Anarchist Prisoner Brian McCarvill denied medical care

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Saturday November 29, 2003 00:40

by Thomas - APS

aps at anarchistps dot org

http://www.anarchistps.org/index.shtml

Oregon prison system tortures inmate

Brian McCarvill is a radical social prisoner who was recently involved in taking the Oregon Department of Corrections to court challenging their censorship and rejection of anarchist publications for prisoners with his cell mate Rob Thaxton. By winning the court case he forced the Oregon prison system to allow anarchist materials into its prisons.
Brian (51) has terrible problems with his health and following his victory in the court case, he is being punished by the authorities for taking a stand.

brian mccarvill

Brian McCarvill is a radical social prisoner who was recently involved in taking the Oregon Department of Corrections to court challenging their censorship and rejection of anarchist publications for prisoners with his cell mate Rob Thaxton. By winning the court case he forced the Oregon prison system to allow anarchist materials into its prisons.
Brian (51) has terrible problems with his health and following his victory in the court case, he is being punished by the authorities for taking a stand. They each got a hundred and twenty days in the hole and Brian was transferred to another facility TRCI where there are no chairs with any back support whatsoever. APS Dublin wrote a letter to the ODOC (Oregon Department of Corrections) demanding that Brian received adequate medical care. We were surprised to get a reply and even more surprised to later find that it was a pack of blatant lies. Simply compare the ODOC statement to Brian's account and something doesn't add up. Scott Taylor, Assistant Director ODOC wrote, "I can assure you that the Health Services staff at Two Rivers Correctional Institution is appropriately addressing his medical concerns." A letter from McCarvill later told us that this couldn't be further from the truth. This is a statement Brian asked us to post on Indymedia. " I want to thank you for writing the ODOC director on my behalf. I am kind of upset at the director's reply to you assuring you that my health was being taken care of. That is not the case at all- They have done nothing for me, absolutely nothing.
What is going on is that I have 2 issues with my back;
1. I have a wedged disk (slipped disk), which is extremely painful and requires that I have back support. There are no available chairs with back support here at TRCI- ever, anywhere. This has resulted in aggravation of the wedged disk, swelling and pressure against my spinal cord which is causing numbness and tingling in my arms and legs that is gradually getting worse. The ODOC director and all of ODOC knows this;
2. I have arthritis along my spine due to old trauma (fractures).
TRCI tried to remove all of the paper work associated with my wedged disk from my medical file. I replaced it with documents from outside the prison. TRCI mysteriously "found" the wedged disc documentation after that. However, the problem is ongoing where ODOC staff, at all levels, refuse to acknowledge the wedged disc situation, if they did they would have to provide me with back support and pain relief. Interestingly, it was ODOC personnel who first diagnosed, x-rayed and found the wedged disc problem, ODOC does give me mild anti-inflammatories to treat the arthritis. What they are doing is recognising the arthritis, but refusing to recognise the slipped disc. What are their reasons for doing this? They are wanting to torture me is the only reason. ODOC here at TRCI attempted to remove all information associated with the slipped disc from my medical file. I was able to restore the “disappeared” portions of the file with documents I had stored outside the prison. They knew that there were no chairs or means of back support here at TRCI. They knew that they were condemning me to an isolation unit prison with no available jobs or activities. They did this because I am the one that sued them and this is their response. I am daily in much pain and numbness".
“Please continue to demand that I receive back support. I am in greater pain daily without it and risk permanent damage”.

Brian has not made a big fuss about his case and asks only for adequate medical care, something all prisoners are supposed to receive. At the end of his last letter he told us that the prison officers had told him “sometimes it is better to sit and wait quietly than to raise a ruckus”. Please write to Brian McCarvill at:
Brian McCarvill,
TRCI 11037967,
82911 Beach Access Road,
Umatilla OR 97882,
USA

And write to ODOC Interim Director Ben De Haan and demand an end to retaliation against Brian, his return to OSP and a guarantee of adequate medical care.
ODOC Interim Director Ben De Haan,
Oregon Department of Corrections,
Central Administrations Office,
2575 Center Street,
NE Salem,
OR 97310-0470

Get information on the original court case here http://www.breakthechains.net/btcconference/mccarvill.html
And check the APS website at http://www.anarchistps.org/index.shtml

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Comments (2 of 2)

More on Brian

by Johnny X - Anarchist Prisoner Support

Tue Dec 02, 2003 11:23

c/o PO Box 3355, Dublin 7

Oregon Department of Corrections punishes those who challenge it

A PRISONER OF THE Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC), Brian McCarvill recently filed suit against the ODOC because they continually denied Brian reading materials of a radical/anarchist nature. Brian contended that free speech rights were being stifled and the ODOC was mistakenly labeling those with radical politics as “gang related”. After settling the lawsuit, the ODOC chose to punish Brian for his challenge by transferring him out of the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem to the Twin Rivers Correctional Facility in Umatilla.

Due to this retaliatory transfer, Brian has lost his job, many of his belongings, access to dental care he was about to receive, and, as he has no money or way of making any now, he can’t afford Advil to help control his back pain. Brian has for years suffered serious back pain (from two slipped disks, and calcium build-ups over fracture trauma). He has been sent to a prison where there are no chairs in the dayroom with back-supports. ODOC has, in Brian’s words, “full knowledge” of this situation. Brian is also attempting to get dentures – he hasn’t had any teeth at all since November 2002. Work was scheduled begin on these dentures late May at Oregon State Penitentiary. No work on dentures is done at TRCI, so it is possible that the authorities will move him yet again. It is imperative that Brian is transferred back to Oregon State Penitentiary.

Prisoners have very few rights, and when Brian stood up to defend his, the ODOC seemed to work with him, and then slapped him down.

We’re asking people to write to the ODOC and demand that Brian be moved back to the Oregon State Penitentiary and that the ODOC cease its harassment of him.

Write to:

Ben de Haan
ODOC Interim Director
Oregon Department of Corrections
Central Administration Office
2575 Center Street NE
Salem, Oregon 97301-4667
Tel: 503-945-9090
Fax: 503-373-1173
Email: DOC.Info@doc.state.or.us

Also, please write to Brian to find out how you can help him:

Brian McCarvill
#11037967, TRCI,
82911 Beach Access Rd.,
Umatilla, OR 97882

A web profile on Brian is now available on the Break the Chains website [www.breakthechains.net], for updates about Brian, contact breakthechains02@yahoo.com

Message from Brian himself

Wed Dec 03, 2003 15:48

aps at anarchistps dot com

c/o Po Box 3355, Dublin 7.

COMBAT
FIGHT CONTEND: To struggle against: OPPOSE

Dispatch 111

Comrades, Volunteers,

I understand that there has been a lot of support for me out there from the four corners of the revolution. I cannot thank you all enough for your support. Support for me is, in essence, support for the greater cause. Your contacts with authority figures challenges those authority figures, and their hierarchy, head on. This is a form of direct action and of COMBAT.

I am informed that the Oregon Department of Corrections Director has been answering letters inquiring why I am not getting medical treatment with letters stating that I am receiving adequate medical treatment. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have two major problems with my back: (1) a wedged (slipped) disk, that pinches my spinal cord and (2) arthritis of the spine due to old fractures. ODOC treats me for the fractures with ineffective drugs designed for minor swelling. ODOC refuses to treat or even recognize the wedged disk. It was ODOC doctors who first discovered the slipped disc. ODOC here at TRCI attempted to remove all information associated with the slipped disc from my medical file. I was able to restore the “disappeared” portions of the file with documents I had stored outside the prison. ODOC continues to refuse to even address the slipped disc situation anymore.

What I need is a chair with back support and adequate pain relief when necessary. TRCI – ODOC refuses to give me either the chair or medication.

The problem of the wedged disc and the lack of back support has grown and continues to worsen daily, in that my arms and legs are going numb and tingling with hot flashes intermittently, due to the lack of back support and the wedged disc exerting more and more pressure on my spinal cord.

So you see, ODOC is NOT providing me with adequate medical care.

Attached is a copy of a 22 July 2003 letter from Inspector Mike Beagen of the ODOC Security Threat Group management. Notice what he states at the end of the second paragraph,

“I have voiced your concern to the Medical staff but, due to your overwhelmingly strong attitude, they are reluctant to assist. Sometimes it is better to sit and wait quietly then raise a raucous (sic).”

ODOC staff are authoritarian liars who believe their own bullshit and are interested only in torturing me for my audacity in prosecuting the recent lawsuit concerning Anarchist symbols.

Please continue to demand that I receive back support. I am in great pain daily without it and risk permanent damage.

4 December 2003

(7 October 2003)

Brian McCarvill

51st Volunteers

From a letter dated 17 November 2003

“I got a letter today from Assistant Director Scott Taylor. He is in charge of medical. I had sent a package of records and letters to the Governor. They have apparently sent copies of the package here and there (one came here to medical). They all say I am being treated appropriately. Taylor says my condition is “chronic” and does not warrant being transferred to another institution. He says, “There is no objective clinical need for a special chair in a day room or a single cell with an extra mattress.” I have said that the OSP (Oregon State Penitentiary) single cells with an extra mattress allows me to arrange a seating arrangement where I can sit comfortably with my feet on the floor because OSP single cell bunks are narrow (24”).”

Brian has a lot more than this going on in his life. He could use your support with this matter. Each person that communicates with the prison higher ups makes them care (that we are onto them-watching them) one person more.

As far as the rest of his case…if you are an interested party, with any advise or clout or anything to offer or wish to hear more about why Brian is a man sentenced to 39 years (he has served almost 9) when he could have plea bargained for 5 years? please contact me.

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Anarchist Prisoner Brian McCarvill denied medical care

Comments (2 of 2)