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Trigger warning: Mentions racist violence by guards at SCI Rockview

About

In November 2023, a group of guards hung two nooses in the office (bubble) at SCI Rockview – a location visible to roughly a hundred prisoners. Prisoners who witnessed the nooses have been outraged by this disturbing racist act, and have since demanded that these guards face consequences. In January we launched a two week phone zap campaign that forced PA-DOC main offices to contact the warden. While many Black prisoners remain tormented by this racist act, the guards responsible have enjoyed impunity, with officials in the facility even making attempts to silence anyone on the inside who speaks out. One captive comrade was actually transferred out of state because of their agitation around this issue, while another captive comrade’s grievances have been outright rejected by the administration.

We have little reason to believe an internal investigation will achieve what the prisoners have been demanding, which includes the following:

  • Investigate the hanging of nooses as a “hate crime” and take their impact seriously
  • Terminate Sgt. Mosser and c/o Richards
  • Mandatory therapy for c/o Kirchner

SCI Rockview has seen 11 deaths (that we know of) in 2023 and a severe pattern of racist discriminatory practices. Please join us in calling PA-DOC offices and officials, to further expose this incident and amplify the demands of our captive comrades.

Script for Calling

I am calling on behalf of a community of people who are distressed by a recent incident of antiBlack harassment by a group of CO’s at SCI Rockview, who have faced no consequences for their racist actions. On 11/24/23, prisoners at SCI Rockview found two nooses made from extension cords hung by guards in the office (bubble). Two internal grievances have been submitted by prisoners who witnessed the incident, and prison officials have rejected both. We would like to make you aware that the facility admin has rejected both internal grievances, submitted by prisoners through the proper channels. The guards have faced no consequences. We have little reason to believe an internal investigation will achieve what the prisoners have been demanding, which includes the following:

  • Investigate the hanging of nooses as a “hate crime” and take its impact seriously
  • Terminate Sgt. Mosser and c/o Richards
  • Mandatory therapy for c/o Kirchner

The hanging of two nooses is understood by many people imprisoned at SCI Rockview to be a hostile act and deeply offensive. Some are disclosing how these acts are part of a larger pattern of discriminatory practices used by correctional officers at this specific facility. If this was any other workplace, the act of hanging nooses would lead to severe consequences. The admin at SCi Rockview have not only displayed indifference to the racist act, but some even have made efforts to silence prisoners in distress by the incident. We urge PA-DOC officials to recognize the significance of the prisoner demands, which are derived from the exhausted grievances. 

Updates

Calls began this morning, reports include:

-called the pa doc for laurel harry and it went to voicemail, left a message with the script

-called a US attorney’s office #, but they said they’re federal and to instead call State attorney general 717-787-3391 (Harrisburg)

-“I called PA-DOC Eastern: Morris Houser, Acting Deputy Secretary Eastern Region 717.728.4122 – a secretary picked up. i left a message with her and she forwarded me to Samuel Condo, Staff Assistant 717.728.4747 of PADOC eastern? I left a message with reading the script”

-“Ppl have contacted all PA-DOC main offices this morning now. We could use a few more ppl tapping in. All of them went to voicemail or secretary seny us to Samuel Condo’s voicemail (who won’t pick up). Kept emphasizing how we have no faith in the internal investigation process.”

Phone Contacts

Central Office Main Phone Line:
717.728.2573

Abuse Report 24/7 Voicemail Center:
1.800.677.0330

PA-DOC Admin:

Laurel Harry, Secretary of Corrections
717.728.4109

Randee Brant, Chief of Staff
717.728.4107

David Radziewicz, Special Assistant
717.728.4117

Deanna Washington, Executive Secretary,
Deputy Secretary’s Office
717.728.4122

Tim Holmes, Chief Counsel
717.728.7763

PA-DOC Eastern:

Morris Houser, Acting Deputy Secretary Eastern Region
717.728.4122 / 4123

Marilyn Richards, Staff Assistant
717.728.4114

Samuel Condo, Staff Assistant
717.728.4747

Capt. Bly, Inspection Captain
717.728.4126 (number was disconnected)

Emails can be sent to:

General inmate-related issues, send emails to:
ra-contactdoc@pa.gov

Email the DOC Secretary at
ra-crpadocsecretary@pa.gov

PA-DOC Contact Form:

https://py-forms-prod.powerappsportals.us/DOCContactUs/

 

 

 

Press Release – March 13, 2024

Re: Correctional Officers Hang Nooses and SCI Rockview Does Nothing

Bellefonte, Pa. – On November 24, 2023, prisoners at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hanging there, they were told it was a joke. By December 4, pris- oners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates” and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” (For perspective: Rockview’s pris- oner population is 45% black.) In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richards be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Cap- tain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance over two months later by February 5, 2024 under the guise that it was “being investigated”. However, the sergeant and Cos are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions except getting moved to another block.

As of March 10, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending copies of the grievance. Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, which continue to be dismissed by the administration at Rockview.

In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, the staff and administration at SCI Rockview continue to dodge public accountability. In fact, the prison has a history of fostering systemic racism, like in 2013 when admin blocked a Muslim prisoner from wearing religious garb. Kerry X. Marshall, then incarcerated at SCI Rockview, sued and six years later the courts determined that the prison had violated his religious freedom.

This incident is coming at a time when in 2023, 11 prisoners died in custody. Seven people died amid an outbreak of legionnaires disease, and four people died while in the RHU (punitive solitary units with very little public oversight). Unfortunately, there is a well-known pattern of premature death at SCI Rockview. Most well known is an incident in 2012, when COs killed the prisoner John Carter during a “cell extraction” while he was in the RHU, in what other prisoners described as “turning his cell into a gas chamber” using ‘non-lethal’ weapon OC pepper spray. Carter’s family never received justice for what the prison did to him, and PA DOC never acknowledged or reprimanded the guards who killed him.

In short, prisoner demands to investigate the hanging of nooses as a hate crime, terminate Sgt. Mosser and CO Richards, and mandatory therapy for CO Kirchner, need be taken seriously.