WHY WOULD MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS LIE? MY DENIED CANCER TREATMENT BECOMES MORE SINISTER (2022) By Kevin "Rashid" Johnson

Credit Kevin "Rashid" Johnson

A RECAP OF MY DENIED TREATMENT

As those who have been following my situation of denied cancer treatment know, Virginia prison officials have known from blood tests taken over a year ago that I have had prostate cancer at least since Oct 2021. But they have systematically delayed and denied me any treatment to allow the cancer to spread and eliminate any possibility of curing it, which would ensure that it becomes fatal. The intent to murder me by medical neglect is more than obvious.

Only because of ongoing public protests (for which I am humbled and grateful) have officials made gestures TOWARDS providing me treatment, although no actual treatment has yet been provided AT ALL.

DOCTORS CONCERNED THAT THE CANCER HAS SPREAD

After several months of repeatedly missed and rescheduled consultations with radiologists to determine my treatment options, I finally saw a couple of radiologists, Drs. Alfredo Urdaneta and Navid Fallahi on Oct 4, 2022 at the Medical College of Virginia hospital (MCV).

Based on symptoms that I have recently developed due to the continued passage of time without treatment, the doctors were concerned that the cancer has now spread or metastasized beyond my prostate gland. Which would mean that curing it would no longer be an option and I will almost certainly die from the cancer. They therefore ordered a PET scan to determine if and to what extent it may have spread and a follow-up visit with them to go over the results with me.

On Oct 31st I was transported to MCV for the PET Scan by two guards, Vareen and Smith. Upon reaching the hospital the guards went inside for a few minutes then returned to tell me the appointment had been rescheduled and we were returning to the prison. I asked why the appointment was put off, since this would be the FOURTH time a hospital appointment related to my cancer had been "rescheduled." Vareen stated he did not know why.

MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS JOIN IN SPINNING A WEB OF LIES TO DENY TREATMENT

Back at the prison I was taken to the medical department for a vital sign check, which is routine procedure anytime a prisoner returns from a hospital visit. At that time I was able to speak with the prison's nurse practitioner C. Riner and assistant Health Administrator H. Holloway. Both claimed to not know why the PET scan was not performed that day but assured me that it had been rescheduled for the very near future.

On Nov 4th I was taken to MCV by Vareen and another guard Lewis. This was for the follow-up radiologist visit to discuss the PET scan results. When the radiologist Dr. Fallahi looked at my hospital records he asked why the PET scan wasn't preformed on Oct 31st. I told him I didn't know but that I was told it was rescheduled. He said it had NOT been rescheduled and there was no indication why it hadn't been done. I then asked the guard Vareen, who had brought me to MCV that day, why he was told the the PET scan wasn't done. Again he claimed noone explained it to him, but that he was told it had been rescheduled.

Dr. Fallahi expressed that the scan needed to be done and he was immediately rescheduling it, but that he was worried that I might be mysteriously turned away again.

On returning to the prison I was taken to the medical department for the routine vital sign check. As I entered the medical department I passed an office where I saw nurse practitioner Riner sitting at a computer. A new nurse named Fenner took my vitals. I asked her if I could speak with Riner and the Health Administrator to determine why my PET scan wasn't done on Oct 31st and why they'd misinformed me on that date that it had been rescheduled when it hadn't. Fenner then unwittingly spilled the beans.

She revealed that the PET scan wasn't done on Oct 31st because the guards got me to MCV too late and missed my appointment; which made the second time this has happened. She explained that she'd read it in the records sent back with me from the hospital that day, as had Riner and nurse Holloway. So everyone, including Riner, Holloway and the guards who took me to the hospital on Oct 31st, had lied about not knowing why the PET scan wasn't done and claiming that it had been rescheduled.

I again asked Fenner to tell Riner I needed to speak with her about all this. Fenner left to give Riner my message, then returned a few minutes later to tell me Riner couldn't see me because she was seeing another patient. Moments later I was escorted by the transport guards from the medical department and passed the office where Riner was still sitting alone at a computer.

I then asked the guard Vareen why he'd lied claiming he didn't know why my PET scan wasn't done when actually he was the cause of my late arrival and missed appointment on Oct 31st, and everyone including medical staff had obviously conspired to close ranks around this lie. He would not answer and gave only a nervous chuckle.

I've known Vareen from my prior confinement at Sussex 1 State Prison in 2018. He worked on death row, where I was illegally held in solitary confinement for four months until I was transferred to the Indiana prison system. During that time I observed that he is a closed-lipped and loyal "Blue Line" pig who will quietly go along with and cover up any dirt that his peers engage in or orchestrate, especially administrators. I believe my late arrival and missed hospital appointment on Oct 31st was deliberate and that Vareen was directed to do this.

In any case, the pattern of denied and delayed cancer care by prison officials is clear, as is their sinister intention to cause me death from this cancer. They know that prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death in men, and can only be cured if caught AND TREATED before it spreads beyond the prostate. My prolonged delay of care ensures its spread and fatal outcome.

That medical professionals are party to this and lying to inflict this deadly harm is particularly egregious. As I've expressed before, in the context of prison medical care, their Hippocratic oath of "First do not harm" is inverted into one of "First do no good," especially in the case of political and politicized prisoners.

Dare to Struggle Dare to Win!

All Power to the People!

By Kevin "Rashid" Johnson

it is up at https://rashidmod.com/?p=3255

VICTIM BEHIND THE WALL Part IIII By James Avent

Where is the truth in freedom for an offender in the Virginia prison system? I can’t stomach the hatred of how we are picked over and left for dead and just deserted like we don’t matter. Becoming better is a joke, and only matters when there is a political campaign, or there is some type of publicity that can be gained from it. There is no real attributes, or positive gains from being incarcerated. I’ve seen only those who refuse to change or cause the most drama be put on a silver platter and give them the opportunities that they don’t deserve but those like myself who are modest, and are changing to become better and want more out of life, or not given the slightest time of day. How can we have a successful rate of offenders who don’t return when the system refuses to give the proper attention and use the resources to better place that offenders on the right path to a successful stories and not a negative one. Determined to break the barriers of how offenders are displaced and looked upon. There is a lot of offenders with Success stories that need to be shined upon, but it’s a very difficult task when you are neglected and pushed to the side for those who don’t care to change at all. So when we are categorized into one big circle of negativity and just looked at as one and not an individual. 

By James Avent 

RETALIATION FOR LITIGATION: VIRGINIA TARGETS PRISONERS SUING AGAINST SOLITARY CONFINEMENT (2022) By Kevin "Rashid" Johnson

 

SOLITARY TORTURE IN VIRGINIA

In 2011 the United Nations declared solitary confinement to be torture and that it should not be used for longer than two weeks. The next year I was transferred out of state after spending 18 years in solitary confinement in Virginia's prisons myself---14 years of which I spent in Virginia's notoriously racist and abusive supermaxes, Red Onion State Prison (ROSP) and Wallens Ridge State Prison (WRSP).

I had become a thorn in Virginia's side by co-founding outside support groups for prisoners, and resisting and exposing abuses in its prisons with published reports and articles, including about the abuses of solitary. (1)

After I was sent into 'domestic exile' and amidst an international movement exposing and challenging the widespread abuses of long term solitary in U.S. prisons, Virginia came under increased public and legal scrutiny for it's own abusive long term solitary practices at ROSP and WRSP, by both outside advocates and victimized prisoners.

VIRGINIA'S FAKE REFORM OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

In response Virginia Department of Corrections (sic!) [VDOC] officials moved to disguise but not end the continued use of solitary confinement. They created an arbitrary phase system to create the false appearance on paper of giving prisoners opportunities to participate in programs and be released to general population after brief periods.

To further disguise the continued solitary nature of their segregated housing units, they euphemistically called them Restorative Housing Units (RHUs) instead of what they actually are, solitary confinement. In the RHUs prisoners still spent months to years sitting idle and isolated. Public protests of this continued use of solitary confinement persisted (2), and several of it's victims who suffered this torture and psychological injury brought a federal class action lawsuit against it, styled William Thorpe v. VDOC. This lawsuit has not gone well for Virginia officials.

On June 15, 2021 the court found against Virginia officials that the so-called RHU step down program described in the lawsuit was unconstitutional and abusive and still constituted solitary confinement. (3) It is apparent that Virginia won't win this case.

VIRGINIA RETALIATES AGAINST ITS SOLITARY CONFINEMENT LITIGANTS

In turn, VDOC officials have retaliated against the prisoners who sued them. After spending over two decades in solitary, the lead plaintiff William Thorpe was interstate transferred to the Texas prison system, which is known by the courts for it's culture of extreme abuse by officials, targeted especially at prisoners who litigate. As the Texas federal courts have long acknowledged:

"[Texas Department of Corrections (TDC)] officers routinely harass and punish those prisoners whom they perceive as litigious. These inmates, known as 'writ writers,' are earmarked by TDC officials as troublemakers and are constantly hounded wherever they go within the prison system. Their persistence in legal activity can cause them to lose even minor comforts or privileges which TDC prisoners are otherwise capable of enjoying.

"Practices designed to retaliate against writ writers have ranged from the overt to the subtle, from the imposition of inconveniences to the perpetration of violence." (4)

I can also attest to the inhumane conditions inflicted on Texas prisoners in general and against those who litigate in particular, since this was one of the very prison systems that Virginia officials exiled me to and about which I wrote many articles. (5)

Another prisoner plaintiff in the Thorpe lawsuit is Peter Mukuria, who is a Comrade of mine and fellow leading member of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party (RIBPP). Mukuria was interstate transferred earlier this year to the Maryland prison system from ROSP. After suffering continued harassment by at ROSP, in Maryland he was set up by guards and thrown in solitary confinement which was exposed and, following public protest, rescinded. Then efforts were made to harass him and block his family and fiance from visiting him. Upon his transfer, Virginia officials vandalized and destroyed all of his personal property, including his legal materials related to the solitary confinement lawsuit. They are now attempting to negotiate reimbursement for his belongings.

Another prisoner plaintiff to the Thorpe lawsuit named Kevin Snodgrass, who is presently confined with me in solitary at Sussex 1 State Prison (S1SP), has also been targeted. I personally witnessed the recent retaliation he's faced.

In early October 2022 he was moved to general population against the warden, Kevin McCoy's wishes, and initially placed into a cell with a compatible cellmate. Moments after the move, Kevin's cellie was ordered to pack his belongings to be relocated to make room for another prisoner to be moved in with Kevin. The cellie protested but was told he was not assigned to the cell, although he'd been housed there for three weeks. He was forced to move under threat of disciplinary action. Kevin felt something was amiss.

Another prisoner, Kenneth Hunt, a known snitch, was immediately moved in with Kevin. Not long after, there was an altercation and the snitch requested protective custody. During the altercation the informant revealed to Kevin that just before moving into the cell, he was propositioned by a lieutenant named Green under the warden's directions, to set Kevin up to be put in solitary in exchange for certain perks, but that he wasn't going to do it. He did in any case give a statement against Kevin to have him convicted of a disciplinary infraction for assault on Hunt. Kevin is now back in solitary confinement for that incident that was set in motion by S1SP officials, the warden no less.

The attorneys who are representing the men in the Thorpe lawsuit spoke to Kevin recently and informed him that they had been attempting to communicate with him and all the other prisoner plaintiffs to the suit by phone for over a month, but had been blocked by prison officials. They reported that, like him, all the other plaintiffs have been targeted with retaliatory abuses.

The retaliations faced by the plaintiffs to the Thorpe solitary confinement lawsuit are typical. When the pigs are subjected to exposure and face even the smallest accountability for their wrongs, their response is never to acknowledge and correct their wrongs. They act instead to retaliate against those who bring their wrongs to light. Yet they are only too fond of preaching to those they hold in captivity for supposed breaking laws that we must learn to be responsible for our wrongs. The typical hypocricy of Amerikan democracy.

Dare to Struggle Dare to Win!

All Power to the People!

By Kevin "Rashid" Johnson

________________

Endnotes:

1. See, for example, Kevin "Rashid" Johnson, "Amerikan Prisons Are Government Sponsored Torture" (2007), http://rashidmod.com/?p=113; Kevin "Rashid"Johnson, "Abu Ghraib Comes to Amerika: Torture Unit Under Construction at Virginia's Red Onion State Prison" (2010), http://rashidmod.com/?p=119; Kevin "Rashid" Johnson, "Under New Administration Torture Unit Closes Then Reopens and ROSP, and Prison Abuse on the Rise" (2011), http://rashidmod.com/?p=317, etc.

2. See, report "Activists Campaign to end Solitary Confinement in Virginia," which has been aired on PBS several times

https://vpm.org/.../activists-campaign-to-end-solitary...

3. Thorpe v. VDOC, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112284 (W.D. Va., June 15, 2021)

4. Ruiz v. Estelle, 503 F. Supp. 1265, 1369 (S.D. Tex. 1980)

5. See my website, http://www.rashidmod.com

Section on Texas Department of Criminal Justice

The Second Sundays In November Are Being Established As Virginia Day On Solitary Confinement

The  U.S. Supreme Court as early as 1890 concluded in the case in Re Medley that solitary confinement made prisoners "violently insane," "suicidal" and it was an "infamous punishment." Since 1890 through 2022 a slew of Federal courts have reached similar conclusions.

Nonetheless, the executive and bureaucratic minds and hearts of the Virginia Department of Corrections claim by their insistence on continuing it's use that they are wiser smarter than everyone else, even the nations of the world who by the United Nations have criticized its use and worked to abolish its long term use.

By establishing a Virginia Day on Solitary Confinement, we state, the Virginia Department of Corrections isn't a paragon of any exclusive insight. If it is still doing something hearts and minds in 1890 concluded were ahumanistic and "infamous." Secondly it claims it is working for us the taxpayers, we the people, doing what advances public safety      We the people disagree and say no to infamy done in our name.

We Establish Virginia Day on Solitary Confinement

The second Sunday in November will represent a speaking out in whatever manner available in accord with ones ability against solitary confinement. If its tweets,  posts on the various social media platforms, t-shirts, signs, videos, radio call-ins, and discussions     That clearly state to our politicians that abusing and driving prisoners insane in our name, we the people isn't what we vote for.

Please use these hashtags       either or both

#VaDayOnSolitaryConfinement

#NovemberVASecondSunday

vapac

Victim Behind Walls Part III By James Avent

Where is the “hope” at in the prison system? To tell the truth their is not any really. Like myself and others you are warehoused and just seven digits until you are released or you die. So I ask those who can make change and better the system (Congress and The Department of Corrections) what are you going to do so that offenders really have a chance at society again and not become seven digits again? I’ve witnessed those go down the rabbit hole and never to return because of the lack of mental and emotional therapy programs and actually a system that gives the offender a better understanding of where he made his mistake or mistakes at and really place him in the correct facility to help him instead of just throwing him into the “abyss” of the prison system and forgotten about him. We as offenders can’t change if the proper channels or personnel refused to change or see their faults as they hold us to. There has to be a common grey area for greatness and betterness it can’t stay black and white because it will only get worst. 

James Avent 

Victims behind the walls