We received the following information in several emails from a man who is incarcerated at ERDCC in Bonne Terre. The information about drugs in our prisons is true. No visits in most facilities in over a year (this is true for ERDCC) but drugs continue to run rampant. No visitors coming so where are the drugs coming from? Staff. What happened to the recent investigation for several staff members being investigated for bringing in drugs and tobacco in order to bribe the incarcerated? Visitors continue to be blamed and pay the price for what MoDOC staff are doing.
Missouri Prison Reform has attempted to obtain documents related to the pepper-spraying incident on 2/28 and the DOC has fought us in every way. We’re still trying. This incident should not be tolerated by administration and should outrage everyone. We have made several posts regarding this incident with information sent to us from the men who were involved. We urge everyone to read those posts.
“The staff here refuse to stop trying to dehumamize and oppress us. On 4/3/21, around 8:00pm, a small group of guys formed a prayer circle and began to pray. CO **** told them to stop the prayer circle. As you know, last month several guys were maced while praying and put in the hole for praying. The month before that, staff told other guys to stop praying.
Staff bring the virus in here, give it to us, make sure it spreads, and then they refuse to let us have visits, and now they won’t even let us pray. We haven’t seen our families, and our families haven’t seen us, in over a year. Staff can bring drugs into prison, but we can’t pray together. Who’s the real criminal here?
And to top it off, staff are creating even more safety and security risks, because staff keep leaving their assigned post due to being so short of staff. Anytime a staff leaves their assigned post, it puts everyone in harm’s way. But staff are regularly forced to leave their post due to being short of staff.
The department told us, and everyone else, that they would conduct COVID-19 testing of 10% of the population every month. They have not done that testing since December. Dr. Fauci and other top health officials continue to say how important continued testing is. Since we haven’t had the random 10% of the population testing here at ERDCC since December, how is it the department can truly say what the COVID-19 infection rate is here?
This is just more deliberate indifference and actions of prison officials not protecting us from an infectious disease. But I can understand why they have stopped the random testing. It’s not like if someone test positive for COVID-19, they are going to immediately move them and isolate them from the rest of the population. If someone test positive, they are going to leave them in the wing with the rest of us for one or two weeks, and make sure as many of us become infected as possible. So what’s the point in testing if the department doesn’t separate those who test positive from the rest of us?
Staff are doing all they can to ensure COVID-19 continues to spread. On March 1st, 2021, some inmates who are in the high-risk for COVID-19 group were given what we are told, was a Moderna vaccine shot. We all know that in order to reach the vaccines highest efficacy, you are suppose to receive your second shot of Moderna within 21 to 28 days after the first shot. Today was the 28th day for those who got their first shot, and none of them received their second shot today.
The department puts out all this false information about wanting to vaccinate us, stop more outbreaks from happening, and keeping everyone safe, but they didn’t even make sure we got the shots in time to be fully vaccinated. Then, staff are refusing to get vaccinated, the department isn’t making staff get vaccinated, and staff still refuse to wear masks. So the same people–Staff–who gave us COVID-19 are not only going to spread the the virus to us again, they are also making sure we have no way of truly protecting ourselves from it.
This is deliberate indifference by staff, and prison officials not protecting us from an infectious disease–which is our right.
Overdoses here are up. A couple of days ago, one inmate overdosed so bad from fentanyl, they gave him multiple shots of nar can . His nickname is *** ***. They say he suffered brain damage. There is also talk that another inmate died that same day from fentanyl on the other side of the prison. I’ll confirm or deny it for everyone as soon I can, but even if that cannot be confirmed, the fact is that there have been numerous overdoses from fentanyl here. There have not been any visits here for over a year. So how is fentanyl in this prison? Staff. Staff are the only ones coming in and out of here, and staff are the ones supplying fentanyl to inmates. Why the department is allowing this to happen is one question. But the other question everyone needs to be asking, is why is the department trying do away and/or limit visits, and still trying to blame visits for the flow of drugs in prisons, when it’s obvious that staff are responsible for drugs coming into prisons? The department knows staff are bringing drugs in, but they aren’t saying they are going to stop staff from coming to work. Yet, they say they want to stop in-person visiting due to drugs coming into prisons. What’s funny is, even IF one visitor brought a couple little balloons of drugs in on a visit, it is absolutely nothing compared to the ounces of fentanyl and other drugs staff bring in. So which is the bigger threat to our health and safety?
It’s the same old narrative-staff can commit crimes against humanity and commit real crimes and they are not held accountable, but every thing we do is wrong and we are made to look like villains—-which is the furthest thing from the truth. We are the victims.”
