[Pnews] Aging, Sick and Incarcerated: The Need for Compassionate Release

[Prisoner News]

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/36464-aging-sick-and-incarcerated-the-need-for-compassionate-release 



  Aging, Sick and Incarcerated: The Need for Compassionate Release

Victoria Law - June 19, 2016

Mary Ziman already had debilitating fibromyalgia and, unable to work, 
was on permanent disability. Then she was arrested and sentenced to 27 
years in federal prison <http://www.candoclemency.com/mary-rose-ziman/> 
for conspiracy to distribute marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine, 
charges she says stemmed from fabrications by a woman with mental 
illness caught with drugs and a gun. That was 17 years ago.

Now 67 years old, Ziman has three cancerous spots on her left lung, 
requires the use of three inhalers and has only 51 percent lung 
capacity. She is also blind in one eye and has a cataract in the other. 
In March 2016, after repeatedly complaining to medical staff at the 
federal prison in Victorville, California, she was hospitalized for a 
kidney infection stemming from an untreated urinary tract infection. She 
spent 10 days in the hospital where tests found that she suffered from 
anemia, arthritis, a hernia and problematic potassium levels affecting 
her heart. Additionally, Ziman now requires hip and knee surgery.

In April, not long after her release from the hospital, Ziman suffered 
another devastating blow. The Office of the Pardon Attorney denied her 
request for clemency, or a commutation lessening the length of her 
sentence and allowing her to return home early. (Clemency can also take 
the form of a pardon, which expunges the conviction altogether.) There 
is no appeal for such a denial. Instead, Ziman must wait an entire year 
before she can submit another request for clemency.

However, Ziman does have some hope for another route forward: She has 
filed a petition for compassionate release, which, if granted, would 
allow her to return home to her nine children, 28 grandchildren and two 
great-grandchildren.

Compassionate release is a policy that allows for the early release of 
incarcerated people who are aging or terminally ill so that they can die 
at home surrounded by loved ones. The policy is used very sparingly: In 
2013, the Office of the Inspector General found that 
<https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2013/e1306.pdf>, on average, only 24 
people are granted compassionate release each year.


      Lynne Stewart  waited a year and a half to receive approval for
      surgery for a tipped bladder. By the time she got to the operating
      room, she recalled that the surgeon said that hers was the worst
      condition he had ever seen.

"We found that the [Bureau of Prisons' (BOP)] compassionate release 
program had been poorly managed and implemented inconsistently 
<https://oig.justice.gov/testimony/t160217.pdf>," stated Michael E. 
Horowitz of the Office of the Inspector General in his testimony before 
the US Sentencing Commission in February 2016. The poor management and 
inconsistent implementation has resulted in those who are eligible not 
being aware of the program and those who are terminally ill dying before 
their requests are considered. "Specifically, we found that the BOP did 
not have clear standards as to when compassionate release is warranted 
and whether particular medical or nonmedical circumstances qualify for 
consideration. BOP staff therefore had varied and inconsistent 
understandings of the circumstances that warrant consideration for 
compassionate release," Horowitz said.

In August 2013, the Bureau of Prisons expanded the criteria 
<https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5050_049_CN-1.pdf> for 
compassionate release, reducing the eligibility age from 70 to 65 years 
old and the time that must have been served from 30 years to either 10 
years or 75 percent of the applicant's sentence (whichever is less). The 
proposed change still leaves the initial filing in the hands of the 
director of the BOP. A person can write a request to the director for 
consideration, but cannot initiate the process on their own.

Yet the expanded criteria have not resulted in a significant increase in 
releases. In its 2015 report, the Office of the Inspector General noted 
<https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2015/e1505.pdf>, "We found that only 
two inmates had been released under this new provision." That year, 
aging people made up <https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2015/e1505.pdf> 26 
percent of federal prisoners at minimum-security prisons, 23 percent of 
low-security prisons and 33 percent in medical prisons.

*Long Waits and Little Action*

Ziman is far from the only person who has experienced the frustratingly 
slow process of receiving medical care in federal prison. As reported 
earlier 
<http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25497-will-obamas-commutation-allow-grandma-hardy-and-thousands-of-drug-war-prisoners-to-finally-go-home>, 
even higher-profile prisoners like Lynne Stewart and Phyllis "Grandma" 
Hardy have experienced harmful delays in medical treatment. Stewart, an 
acclaimed attorney who entered prison in 2009, waited a year and a half 
to receive approval for surgery for a tipped bladder. By the time she 
got to the operating room, she recalled that the surgeon said that hers 
was the worst condition he had ever seen. During her 23-and-a-half years 
in prison, Hardy, who entered prison in her mid-40s, saw her health and 
mobility decline 
<http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25497-will-obamas-commutation-allow-grandma-hardy-and-thousands-of-drug-war-prisoners-to-finally-go-home>. 
When she was told that she had been granted compassionate release, the 
71 year old had a heart attack and, instead of making preparations to 
leave prison, had to be rushed to the hospital. She was eventually 
released and now lives with her family in North Carolina.

Linda Byrnes 
<http://www.candoclemency.com/linda-lee-byrnes-22-years-for-marijuana/> 
is still in prison. She has spent 20 years in federal prison for 
conspiracy to distribute marijuana. In Byrnes' home state of Michigan, 
marijuana for medical purposes <https://www.mpp.org/states/michigan/> 
has been decriminalized and is now regulated. Patients can cultivate 
their own medical marijuana or designate a caregiver to do so. This 
year, advocates are also undertaking efforts to fully legalize marijuana 
<http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2016/05/23/change-in-rules-could-derail-michigan-marijuana-legalization-effort>. 
But none of that will make a difference for Byrnes, who turns 70 this year.

In January 2015, Byrnes noticed a white spot on her tongue. She made a 
sick call appointment and, the following month, showed it to the prison 
dentist. "He didn't seem very interested," Byrnes told Truthout. Byrnes, 
who had had skin cancer before her arrest, persisted, repeatedly telling 
prison staff that the spot "has gotten larger, bleeding, swollen" and 
that she suffered "severe pain at all times."

"It got so bad that she couldn't eat anything," her older sister Sonja 
Leiter told Truthout.

In February 2016, one year after she had started requesting medical 
care, Byrnes was taken to a hospital in Charleston, West Virginia, for a 
biopsy. The biopsy found that she had ulcerated moderately 
differentiated squamous cell carcinoma 
<http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/squamous-cell-carcinoma/home/ovc-20204362> 
(in other words, cancer on her tongue). The pathologist noted that the 
lesion had not been completely excised and that the invasive tumor was 
still present. Still, she was not scheduled for surgery to remove the 
tumor. Byrnes wrote that to prevent her tongue from touching her teeth 
and causing intense pain, she began wrapping her tongue with gauze.

On April 11, 2016, Byrnes was transferred to the federal medical prison 
in Carswell, Texas, a prison which other women have reported 
<http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25497-will-obamas-commutation-allow-grandma-hardy-and-thousands-of-drug-war-prisoners-to-finally-go-home> 
inadequate, and sometimes blatantly neglectful, care. On May 24, Byrnes 
was taken to the hospital where doctors removed a portion of her tongue 
to excise the cancerous cells. They also removed node glands from her 
neck. She spent several days recovering in the hospital before being 
returned to the prison.


      Even at the best of times, prison protocol makes it difficult to
      obtain health care in a timely fashion. Inside prison one cannot
      visit the doctor at any time.

"I was pretty sick yesterday, but feeling much better today," Byrnes 
wrote after she had returned to the prison. "I could not keep the water 
down yesterday, but I finally got control over my tongue and forming it 
to make it start working." However, prison conditions make recovery more 
grueling. When she returned to Carswell, the air conditioning was 
broken. "So I got sick … couldn't eat or breathe," she wrote. Only after 
the prison's doctor obtained a fan for her did she begin to feel better.

*"They're Never Going to Give Her the Treatment She Needs Inside"*

Angie Jenkins 
<http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/32745-mothers-serving-long-term-drug-sentences-call-for-clemency>, 
who received clemency 
<http://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-woman-granted-clemency-is-freed-from-prison/> 
from President Obama in December 2015, met Ziman when the older woman 
arrived at FCI Dublin more than a decade ago. "She's always had medical 
problems," Jenkins told Truthout. "But they've gotten worse while she's 
been in prison." Ziman refused to complain, but over the years Jenkins 
and other women learned to recognize when Ziman was in pain and pitched 
in to assist her.

"When she was [stuck] in her housing unit, there were women who checked 
on her and looked out for her," Jenkins recalled. During the times that 
Ziman could only get around by wheelchair, women would push her 
wheelchair. When Ziman was well enough to walk with a cane, a group 
would walk with her to ensure that she reached her destination safely.

Even at the best of times, prison protocol makes it difficult to obtain 
health care in a timely fashion. Inside prison, Jenkins explained, one 
cannot visit the doctor at any time. Instead, a person must go to sick 
call, which is only available certain days. A person must arrive at sick 
call at 6 am, fill out a form and wait in line for an undetermined 
amount of time. "Some women have to wait all the way till afternoon," 
Jenkins recalled. Instead of examining the patient, medical staff ask a 
few questions, then schedule a follow-up appointment, which may be days 
or weeks away. If medical staff is unable to see her that day, then a 
woman must return and go through the process again the next day.

"They're never going to give her the treatment she needs inside," 
Jenkins said. "She needs to get out and get treated."

*Compassion Extends to Families on the Outside*

Most of Ziman's family still lives in Dickinson, North Dakota, not far 
from the Fort Berthold Reservation where Ziman grew up with her mother 
and grandmother 
<http://www.bia.gov/cs/groups/public/documents/text/idc-022089.pdf>, who 
was the last full-blooded member of the Mandan tribe.

The federal prison camp in Victorville, California, is more than 1,400 
miles away from Dickinson. But twice a year, Ziman's son Corey makes the 
trek to see his mother. "Her eyes have slowly gotten worse," he told 
Truthout. "When I'm sitting in the visiting room, I have to stand up or 
sit by the door or else she can't see me."

It's not just the distance that worries him. It's the inability to know 
what's happening. "When you don't hear from her, there's always that 
worry that something's happened," he said. That worry is not unfounded: 
When his mother was hospitalized in March, he had no idea what had 
happened. "She hadn't emailed in a few days, which was kind of odd," he 
recalled. It wasn't until another woman at the prison called him that he 
learned that his mother had been taken to the hospital.

"I was calling the prison 10 times a day," Corey remembered. "I wouldn't 
quit calling." When prison officials did answer -- and often they didn't 
-- they refused to tell him anything about his mother. "All they'd say 
was, 'All I can say is that she's housed here, but nothing else.'" It 
wasn't until his mother was released from the hospital and sent back to 
the prison that she was able to call him.

Byrnes' family too has been kept in the dark about her medical 
treatment. After not hearing from her sister for several days, Leiter 
called the prison and, after waiting on hold for more than 15 minutes, 
was told that she was not authorized to be given information.


      Compassionate release would allow Byrnes to meet her terminally
      ill 7-year-old granddaughter, who has spinal muscular atrophy.

As part of Ziman's application for compassionate release, she must have 
a release plan, including a place to live. Although her family lives in 
Dickinson, Ziman's plan is to live in Bismarck, which offers better 
medical care. Corey arranged for his mother to live in a three-bedroom 
house with a friend, but the probation officer who conducted the home 
inspection didn't approve the living situation. So Corey rented an 
apartment in Bismarck for his mother, no easy feat given her felony 
conviction. But renting the apartment doesn't guarantee that Ziman will 
be granted compassionate release; it simply allows her application to 
continue in the process.

"When she's in there, I picture people seeing her as a number, as 
livestock almost," he said. "There's no connection. But if she's out 
here, if something's not right, I know I'll be able to get her to a 
doctor or get her help. It's so easy to get lost as a number in a place 
like this."

Byrnes too is hoping for compassionate release. Compassionate release 
will allow her to rejoin her family, whom she has not seen in years. 
Byrnes hasn't seen her older sister Leiter since 1996, when she was 
still held at the local jail awaiting trial. There, the sisters' visits 
were separated by glass. "I haven't had a hug in 22 years," said Leiter.

The one and only visit Byrnes had with her daughter Joslyn, who was 7 
when Byrnes was arrested, was in 2005, shortly after Joslyn had 
graduated high school and gotten her driver's license. "I've gone more 
than 20 years without my mother," Joslyn reflected, adding that she 
doesn't have many memories of her mother from her early childhood years. 
"She's missed out on so much of my life. She's never seen me graduate, 
never seen her grandkids. Neither one of us is ever going to get those 
years back."

Byrnes and her family will never get those years back. But compassionate 
release would allow Byrnes to meet her terminally ill 7-year-old 
granddaughter, who has spinal muscular atrophy and is currently on a 
ventilator. "The doctors say she's got another three years," said 
Joslyn. "My mom has another three years of prison time."

*Meanwhile, in Congress…*

Congress members have recently introduced federal bills that may enable 
the release of older people like Ziman and Byrnes from prison. In the 
House of Representatives in June 2015, Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner 
and Bobby Scott introduced the Safe, Accountable, Fair, Effective (SAFE) 
Justice Act 
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2944?q=%7B%22search%22:[%22%5C%22hr2944%5C%22%22]%7D>, 
which expands the policy of compassionate release. If passed, the act 
would allow the person in prison to petition the courts themselves 
rather than wait for approval by the BOP.

As reported earlier 
<http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31903-after-obama-clemencies-activists-question-scope-of-bipartisan-prison-reform>, 
the Act also clarifies previously vague criteria of "extraordinary and 
compelling circumstances." The Act allows a person to apply if they are 
at least age 60 or in declining health. A parent can also apply if their 
children's caregiver is dying, incapacitated or unable to continue 
caring for the children.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, the Sentencing Reform & Corrections Act of 
2015 <https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2123> 
would make permanent a pilot program for elderly people's release. The 
criteria for the program is less stringent than compassionate release: 
It lowers the age from 65 to 60 and reduces the amount of time that must 
have already been served from 75 percent to two-thirds of the sentence. 
However, eligibility is limited to those convicted of a nonviolent 
offense and are terminally ill or in a prison nursing home.

But neither bill is far enough along in the legislative process to make 
an immediate difference. The SAFE Justice Act was referred to committee 
in June 2015 
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2944?q=%7B%22search%22:[%22%5C%22hr2944%5C%22%22]%7D>; 
in October 2015, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act was reported 
out of committee, but no further actions have been taken.

Amy Povah, who founded the CAN-Do Foundation 
<http://www.candoclemency.com/can-dos-founder/> after receiving clemency 
<http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/32745-mothers-serving-long-term-drug-sentences-call-for-clemency> 
from then-President Bill Clinton in 2000, has been advocating for 
Byrnes, Ziman and numerous other aging and sick people in prison. On 
April 28, 2016, she attended the White House Champions of Change for 
Expanding Fair Chance Opportunities and met Thomas Kane, the new 
director of the BOP. "I asked Mr. Kane why there had been no significant 
increase in compassionate releases, despite a promise from Attorney 
General Holder to expand the program," she told Truthout. "He assured me 
he wanted to see good petitions for compassionate release on his desk."

Byrnes and Ziman have filed requests for compassionate release. Now it 
is up to the BOP to decide whether they can rejoin their families soon.

Cory Ziman is hoping that Kane and other prison administrators will show 
his mother compassion. "Some people can't hardly get across the street 
on their own and yet they're incarcerated," he reflected. "That's where 
compassionate release should come in."

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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