MICHAEL YOUNG – Personal Narrative, 2018
Regardless of what mistakes a person has made in the past, there is one thing that being in prison can never change: the fact that each prisoner, as a human being, has unalienable human rights. These rights can never be taken away from any prisoner. Rayburn Correctional Center and the Louisiana prison system encourage the belief that prisoners have no rights, and that by violating a statutory law, prisoners forfeit their constitutional or human rights. That is a demoralizing lie. The purpose of prison is to separate prisoners from society for a specific period of time, not to be sadistically abused by prison officials. Yet, this is exactly what happens when inmates are treated as though they have no claim to the most basic of human rights in prison.
If someone does a Google search of B.B. “Sixty” Rayburn Correctional Center, the search will not reveal the dehumanization of fathers, sons, grandfathers, uncles, and husbands. It will not show the prison’s unwarranted use of maximum custody extended lockdown. It will not show the excessive use of force against inmates, the racial discrimination, the denial of adequate physical and mental healthcare, and the denial of inmates’ First Amendment rights. No — one will only see that B.B. Sixty Rayburn Correctional Center is located in Angie, Louisiana, north of Bogalusa. A Google search won’t even tell the searcher that B.B. “Sixty” was not only knee-deep, but up to his neck in white supremacy. Although some correctional administrators may wish to have the freedom to operate their institutions without any outside scrutiny, they do a disservice to themselves and the community in doing so. As taxpayers, the community has the right to know how their public funds are being spent. Further, when citizens of the community are incarcerated in the name of the community, the community has a moral obligation to examine the conditions of that confinement and to become involved in alleviating the problems resulting from it. I want to stress that Rayburn’s treatment of inmates is not unique, but part of a much broader trend. Similar patterns of ever-heightening repression exist in many state prisons around the country. Over the years, there has been a frightening and counter-productive increase in reliance upon repression against human beings who are locked away out of sight and mind of the public, the media, and even those officials whose decisions put them in prison in the first place.
Just ask me. My name is Michael Young and I’ve been housed at Rayburn Correctional Center since March 2014. As stated above, Rayburn administrators and correctional officers are abusing human beings because they are protected by chain link fences, guard towers, and concrete buildings. All of my trouble with Rayburn really started in September 2015 when I requested an appointment with a mental health specialist through my prison-appointed social worker. I had received information concerning my mother’s impending death from cancer, and sought professional mental health care to help me cope with this traumatic news. Due to Rayburn’s failure to hire an on-site mental health professional, which they are constitutionally required to have, I was denied medication for my serious mental health issues. The denial of medication set off a series of events that caused me to be disciplined for my mental illness. While going through a mental health crisis, I was strapped to the steel bunk within my cell. While strapped to the bunk, I was verbally and sexually harassed by Rayburn correctional officers. One officer disrespected me by acting as if he was checking the straps on the bunk, but actually placed his genitals in my face while another officer watched and laughed. I’ve since filed suit on both incidents.
Rayburn has interfered with or flat-out denied me practically every inalienable right secured and guaranteed by the United States Constitution, all in the name of retaliation for pursuing redress of complaints to the Warden and Secretary as well as pursuing redress of grievances to the courts. Rayburn is mostly a family and friend-run institution, and excessive use of force, retaliation, abridging freedom of speech, press, and religion, denial of proper medical and mental health care, denial of due process, and denial of equal protection under the law are common occurrences. It is common practice for such violations to be covered up or described as adequate, even when Rayburn is unconstitutionally understaffed.
Since I have been in pursuit of my legal rights I’ve experienced denial of access to the courts by the Lieutenant over Rayburn’s legal programs (Carol Jordan), who is romantically involved with one of the five wardens here and obstructs my legal progress with impunity. I’ve been retaliated against by having false disciplinary reports filed against me and being forced on suicide watch in order to stop me from writing to my family and complaining about my treatment. I’ve been placed in danger by officers who I file grievances against. As retaliation for my complaints, these officers convince other inmates that I am a snitch and encourage them to take violent action against me. I’m one of the sickest inmates within Rayburn, and I have been charged with malingering more than any other inmate due to officers who dislike me telling the nurses, who they are friends or family with, to write a disciplinary report despite the fact that my complaints are well-founded. I have been punitively placed in extended lockdown level one where I have to send all of my property home or have it destroyed. Within this level one lockdown, phone calls are limited to once every 14 days, and once a month for those inmates who are on telephone restriction. Family relationships are broken down because of the phone situation as well as inmates being deprived of visits with family and friends. The most significant consequence of level one is Rayburn’s abridgement of inmates’ freedom of speech, which is also the freedom to read. Rayburn restricts inmates’ access to photographs, newspapers, magazines, greeting cards, legal publications, and secular books. This treatment is repressive, inhumane, and unacceptable.
The family connection at Rayburn is so intertwined that the full bird colonel over legal programs is the husband of the mental health director, so if Rayburn wants to cover up any forced suicide watch they will get Director Todd to do it. The full bird colonel over the whole prison is the husband of the medical director, so when Rayburn wants to cover up any excessive use of force they can get all the paperwork doctored in order to show no injury or any finding of bruises. A lieutenant colonel is the husband of one of the nurses. A major is the brother of a captain, another major is the father of a lieutenant, another major is said to be the father in-law of an officer. The investigating major is said to be the father in-law of an officer, the warden has children with the classification director and the legal programs lieutenant, the classification director is now married to a captain, there are lieutenants married to officers, officers married to officers, and the list goes on. The present situation at Rayburn is the result of an ongoing effort by prison authorities to perfect their ideal of absolute control.
It appears that it is only public and legal scrutiny that is capable of staying the hand of Rayburn abuse of prisoners. As with all legal proceedings, they will eventually run their course and it will be solely public attention and action that will protect prisoners from needless state brutality – both physical and psychological – and protect the society to which they will ultimately be released from the negative effects of that brutality. I make this plea because it is imperative that those of you who are concerned about the repression inside Rayburn Correctional Center find ways to effectively confront the situation. My hope is that this article may stimulate swift action to confront the situation represented by Rayburn Correctional Center.
Michael Young Prison Solidarity 