Fri, 2007-03-23 13:20. Lowndes County Jail and Where are Elected Officials?

LEIGH TOUCHTON LETTER TO THE ACLU FOLLOWING HER ARREST BY VALDOSTA CITY MAYOR AND COUNCIL ON MAY 5, 2005

HER TRUTH (NOT HER STORY)
==========================================================================================================================================================================

“My name is Leigh Touchton, I am the former President of the local Valdosta branch of the NAACP. I am the first white woman to lead a branch of the NAACP. I have corresponded with the Georgia ACLU previously about the Lowndes County Jail. Last Thursday night, 15 of us refused to move from the podium of the Valdosta City Council over a civil rights issue. We were arrested and taken to the Lowndes County Jail. I was personally subjected to the following:

1. I was not allowed to make a phone call when I was booked. My case number, which is the PIN number for making phone calls out of the cell, was blacked out on the receipt paper that I was given by a sadistic female guard named Giddens, or Giddings, a white female guard. I was not allowed to call family in order to have my prescribed medicines brought to me until 20 hours after I was booked. I missed two doses of my medicine and almost passed out. Two woman with me were also not allowed to make a phone call either and were on prescribed medicine. Two of us received our medicines 20 hours after our booking, one woman never received hers. We were all bonded out approx. 24 hours after we were arrested. I was told that if you are arrested on a Friday, you will not be bonded out until Monday. 4. I was denied any food for the first 13 hours of my incarceration (from 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. the next morning). Male protesters arrested with us were given dinner. The phones in the cell block did not work properly. The inmates had to stand at the phone for hours trying to get a line to go out. Many inmates were locked into their rooms for the night before getting a phone call to go out. I was one of those inmates.

2. I was not given a towel or a comb. The sink in my room did not work. I was locked in my room for over 6 hours without access to drinking water. I saw many female inmates with dirty, stinking jumpsuits that they had been issued upon their arrival but were not allowed to send to the laundry. One woman told me she had been wearing hers for over a month. I saw many female inmates washing their underclothes and tee-shirts and boxer shorts in the toilet for lack of a place to wash them. The holding cell that I was placed in upon arrival (for 3 hours) had two non-functional toilets filled with human waste.

3. There were trays of spoiled food in the holding cell that had been there for days. The milk I was given in the morning (at 5:00 a.m.) was spoiled. Thirty other inmates from another cell block reported spoiled milk. The milk was warm and had obviously not been refrigerated for several hours. I was given breakfast and lunch. There were no fresh fruits or vegetables or whole grains available at either of these meals. There was no fruit juice available. There were no vitamins or calcium supplements or iron supplements available. I was told that I could not have Tylenol or Advil for my headache without filling out a pill call form and it would take 3 days to receive the pills. I was told that I was limited to two Tylenol pills per week. I was on my period and was not able to receive any sanitary items until 16 hours after I was incarcerated. I had menstrual wastes running down my legs the entire 16 hours because the toilet paper I tried to use would not stay in place. I was told that I had to purchase tampons but that the next available purchase would not arrive until I had been in jail 7 days. I was forced to sleep on the floor in a modified hospital stretcher. I saw at least 15 other women also sleeping on the floor. I was told that every room had women sleeping on the floor. One window in my non-air conditioned, non-heated room was rusted closed and would not open. One was rusted open and would not shut. Both windows were approx. 4 inches by 30 inches in dimensions. The temperature outside went down to approx. 50 degrees the night I was incarcerated and I had to sleep under an open window. I had only my jumpsuit and one blanket and it did not keep me warm. My cellmates reported that during the summer when south Georgia temperatures reach into the 100's, that women strip down to their underwear, wet their towels in the sink or in my room, the toilet, and lay the wet towels across their bodies to keep from getting heat stroke. Towels can only go to the laundry once a week. We believe that a male inmate named Sonny Graham died of heat stroke. We believe that a female inmate also died of heat stroke. I was incarcerated with women who saw her die and their descriptions sound like heat stroke (I'm a biology professor with some medical training). The mattress was less than one inch thick and flattened to approx. one-half inch. The dimensions of the "boat" were so narrow and so short that many tall or heavy women could not fit in them.

4. The arraignment holding cell where I was taken with approx. 20 other women had one bench where 5 women could sit, the rest had to sit on the floor. At one point, when there were 20 of us in the holding cell waiting to be arraigned, it was standing room only. There was a 70-year-old woman who had to stand up for 3 hours. There was a pregnant woman with us who had been in the cell for 7 hours without access to any food, either brought to her at regular mealtimes, or access to her commissary items. We were kept in the holding cell, waiting to be arraigned, for almost 4 hours. I was told that when prisoners are locked into their rooms at night, that no guard comes to check on them until 5:00 the next morning when Kool-Aid and milk arrive. I stayed awake all night. A female guard came about 2:00 a.m. and counted us in our beds. The next morning the other inmates told me that it was the first time a guard had come to check during the night "for weeks". There were four sets of doors between us and the guards' station. There were several hundred feet between us and the guards' station. Had someone had a medical emergency, or if a crazy inmate had started a fire, there would have been no way for the guards to have heard our cries for help. The doors are solid metal, there is no passageway for air or sound.

5. There is no air-conditioning and no fan in any prisoner room. There is one large fan in the common area. The common area does not have enough benches for all the women to sit down at one time. All books and magazines are banned except the Bible and Koran. The commissary prices are outrageous. Many prisoners must supplement their diets with commissary items. They are only allowed to spend $55 per week. They must purchase their own socks, underwear, bras, tee-shirts, and shorts. But they must wear their jumpsuits in the common areas and hallways, but they never get to wash their jumpsuits! I was allowed to keep my underwear and bra that I was wearing. I was told that it would be 7 days before I could purchase any underwear. Many women go without bras and underwear. Pregnant women are given a different tray of food that does have a fresh orange, but I could not see any different treatment. I was asked whether I was pregnant when I arrived. I was not asked about tuberculosis or checked for lice. I was told that women who come in "off the streets" with obvious lice infestations and communicable diseases are not separated from the general population and no one is "de-loused". I saw a pregnant woman fall down the stairs in our block. She was lucky she did not hit her head. She received no medical attention.

6. A diabetic woman who was arrested with me received no different medical or nutritional items than the rest of us. We kept telling the guards that she was diabetic and the sadistic female guard, Giddens, kept telling us that dinner was over. I kept saying she is going to go into a coma! They finally brought her a bag lunch about 3 hours after we had been arrested. There was only white bread and bologna in the bag. She needed something like juice or fruit because she is diabetic!! We believe that a male inmate named Willie McFarlane died of diabetic shock because of lack of medical care. The Sheriff, Ashley Paulk, told me that he "wanted to die" and refused to take his medicine. When diabetics are in diabetic shock, they cannot make decisions!! When I was finally allowed my one free phonecall, the phone still didn't work. It took 20 minutes of the guards messing with it for me to finally make a phonecall. I was at the nurse's station when I was brought in, giving my medical history, and the first nurse I saw allowed me to have two Tylenol. The second nurse I saw (when I looked in on her as I was making my free phonecall, 16-17 hours after I was arrested) told me "there isn't any".

7. I was given flip-flops to wear but no socks. I was told by inmates, that I could purchase socks and sneakers, but it would be a week before they arrived. No guard told me anything except my Miranda rights and made me sign a paper saying that I had been told my rights. However, being told that you can make a phone call is not the law. Being able to MAKE the phone call is the law! There were no working phones!! Inmates told me pregnant women receive no medical supervision such as blood pressure screenings. No accommodations are made for morning sickness or any of the host of other things that go along with being pregnant. Many women were incarcerated for over 6 months waiting for trial. One woman had been there nearly a year waiting for trial. I was told that sometimes women are arraigned, have bond set, but then the guards take them back to their cells and forget about them until the next day. I was told that women go to the exercise yard once a week for an hour. I was told that the last time they went a male inmate on the second floor masturbated and shot the semen into the yard on the women. When I was in the holding cell waiting to be arraigned, our cell was situated at right angles to the men's holding cell so that they could see in and leer and make comments. We would form a shield with our bodies so that one of us could use the toilet.

8. We were in there for almost 4 hours. Some women were in there longer than that. One woman told me her court appointed lawyer had met with her twice in 9 months and would not accept collect calls and she had no money to buy a phonecard to make calls to him. The only protein sources on the commissary list were peanut butter and tuna. One in six American women has unsafe mercury levels (causes brain damage, especially in fetuses) and tuna is the primary source. You can see the information under the FDA warnings on the internet. I was told that it would be 7 days before anyone could visit me. I was told that the phones in the visitation area do not work and people have to write messages on paper and hold it up to the window in order to communicate. Obviously, people who cannot read and write cannot communicate with family!!

9. I was not allowed to have my reading glasses, but other women were. Even if the guard had not blacked out my case number to make phone-calls, I couldn't read it without my glasses. But it wouldn't have mattered, because the phones didn't work!! The walls were filthy, with scum, mold, and unknown substances "flowing" down them. The women told me they would clean them but the only cleaning supplies they were given were body soap and a mop and bucket to clean the floors. The cells we were in had previously been used for male prisoners. There was urine and semen leaching out of the floor around the toilet. The women told me that when they were first put in there, they demanded some Comet and sprinkled that around the toilet to "cut the smell". The showers were in the same state of unsanitary conditions. It was raining outside and sewer smells were coming up out of the drains in the showers.

10. Six years ago, I requested a tour of the Jail from Sheriff Ashley Paulk. I was shown only the common corridors and the arraignment holding cells, which are pristine in comparison to the living quarters of the inmates. The inmates told me that anytime a group comes to tour the jail, they are locked into the cells so they can't communicate with them (for instance, our local Grand Jury tours the Jail once a year). Although I was not strip-searched, I was told that when guards want to "get back" at prisoners, they strip-search the entire cell block, sometimes once a day for days on end. None of the guards had their names visible on their uniforms. The inmates told me, and I saw them putting complaint forms in a special box in our common area but they told me nothing ever happens to satisfy the complaint.

11. I was told by a cell mate that she had been stripped naked and thrown into “the hole” by four guards, where she was kept in total darkness and total isolation, for 4 days. She had no clothes, no bed, no blanket. I was told that when guards brutalize prisoners, that the prisoners are isolated in “the hole” until their bruises and cuts heal so that family members won’t see the evidence of the beating. There were fifteen of us and we are all educated, literate citizens with no prior records.

12. I think we would make an ideal group to go forward with a lawsuit to rectify some of these conditions and I pray you will help us.”

Best wishes,
Leigh Touchton
ACLU member

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

2009--A Living Testimony on Inhumane Conditions in Valdosta/Lowndes County Jail, Georgia (What a Former Inmate Wants you to know)

A Living Testimony On The Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail “LOWNDES COUNTY GEORGIA”
(By: George B. Rhynes on Former Inmate Johnny C. Parker)[July 17, 20, 2009, 3:45 P.M., 4:00, ---4,239 Words]

Interview Site: South Side Library, 527 Griffin Avenue, Valdosta, Georgia 31606, (Phone Number. (229-253-8313)

Date and Time of Interview: July 17, 2009 3:45 pm

Person Being Interviewed: Former inmate, Johnny C. Parker, 3521 McDougal Lane, Valdosta, Georgia 31606, (Phone Number 229-375-6270, 220-247-8833, 229-333-0544)

Person Conducting Interview: George Boston Rhynes, Phone Number, 229-251-8645, and Rev. Floyd E. Rose, 229-444-1938.

Witness Name: Withheld but available upon request for legal purposes

Introduction to Interview: I have a former Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail Inmate here that was referred to me by Rev. Floyd Rose, President of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). G.B.R.

Special Instructions: George is asking the questions under the heading
QUESTION.

Then Mr. Parker responds under the heading RESPONSE.

So please keep in mind that this is not a new problem in the Valdosta-Lowndes County Georgia but ONE our elected officials have allowed to exist for decades.

http://community.freespeech.org/valdosta_lowndes_county_jail_state_of_the_aclu_leigh_touchton_a_white_female_gives_her_report

Turn the page and begin reviewing or “click attachment link above”

“Former Jail Inmate
Interview between George and Mr. Parker”
==========================================================================================================================================================================

START OF INTERVIEW:

1. QUESTION: MR. PARKER, where are you from? Valdosta Georgia? Why did you call me today? What do you want the people of Valdosta-Lowndes County to know?

RESPONSE: Well, I talked to Rev. Floyd Rose about the problem I had with my probation. I was supposed to be off December 26, 2008 but then the judge told me I was off. Then he went back and he said I was not off until December 26, 2009, and that was it. And I did not get any justice from that ---OK.

2. QUESTION: That is one issue. I understand that you have a second issue right?

RESPONSE: Yea, the living conditions in the old prison, the old black folks prison when they closed it down. Windows broke out, too many people in the rooms, violation of over crowded, one fan, windows barred up, video cameras that are supposed to be watching inmates do not work.

If a fight break out no body would know about it because there is no guards around. They don’t come around like they are suppose to, no water in there, sink don’t work. They have water coolers in each room. The inmates go in and get ice with their hands, inmates drinking human feces and pee because you can’t wash your hands. You can’t take a shower, no sanitation going on in there.

The gentleman they got coming in there will spray, but they will take mop bucket and fill it up with a cleaning solution and clean the whole cell. That one-bucket can’t clean the cell up like that, if you clean three (3) rooms you need to change the mop water. They treat you like dogs in there and the heating and air condition is terrible, windows been broken out to my knowledge since 1971, and they have never replaced them. They place plastic up during the winter times. I know the windows were broken out for that long. I worked for the county during the time when Patrick was the Warden over the prison. This is when they had the work release.

The gentlemen came from TROOPEVILLE in work release. Then me and two of my friends---- use to walk in the old prison and a couple of them broke some windows out and those same windows are still broken out today. They got metal plates and where you walk by the jail cell 10, and cell 11; they got metal plates on it. NOW: If a fight break out nobody would know nothing about it and a person could get KILLED in there, because no Sheriffs Deputy is walking around in there and there is no way to monitor inmates in Cell 10 or in none of those cells in the Old Prison. They need to do something about that because somebody is going to get killed in there. If they are going to do it like that they need to have a guard there and a monitor to monitor the inmates in the Old Lowndes County Jail Part.

The NEW PRISON, I mean the new jail that has no bathroom, is worst than that, that is they don’t have no water. The bathroom doesn’t work. They lock you up and you can’t use the toilet, they got two of three showers, and leaches and stuff in there, no sanitation like it should be. I would go to hell, excuse my English than be in lock-up in that jail. If I got to go back to do some time in that Lowndes County Jail. I wish they would send me somewhere else; because a dog should not live like that. You know people do interviews on Pit Bulls humane living conditions on how dogs live----but won’t do nothing about human beings.

We are human beings in the (Valdosta- Lowndes County Jail (VLCJ) and be treated like we are treated. We can’t use no phone to call a bondsman. They got that locked up. They check our mail because…

3. QUESTION: Excuse me! What do you mean they check your personal mail? I read a Court Order and Consent Decree by Judge Hugh Lawson Civil Action 1989-54-VAL in 1989, and the Judge ruled in June 1997 that that particular item should be fixed in that jail within two years. The order stated that a deputy must open inmate’s personal mail in your presents. Do you mean to tell me? That this violation is still going on in the jail. Talk to me…

RESPONSE: Yea! I can prove it. My daughter deceased now sent me a letter written I red ink. They sent it back to Jacksonville Florida. They took the money order that she sent me. Every bit of mail sent out in of that jail, you cannot seal it, unless it is legal mail. And when you get your mail, it will be opened, and if you get to many pictures in there. They allow you so many pictures in the letter, and they are going to take them out and send them back and that is not right.

4. QUESTION: Let me ask you another question. How is the medical facility and treatment at the jail? I get lots of complaints; could you tell me something about this area of the jail? And before I get to the medical conditions are you willing to give me your NAME, ADDRESS, AND TELEPHONE NUMBER if you don’t mind?

RESPONSE: I do not mind: My name: Johnny Parker: PHONE NUMBER: 229-375-6270, 229-247-8833, 229-333-0544, ADDRESS: 3521 McDougal Lane, Valdosta, Georgia 31606. The medical is Ah; you might as well let my three-year-old daughter do MEDICAL. They take you back in medical with no television, and that’s not really important and they don’t even check on you. They got a sign in sheet. They come and sign, and if you forget three hours all you do is backdate it. They don’t come check on you and you don’t get no medicine. You get one Tylenol and it’s going to cost you $5.00.

The FOOD is not maintained at the proper temperature to maintain safety, and local FOOD inspectors must not be doing their jobs. The food trays are not properly cleaned there are food particles on plates from the previous meal still on the plates. Ha, check this. We only get plastic utensils to include one (1) fork, (1) Spoon, (1) stiriphon Cup, (1) Tiny deodorant and it is hard to get a replacement on any of these items. Therefore, we get and keep utensils from inmates who are released and we use them. We know this is unsanitary but we have no other choice.

5. QUESTION: Excuse me but there was a white lady out there. Her name is Melanie she got out a few weeks ago and she was speaking to m about that and there was a “Letter to the Editor” on July 3, 2009 speaking of the high prices of medication out there. I am happy my brother for brining these old complaints to my attention. We have been fighting these type complaints for far too long now. But our Mayor, City Council, County Commissioners----we put in office don’t seem to care about you all who are housed at the facility.

I along with fourteen other citizens were arrested and taken to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail on May 5, 2005 for exercising our constitutional rights to address our elected officials at a Public Valdosta City Council Meeting on the renaming of a local park. The part denied Blacks from swimming in the pool in the 60s and 70s. But the Mayor, and all black city councilmen along with Whites had us arrested and we got to see the ill conditions at the jail first hand.

However, no local television station ABC, NBC, CBS, WALB, and FOX Etc. ever interviewed a single one of us. But they covered the opposition (City Mayor and Council Actions), again, and again on both television in newspaper, and on a local radio station.

6. QUESTION: Now you say that you went to a local TV Station. Will you please tell me about that experience?

RESPONSE: They were doing an interview at the Lowndes County Court House concerning some land and I asked if they would take my interview on the inhumane conditions at the jail and they would NOT do it.

7. QUESTION: Who was this? And was it a local news station?

RESPONSE: Yea, Channel 6, and WCTV. Their office as just across the street. I left there and went to their office across the street.

8. QUESTION: You mean to tell me the office here in Valdosta Georgia?

RESPONSE: Yea, here in Valdosta Georgia. They said the only way I could address my problem was to take out a lawsuit in order to do something about the problems. I don’t have to take NO lawsuit out if I got Pit Bulls, six or seven Pet Pit Bulls in my yard. They’ll come and do an interview. If they had a child abused or though that I did it. They will do an interview and lock me up.

9. QUESTION: Now you say that CBS was already doing an interview on an issue and you was trying to tell them about the inhumane conditions in the jail and this was a press in the United State of American in 2009, CBS News and they would not even consider your story or listen to you or follow upon on your story. Is this what you are saying to me this day---my brother her in Valdosta and Lowndes County Georgia in 2009?

RESPONSE: Yes! And when I was in the office they said I needed to file a lawsuit if I wanted to complain.

10. QUESTION: Why did not you just let it go----and forget about it?

RESPONSE: That’s what’s wrong with us people now. We need to, when you right---fight, that’s why they do it. You spent 1 million or 2 million dollars last year or two years ago. And say yawl built a new jail. The only thing ya’ll build is a ramp, to bring you in, and a new kitchen because the old kitchen was unsanitary. But the rest of it is not new. The A part, and B Part was suppose to be torn down in 1973.

11. QUESTION: When you started this interview out you kept talking about the prison---is it a prison? It is the Lowndes County Jail.

RESPONSE: NO, NO, NO, That’s the Old Prison. That was the Black Folks Prison.

12. QUESTION: So it was where Blacks was housed-----is that correct?

RESPONSE: Right!

13. QUESTION: well that was before my time. I was not here at that time. So what you are telling me is that it is called the Old Black Prison Part-----is NOW the Lowndes County Jail?

RESPONSE: Yea, But it is the Old Part.

14. QUESTION: So these are the parts that are really bad?

RESPONSE: Right, Bad? I would not even put my dog in there. My doghouse is better than that prison.

15. QUESTION: One other thing I want to talk to you about before we close. You say there are no air conditions out there? How do people survive-----if this is true? What do they do to keep from passing out, out there?

Response: They got one big giant fan about the size of a tractor tire, a small tractor tire and that’s where they get their air. Plus, it is one fan and you got an upper deck and a lower deck. The Lowndes County Jail is supposed to have a certain amount of inmates per area.

16. QUESTION: Here again my brother this was another item that was identified twenty years ago?

RESPONSE: No, No, No, Part A, and Part B, is supposed to hold fourth (40), people per square. They are housing 56 people because they added more bunks to the beds in the cells. They suppose to have 40 people in the cells. They are running twenty to twenty-six (26), over per day in the cells.

There is no Air Condition but they got air conditioners in the hallways. Let me tell you about the floor. When they have SPECTATORS coming through. We be locked down, can’t talk to no body, the floor looks WAXED, like in a fifty- (50), Million Dollar House. And the area we stay in-----we cannot get no bleach, no wax, nothing to clean the floor. You get something once or twice a week. No toilet, they lock us out on lockdown.

I am fifty-six (56) years old. What do I need with quiet time? I mean quiet time, you “got to” go up there and go to sleep for two hours, an’t that something?

17. QUESTION: What about recreation and exercise time periods as ordered in the 1997 Court Order and Consent Decree? When do you get to go out for recreation or walk around in the yard?

Ha! To all who listen to this tape and read this interview? All these things were addressed in CA #1989-54-Val, and we have been addressing these issues to the Valdosta City Mayor and Council, Lowndes County Board of Commissioners and to every Board Chairman since 1989. And this is especially true since 1997 court order and so all our elected officials have been notified. They are aware of these problems at the jail. But no one seems to care about these ill conditions and this includes the Black and White City and County Commissioners. How sad?

We have “A Chorus of Fear Video.” Have you seen the “chorus of fear video?” NO! I will give you a copy before you leave here today. So you can see that our local TELEVISION, NEWSPAPERS, and ELECTED OFFICIALS, in both city and county governmental agencies, have ignored these ill conditions without answering to the general public. We can only ask how many more American Citizens must die BEFORE our elected officials, patriots, and Christians do something to stop this trend in the Bible belt.

In this South Georgia Town there is a saying that if a family leave town for a week. When they return somebody will have started a church in your mailbox. Yet few if anyone care about these human beings living in inhumane conditions in the jail. Moreover, many inmates in there have NOT been proven guilty. Am I right my brother? They are just waiting a bail bondman-----am I right?

RESPONSE: In the city of Valdosta if you get a traffic violation. You should be given an R&R. I believe they call it. But they will keep you in there until you get somebody to bond you out for a simple charge, and when you tell them you did not do it. They simply say. Tell it to the judge and if you got a house, wife, or automobile or a little simple thing… you should be allowed to sign your own bond and go home.

18. QUESTION: Ha! If the right people got a copy of this recorded tape and interview. Would you provide your name, address, phone number and a point of contact so you can be reached on the Internet? And not be like many other people who call me but then get scared and back out at the last minute?

If not give me that information and I will follow behind you with my information and that of Rev. Floyd E. Rose President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). So if any body in the United States of America or in a foreign country cares about human beings will do something. I don’t care why inmates are in jail. They are not terrorists and even terrorists have rights.

19. QUESTION: What is your name: Johnny C. Parker, Phone Number: 229-375-6270.

RESPONSE: One other thing as people listens to this recording. They treat their dogs better than this. Because an’t no dog going to live in nothing-----where they can’t take no bath. You should be able to clean your room, like you clean your own house everyday. I am tired of all this mistreatment. I am not scared but I know it is going to cause me lots of trouble because I got to go to court soon. And I know they don’t like me anyway.

But I am going to fight and say what I got to say. You can knock me down. But I am going to get back up and they been knocking me down for years. I must brush myself off and get out of jail. I cannot say that I am not going to be bothered with that-----I am tired of doing that. (NOTHING)

20. QUESTION: My brother I am thankful to you, and my name is George Boston Rhynes, 229-251-8645, a concerned citizen, Rev. Floyd E. Rose is the President of the SCLC, and HE can be reached at 229-244-1938. We have been fighting these problems for a long, long time, and we are 100% sure that truth will eventually win in the end. It always does. Now I am the president of what is remaining of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Branch of the NAACP and other organizations in this community. As well as working in surrounding areas. People say there is nothing like the Valdosta-Lowndes County Jai. And my heart goes out to inmates, and their family members.

Why do you think Christian Folks who are supposed to care about people, refuse to step up to the plate, and do something in these days and times?

RESPONSE: Yes! But we need to stick together, do what we are supposed to do and treat people like a human being. Please listen: If you heard this interview on the radio, television, or read it wherever. You need to go out there and walk in every cell and see for yourself. If you got some heart. Don’t let them tell you that inmates. This is, like this, or they are like that.

We don’t have phone privileges. If you get locked up from Jacksonville Florida, Macon, or New York you are not allowed to make a phone call. They don’t allow you to make a phone call.

21. QUESTION: What? Do you mean you cannot make a phone call? They don’t allow you to make a phone call like on ----Miami Vice?

RESPONSE: No phone calls. You can’t call your people in New York. No long distance phone calls and if you are given one it’s only for three minutes. You go to clearance, if you are out of town, and you still can’t make no call. I believe this is wrong.

22. QUESTION: This is another violation identified back in 1989 in Civil Action 1989-54-VAL. Filed by Dorthea Patterson two decades ago and she was the lead plaintiff along with four other inmates in the Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail but still the problems exists. APPARENTLY, THE HONORABLE JUDGE HUGH LAWSON never followed up on his own court order and consent decree (1997). We can only ask why he failed to enforce his own decree.

Somebody must give account of the many deaths that have occurred. (People should google the video “A Chorus of Fear and the Death of Willie James Williams Death.” Professors and students of Valdosta State University put the video together to show the in executives in Lowndes County Georgia.

People are tired of local television and newspapers ignoring these news worthy events. It seems like the Holy Bible said in that the love of many shall wax cold. The don’t care and all they want to do is get to heaven, and sit down with Allah, Jehovah, Jesus Mohammed, and Mosses. Yet care nothing about their fellow human beings. But I as a follower of Jesus Christ, Mohammed, and all these other great worthies. I want somebody in this country to get a conscience. And show some love for their fellow man and stand up and do something about these ill conditions, deaths, and a dead like news media whiteout machine…

Hold on! I see a Valdosta City Councilman. (NAME OMITTED HERE BUT AVAILABLE). I am going to see if I can get him (NAME AVAILABLE) to come over here and speak. Needless to say that the councilman would not speak on tape. However, he said he would talk to the sheriff and a county commissioner about the problem Johnny C. Parker was talking about.

Now is there anything else you wish to include here?

RESPONSE: Yes one more thing The Mayor of Valdosta, John Fretti----who ever is over the county, Sheriff Prine, should walk with the sheriff in that jail.

23. QUESTION: Wait! Didn’t you mention the Mayor John Fretti?

RESPONSE: Yea, the Mayor.

24. QUESTION: Well, that’s why I say the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners and Chairman Sheriff Paulk also. If you mention the Mayor? Then you must include the Chairman of the County Commission “Ashley Paulk” as well. Let us continue to be fair and balanced.

RESPONSE: OK! The City and County got inmates out there. So why don’t they walk from cell to cell, door to door and talk to the human beings (INMATES) that are breathing and taking in Gods air.

And you will agree that you wouldn’t put your dog in there.

25. QUESTION: Personally I don’t believe anything will be done until someone outside of the State of Georgia Comes in here. This includes people outside the State of Georgia from the GBI, FBI or the United States Attorney General’s Office. There is no way that Georgia Law Enforcement in the State of Georgia including all investigative agencies could NOT know what is going on this county. And it may be going on in other South Georgia Cities and Counties. The people must become God like and prove to the world that America is truly a nation of laws and that the power is with the people. Otherwise we should stop spreading lies around the world.

So how can local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies allow these inhumane conditions along with these many known deaths to occur WITHOUT ANY INVESTIGATIONS BEING DONE? While Georgia politician, Christians, members of Law Enforcement, and God himself refuse to help and come to these citizens aid and their family members?

How can this be? With all these religious institutions etc., how can “RELIGIOUS PEOPLE” speak of love in places of so called worship but ignore their fellow human beings? I NOW see why people around the country are turning to SATAN WORSHIP.

RESPONSE: Well it seems that somebody is getting paid. I am not saying, but it is my opinion that somebody is being paid. Michael Vick went to jail. But I went to jail too, but I along with others are living like and being treated like a dog.

26. QUESTION: HA, I am going to close this out--- my courageous brother but give me your name again---WILL LYOU?

RESPONSE: My name is “John C. Parker a former Valdosta-Lowndes County Jailed Inmate.

27. QUESTION: Well, I shake your hand and appreciate the information. I also would like to thank Minister Floyd Rose, President of the SCLC for sending you to me to take this interview this day. I will add this scrip, and taped interview, and add it with other materials that I have been given from various sources. This will be sent out to television, newspapers, internet, radio stations locally, within the State of Georgia and around the nation to show that for over twenty years no real action have been received from Valdosta-Lowndes County Elected Officials—for whatever reasons.








RESPONSE: Ha! I am a brother, a brother standing on the square OK? I am ready to talk to anybody but this mistreatment must STOP! You be strong----brother Rhynes.

28. QUESTION: Peace!

RESPONSE: And peace be with you…

SIGNED AND WITNESSED

GEORGE BOSTON RHYNES
Retired United States Armed Forces Veteran
President of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Branch of the NAACP
A concerned citizen and brother of humanity
The person who interviewed Mr. Parker to the best of my ability


I VERIFY AND AGREE D WITH THIS INTERVIEW AND APPROVE OF IT BEING RELEASED TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN IN ORDER TO HELP ALL CITIZENS OF VALDOSTA, LOWNES COUNTY AND BEOND.

Signed and witnessed

JOHNNY C. PARKER
Former Jail Inmate in Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail

Just One more site: Please, please, please,

copy and paste:
http://www.geocities.com/altpptla/pTribunal/index.html

Monday, July 20, 2009

2009--Valdosta- Lowndes County Jail "Letter to the Editor on Inhumane Conditions" Valdosta Daily Times (July 3, 2009)

TO: Letter to the editor, all concerned citizens of Valdosta, Lowndes County and beyond

On July 3, 2009 the Valdosta Daily Times published a letter to the editor “A sad statement about the value of human life.” The writer highlighted the ill conditions in the Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail and the suffering of his friend---a non-violent criminal inmate who are denied the following.

(1) No adequate reading materials
(2) No jail library.
(3) No Jail education program.
(4) No access to letters, newspapers or the Internet.
(5) No photo’s allowed.
(6) No air conditioning and temperatures are over 100 degrees in the summer. With inmates passing out from dehydration is a common occurrence.
(7) No humane living space. Inmates are extremely overcrowded.
(8) Inmates are over charged for over the counter medicine (a roll of Tums) was said to cost $6.00. The letter indicated that it seems that someone is getting kickbacks.

This is nothing new since the Honorable Judge Hugh Lawson of the United States Courts of the Middle District of Georgia Valdosta Division identified 105 violations in June 1997 in the Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail, and that his ordered be corrected within two years in Civil Action 1989-54-VAL, wherein Judge Lawson ruled that inmates Constitutional Rights had been consistently violated and that it had to stop.

However after repeated requests to city, county, and other elected officials in Valdosta-Lowndes County civil rights organizations and others have been unsuccessful in finding out who if anyone or agency ever corrected or complied with Judge Lawson Court Order. In fact, I don’t believe even the good judge himself followed up to insure local governments ever complied with the order.

This lawsuit was filed in March 1989 in U. S. District Courts of the Middle District of Georgia Valdosta Division. But our local television, newspapers, and radio stations along with politicians apparently kept this court order the best kept secret in Valdosta-Lowndes County Georgia.

So is this July 3, 2009 Letter to the Editor too little too late? Moreover the letter FAILED to mention the bad medical facility, no real complaint system except on paper and the names of some nineteen to twenty-seven jail deaths that have occurred in the jail since 1994. So why have both bodies of local government ignored these ill living conditions for several decades instead of trying to stop these inhumane conditions and deaths.

It is imperative that citizen watch the video “A Chorus of Fear” posted on the Internet and then read Judge Lawson Court Order and Consent Decree #1989-54-VAL-----now expired.

So where have our local television, and radio stations been? And why have our elected officials, local, state, or federal law enforcement agencies, District Attorney (DA), Valdosta Mayor, City Council, Lowndes County Board of Commissioners and Chairman along with other Georgia State Agencies failed to request some type of investigation to put a stop to this trend?

Apparently our local media will gladly investigate and report on a cat or dog trapped in a tree in Valdosta-Lowndes County Georgia but ignore human beings awaiting to prove their guilt or innocence. Moreover does citizens know how much money has already been paid out in lawsuits to inmates and their families? It may be a good idea for local leaders to go undercover and sit in jail for twenty-four hours and critique how citizens are treated in the facility.

The lack of adequate news coverage has left citizens deaf, dumb, and blind to the times and unable to make intelligent decision based on facts. Therefore we the people must keep our elected officials in check by using the power of the Ballot Box to remind them that they serve us, and that we care about ALL citizens and not just a SELECT few.

Today (July 17, 2009 at 3:45 pm) a former inmate from the Valdosta-Lowndes County Jail gave me a written and taped testimonial about the ill conditions in the jail. And that a local television station WCTV Channel 6, was “NOT INTERESTED” in taking his story about the inhumane living conditions he witnessed while in the jail.

So what good is our local television, newspapers and radio stations if they seemingly intentionally keep citizens deaf, dumb, and blind to news worthy events? How Sad in 2009? God bless America and everybody else.



GEORGE BOSTON RHYNES
Retired United States Armed Forces Veteran
President of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Branch (NAACP)
Concerned citizen and brother of humanity

LINKS OF INFORMATION AND VIDEO:

Video “A Chorus of Fear” about Valdosta-Lowndes County Georgia and the United States Justice Department (2001) you decide…Galatians 6:7
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3930808120854021155

United States Justice Department, is it really just?
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2001/October/537crt.htm

Where is American “FREE PRESS” in 2009?
http://community.freespeech.org/60_min_48_hours_dateline_night_line_nbc_abc_fox_etc_where_are_you_jail_deaths_in_lowndes_county_jail_a_chorus_of_fear_0

Deaths, and Funeral of a jailed inmate. Just maybe if it this was in USSR, IRAQ, KOREA, or ISRAEL just maybe someone would care? How Sad?
http://jaildeaths.blogspot.com/

Monday, June 08, 2009

2006--Death of George Hill Jr., Links on Valdosta and Lowndes County Jail Deaths 1989 - 2009

I have tried to keep inmates relatives updated so they can see how their elected officials respond to their needs perceived or real.

Now, its your thang!

http://www.walb.com/global/story.asp?s=5086359&ClientType=Printable