High Desert State Prison: Retaliatory conduct reflects badly on department.

----------------Via email alert from International Prison Watch, with help from our comrades at Nevada Prison Watch-------------------------

A prisoner who is vocal about prison conditions inside Nevada prisons is being retaliated against, even though he only has 70 days left until release.

James K. Wardell, NDOC #92924 has since summer 2010 voiced his concerns to Nevada Prison Watch, a community weblog, about the unhygienic sanitary conditions, the state of the food served, and inmates who were attacked by staff inside High Desert State Prison.

The warden has tried to silence the voice of Mr Wardell by locking him up for 10 days, naked, with the lights on 24/7, in a separate part of the prison, without his glasses or anything, in the summer of 2010.

When this torture did not help in silencing Mr Wardell, the administration gave him more days until his release after nearly 30 years, pushing his release date back to later in 2011. The warden also kept Mr Wardell on administrative segregation, and did not want him “on his yard”, yet warden Baca prevented Mr Wardell from being transferred to another prison to serve the last days of his long sentence.

When he challenged this decision in court and won (January 2011), his cell was raided and legal documents were taken.

Then, around January 22^nd, he was served with “charges”, apparently old, never before served charges but served late, against the rules, without stating a reason why they were served so late (contrary to the rules), and ignoring Mr Wardell´s right to remain silent and to a not guilty plea, contrary to NDOC´s rules.

Nevada Prison Watch suspects that these actions are retaliation because Mr Wardell spoke critically on a weblog about the state of the prison and its management.

Now, Mr Wardell has to fight these false charges while preparing for release, and in uncertainty of his release date. Mr Wardell should now be working on getting housing and a job, yet NDOC has done everything in its power, including illegal actions, to prevent Mr Wardell from being released, just for speaking out against dirty showers, cold food and having whole units on lockdown with no programs or anything to help prisoners better themselves.

What can you do?

Please write to the new director of Nevada Department of Corrections, Mr Greg Cox, and ask him politely yet determinedly to welcome his response or intervention into correcting these outright displays of abuse and failure of the prison officials in not following their own procedures, and the harassment of this prisoner in order to chill his First Amendment Rights at H.D.S.P.

Address to write to:

Nevada Department of Corrections

Director´s Office

Mr Greg Cox

P.O. Box 7011

Carson City, Nevada 89702

And:

Offender Management Division

Nevada Department of Corrections
P.O. Box 7011
Carson City, Nevada 89702

Thank you so much for your help and support!

Friends of James Wardell

For more information: Internationalprisonwatch@gmail.com

See for newsitems Mr Wardell sent in to the weblog: Nevadaprisonwatch.org