Harold Hempstead takes on the cause of Disabled Rights in the Florida
Department of Corrections. From the
information he’s also submitted to Rick Scott, Governor of Florida and the U.S.
Department of Justice, it would seem that the needs and safety of the
mobility-impaired inmates are not being taken seriously. The following affidavit meticulously details the many
obstacles and difficulties daily encountered by those convicts confined to
wheelchairs. Once again, the law has
prescribed a series of measures to be taken and standards to be upheld and
these are simply not being respected and implemented properly. Once again, it takes the efforts of a
prisoner to raise these matters and ask the authorities to uphold their own
laws and regulations. When those authorities start
listening to Harold Hempstead and implementing the strategies already in place
for protecting disabled rights, and basic human rights; as well as the many other grave matters that he
has raised; then perhaps Florida can one
day truly claim to be a place administered by justice, democracy and the rule of
law.
"SWORN AFFIDAVIT
To: U.S. Department
of Justice, Disability Rights Section, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest,
Washington D.C. 20530.
Florida Governor Rick Scott, 400 South Monroe Street,
Tallahassee, Florida 32399.
Florida Department of Corrections, Attn:
A.D.A. Coordinator, 501 South Calhoun Street, Tallahassee, Florida
32399.
The Federal A.D.A. Act (42 U.S.C. : 12101) and section 504
of the Rehabilitation Acts (29 U.S.C. : 794) apply to prisoners, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections V. Yeskey,
524 U.S. 206, 118 S.CT.1952 (1998);
Harris V. Thigpen, 941 F.3D 1495 (11th Cir. 1991).
MOBILITY IMPAIRED INMATES
The wheelchair impaired inmates are housed in 8 housing
dorms at Okeechobee C.I. In order for
them: to leave their housing dorms and go to the chowhall 3 times a day to eat
their meals; to go to medical, dental
and mental health call-outs for treatment;
to go to chapel, law-library, library, education and classification
call-outs; to go to the inmate canteen (commissary)
to purchase food items, stationary and hygiene items; and to go to the inmate visitation park for
visitation they have to use the large quantity of interconnecting
sidewalks. The sidewalks have dozens of
large cracks and minor potholes in them.
Oftentimes wheelchair impaired inmates are ejected from their
wheelchairs when going over the cracks and by accident fall into the
potholes. 28 CFR 361; Ganstine V. Buss, 211 U.S. Dist. Lexis
148497. This violation is causing A.D.A.
inmates to be physically hurt.
The dirt and/or grass on both sides of all the sidewalks,
etc. are parallel or lesser in elevation than the sidewalks. Often times wheelchair impaired inmates roll
off the sidewalks, or are pushed off the sidewalks by other inmates intentionally. When this happens the wheelchair impaired
inmate is ejected from his wheelchair when the wheels of the wheelchair hit the
dirt and/or grass. 28 CFR 36. This violation is causing A.D.A. inmates to
be physically hurt. If the dirt and/or
grass was elevated above the sidewalks, etc. it would prevent the foregoing.
1.) 28 Code of Federal Regulations 36 is the A.D.A.
Accessibility Guide.
The entrances to the 8 housing dorms and numerous other
entrances at Okeechobee C.I. are unsafe for wheelchair impaired inmates to pass
through. The elevated steel that the
wheelchair impaired inmates have to cross over in the entrance ways oftentimes
causes them to be ejected from their wheelchairs if they’re not very
careful. 28 CFR 36. This violation is causing A.D.A. inmates to
be physically hurt.
Several of the restrooms at Okeechobee C.I. don’t provide
accessible door hardware that can be opened with a closed fist as required by
28 CFR 36 Section 4.23.9.
Securely attached matts are not provided at the entrance of
each building and into each wheelchair impaired shower in violation of 28 CFR
36 Section 4.5.3.
The counter in the law library that law clerks and orderlies
stand behind to help the inmate population with their law work is more than 34
inches high from the floor in violation of 28 CFR 36 Section 5.2.
The U.S. postal mailbox and inmate request box are more than
34 inches high from the ground in violation of 28 CFR 36 Section 5.2.
The restrooms don’t have papertowel dispensers at an
accessible height in violation of 28 CFR 36 4.22.7.
Okeechobee C.I. doesn’t provide adequate direction and
accurate information signage for A.D.A. inmates in violation of 28 CFR Section
4.1.3 (16).
Okeechobee C.I. has 36 wheelchair accessible cells. 6 of these cells are in confinement
wings. Okeechobee C.I. doesn’t have a
sufficient amount of wheelchair accessible cells to house wheelchair impaired
inmates in violation of 28 CFR 36;
Florida Statute 553.503. This is
causing wheelchair impaired inmates to be housed in cells and living quarters
that are not in compliance with the A.D.A.
The wheelchair impaired inmate showers have showerheads
stuck to the walls like non A.D.A. wheelchair impaired showers. These types of showerheads make it where
wheelchair impaired inmates can’t properly wash the whole backside of their
bodies that are in the wheelchairs.
Okeechobee C.I.’s failure to provide handheld showerheads that are
connected to the showerheads on the walls via a hose so wheelchair impaired
inmates can properly shower themselves is causing them to be denied proper
hygiene and is in violation of 28 CFR 36.
Okeechobee C.I. has 2 inmate recreation yards. One of the recreation yards doesn’t have any
cement, etc. sidewalks on it. Wheelchair
impaired inmates cannot access it. As it
concerns the second recreation yard, wheelchair impaired inmates have sidewalks
that go to the front and side of the recreation building, basketball court,
small pavilion, and toilets. On this
recreation yard wheelchair impaired inmates don’t have access to the 2 large
pavilions, 2 water kegs, the football and soccor fields; and because the
basketball court only has enough cement to make the court, wheelchair impaired
inmates cannot park their wheelchairs on the basketball court. These violations prohibit wheelchair impaired
inmates from being able to watch sporting events like the rest of the general
population. Approximately 90 percent of
this recreation yard cannot be accessed by wheelchair impaired inmates. None of the 3 pavilions have tables under
them that can be used by wheelchair impaired inmates. Neither of the recreation yards have a cement
sidewalk that go all around them for wheelchair impaired inmates. These violations make it where wheelchair
impaired inmates don’t go to the recreation yards to sit in the sun, get fresh
air, or watch sporting events. 28 CFR
36; Florida Accessibility Code (Florida
Statute 553.503); Ganstine V. Buss, 2011
U.S. Dist. Lexis 148497 (2011).
Wheelchair impaired inmates cannot have access to the inmate
canteens; medical, mental health, dental
and classification departments, pilline to receive medication; and library, law library and education
departments without travelling up and down inclined cement sidewalks. Also, to exit the north and south chowhalls
wheelchair impaired inmates have to travel down inclined cement sidewalks. The health of a lot of the wheelchair
impaired inmates prohibit them from being able to push themselves up the
inclined cement sidewalks. If a staff or
inmate don’t help them up the inclined sidewalk, they’ll have to wait at the
bottom of said sidewalk until somebody agrees to help them. Also, a lot of the wheelchair impaired
inmates can’t safely control their wheelchairs when having to travel down the
inclined cement sidewalks. This
oftentimes scares them to attempt such.
Some of the wheelchair impaired inmates who attempt to travel down the
inclined sidewalks without help end up hitting inmates at the bottom of the
inclined sidewalks and sometimes hit the fences and/or go into the dirt and/or
grass which are about 12 feet from the bottom of the inclined sidewalks. Also, these inclined cement sidewalks don’t
have handrails. 28 CFR 36.
Inmates that are acting as impaired assistants with
wheelchair impaired inmates are extorting, physically and (possibly sexually)
battering wheelchair impaired inmates.
28 CFR 36.
The law library at Okeechobee C.I. doesn’t have a primary
research book/source for A.D.A. inmates to research A.D.A. violations. This violation makes it where A.D.A. inmates
can’t properly defend themselves against A.D.A. violations in violation of the
A.D.A. and 28 CFR 36.
RELIEF SOUGHT
For the U.S. Department of Justice Disability Rights
Section, Florida Governor, and Florida Department of Corrections to take
immediate action to correct the A.D.A. violations mentioned herein that are at
Okeechobee Correctional Institution.
Executed on this 2 day of December 2016.
UNNOTARIZED OATH
Under penalty of perjury I swear that everything stated
herein is true and correct.
Affiant: (Signature
of Harold Hempstead appears here on original handwritten document)
Harold Hempstead, D.C.# 268866, Okeechobee Correctional
Institution, 3420 North East 168th Street, Okeechobee, Florida 34972
C.C. ACLU of Florida (Howard Simon)
Stop Prison Abuse Now (Steven
Wetstein)
Disability Rights Florida (Molly
Paris)
Florida Legal Service (Peter
Sleasman)
Florida Justice Institute
(Randall Berg)
Forgotten Majority
Human Rights Defence Center
(Lance T.Weber)
Miami Herald Newspaper (Julie
Brown)
WTVT Fox 13 Tampa (Craig
Patrick)
CBS 4 Miami (Michele Gillen)
New Yorker Magazine (Eyal
Press)
Tampa Bay Times
Palm Beach Post (Pat Beall)
Windy Hempstead
Susan Chandler
George Mallinckrodt
Jeremy Schanche"
Harold Hempstead before his incarceration
Other blog-posts on Harold Hempstead, Darren Rainey and the Florida Department of Corrections:
Here's an interview between Harold Hempstead and Jeremy Schanche of The Limpet:
Affidavit describing torture-murder of Darren Rainey in specially converted shower. Also affidavit describing illegal mixing of prisoner-categories by FDC:
A post on Daniel Geiger who died in FDC custody on 7 November 2016. He was tortured in the same shower as Darren Rainey and was subject to starvation. His weight fell from 179 pounds to 105 during his imprisonment:
Harold Hempstead's affidavit of 4th November exposes the FDC's failure to protect children, as well as women and men, from sexual predators in Florida prison visitation parks:
My first blog on Florida Department of Corrections:
Petition to make Immunotherapy available for U.K. Cancer Patients - Please Sign:
Chelsea Manning is running out of time.....
Petition to have Chelsea Manning released by commutation of sentence - Please sign - Chelsea's life is in danger:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/commute-chelsea-mannings-sentence-time-served-1?
link_id=4&can_id=3b4cc035679cf4b7201698e8bf559254&source=email-chelsea-manning-is-running-out-of-time-9&email_referrer=chelsea-manning-is-running-out-of-time-9&email_subject=chelsea-manning-is-running-out-of-time
Petition to have Chelsea Manning released by commutation of sentence - Please sign - Chelsea's life is in danger:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/commute-chelsea-mannings-sentence-time-served-1?
link_id=4&can_id=3b4cc035679cf4b7201698e8bf559254&source=email-chelsea-manning-is-running-out-of-time-9&email_referrer=chelsea-manning-is-running-out-of-time-9&email_subject=chelsea-manning-is-running-out-of-time
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