The Politics
Pollock is a scant 22 miles from Jena, Louisiana. Jena is where the white students supposedly hung nooses on a “white” tree that some black students had begun to sit under. Most people will recall that this turned into a month-long demonstration at outraged people of all colors confronted the white District Attorney of LaSalle Parish who initially charged the black students with attempted murder, when what happened was an assault that sent a white student to the emergency room. The Parish DA later backed of that stance in light of nationwide attention.
The FBI came in to investigate. They in turn consulted the US Attorney Donald Washington as to whether or not the nooses constituted a hate crime. Washington became a highly visible figure in this whole matter that had begun as a Parish problem. Media from all over the US used Washington as a “go-to” person for the statements and answers they needed, instead of to the Parish authorities.
15,000 to 20,000 protestors marched on Jena on September 20, 2007, getting nationwide and worldwide TV coverage. Racial tensions were unreasonably high in this part of Louisiana. On November 29, 2007, the same Mr. Washington secured an indictment against Eddie Branch for the death of a black inmate at Pollock. While black students had assaulted a white student in Jena, a white inmate had killed a black inmate in nearby Pollock, and Mr. Washington needed the publicity that white on black crime would not go unpunished. What led to the death of Tyrone Johnson was not as important as the need to show the laws were being applied equally.
Jena may have had 15,000 to 20,000 people in the streets to protest an injustice, but in the Alexandria courtroom we had only 3 to silently witness a more profound injustice – the abrogation of its responsibilities by a willfully ignorant jury and the taking by the government of another 10 years from a man’s life.
The Government was desperate to prove Eddie guilty. Why?
According to the Town Talk, April 27, 2008, reporter Abbey Brown reported that Pollock had had 6 deaths in the prior 12 months.
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) replaced the warden in about November, 2007, and in the transition week when both he and the new warden were present, there were two more killings.
A shakedown of the whole prison following the Tyrone Johnson incident and the riot that broke out moments later in the mess hall revealed approximately 300 shanks or knives. Pollock was a prison out of control with a majority of the population being the (Washington) D.C. Gang. No wonder everyone had or tried to have their own protection.
The BOP had to find someone guilty of one of these murders, and Eddie was the only one that was “solved.” There was no doubt that he had killed Tyrone Johnson, and by having him found guilty they were able to send the message to other inmates that such crimes would be prosecuted.
Too bad they got their conviction on the back of the one inmate whose only crime was of self-defense.
To what degree is the Bureau of Prisons responsible for the incidents of April 20, 2007? How did their actions and inactions contribute to the deadly events that day?
THE DATE ITSELF
Ignored outside, but known within American prisons where there is a racial component, is that April 20 is the birthday of Adolph Hitler. It is clearly unfair to characterize all white inmates as being gang members. Many participate on this day to show solidarity in a world where whites are only 3.5% of the BOP population. But in some prisons where the white gangs have more power than at Pollock, they have been known to have small celebrations of this birthday.
Other prisons have had incidents on this date, but there was no particular alert at Pollock because of it. Another USP at Florence, Colorado (not the Super Max unit) had a riot in 2008 over some white inmates singing Happy Birthday in the yard, when they were attacked by black, racist gang members. Why does the BOP simply ignore this date instead of recognizing it as one that is potentially racially charged? This may be difficult because all race have their own racial holidays.
It is conceivable that at Pollock the black inmates who were members of the DC gang chose that inauspicious occasion to show their muscle, thereby pre-empting any holiday expression by white groups.
BOP VIOLENCE STATISTICS AND POLICIES ON INTERVENING IN INMATE ALTERCATIONS
Based on internal BOP documents (USP Pollock/SIS Department).The information is relayed to the reader as it appears on the reports – they are year to date.
FIGHTS
Updated 04/12/06 - 8
Updated12/28/06 – 51
Updated 01/06/07 – 3
STAFF ASSAULTS
Updated 04/12/06 – 6
Updated 12/28/06 – 45
Updated 05/17/07 – 9
INMATE ASSAULTS
Updated 04/12/06 – 11
Updated 12/28/06 – 91
Updated 01/06/07 – 3
Updated 05/17/07 – 28
WEAPONS RECOVERED
Updated 04/12/06 – 17
Updated 12/28/06 – 146
Updated 01/06/07 – 16
Updated 05/17/07 – 320
Per BOP policy:
“…the speed and effectiveness of staff response will directly affect the severity of the situations impact on staff and inmates. Additionally, a well coordinated first response can minimize the disruption to other vital security procedures that is caused by an emergency situation..”
IMBALANCE
With the demographics at Pollock reflecting something in the neighborhood of 83% black, with the remainder being white and Hispanic, how could the BOP have allowed this institution become so racially out of balance? Also, as we point out elsewhere, since the BOP acts as the jailer for the District of Columbia, criminals from Washington, D.C. become wards of the BOP. There is no District of Columbia Department of Corrections – that’s what the BOP is.
What Pollock ended up becoming, therefore, was a facility that was overwhelmingly black and overwhelmingly representing the D.C. gang. If balance is obtained in other prisons by having a mixture of races and gangs (a fact of prison life), then why was Pollock allowed to fall so dangerously out of balance?
This may not be a “politically correct” observation, but it is what it is. In fact, the higher the security designation of the facility (in this case, maximum security), so too should the diversity be the greatest. Or, by contrast, the higher the security designation, perhaps the units should be wholly segregated. Either solution would probably result in lessened crime and greater control within the prisons.
GUARD RESPONSIBILITIES
Something so basic as the guards’ responsibilities to protect the inmate, which is part and parcel of maintaining order within a penal institution, should not have to come into question. But it does, within the Bureau of Prisons. Here, guards are reduced to being spectators, or to only going in when they can do so as a military force (see news videos about guards forming marching lines for cell take-downs).
Interestingly, Lt. Anthony Garrow testifies that in the event of a knife fight like this, guards are supposed to keep themselves safe. “They’re not to jump in the middle of a knife fight. They’re not to try to pry inmates off each other if weapons are involved,” he states. “We will wait until we have sufficient staff to get in there to address the situation … or if we have the less lethal munitions which I spoke of earlier show up.” [Trial Page 46: 1-11]
The videos show clearly that guards kept coming into the sally port throughout the last minute of this fight. There were 11 of them by last count. How many guards does it take whose brute force could have ended the battle before it ever progressed into the shower?
Is there a county jail anywhere where the guards would not seize the combatants and stop the fight? Jail guards don’t wait for someone to deliver non-lethal weapons. They settle people down immediately. Cops in the streets are at greater risk from people with knives who have access to drugs like angel dust and meth that makes them immune to their own pain. These drugs must make their way into prisons too, but to a vastly small degree.
And what about a locked cabinet built into the wall in the sally port, just to carry pepper spray or some simple non-lethal weaponry? A few blasts of pepper spray could have stopped this fight, Tyrone would have been convicted of the murder of Derrick, and Eddie would be out fishing with his Dad. What if! One can of pepper spray!
In the fight between Eddie and Tyrone, there was a guard standing on the other side of Cowboy, even as Eddie was asking for and receiving the “steel” he needed to battle Tyrone. While that guard is presumably the one who “pushed the deuces,” that is, pressed the emergency button on his uniform to alert the Tower, [Trial Page 121: 22 through Page 122: 3], and may have been the one who was, according to Cowboy, telling everyone to get out of the unit [Trial Page 120: 4-17]. But despite being steps away from Eddie, he never approached him to stop what he was doing, or tried to help him leave.
To the extent that the BOP prevents guards from their duty to protect the inmates from each other, and does not make equipment available nearby like pepper spray, is the extent to which it is liable for the death of Tyrone Johnson.
CLASSIFICATION
Why were two non-violent people sent to Pollock which already had a reputation for violence? Eddie and Derrick had short sentences for non violent crimes and no write-ups while at Pollock before this incident. They should never have been sent to Pollock in the first place. It is considered to be a maximum security facility with people who have a long time to serve.
Please be sure to read the article we’re enclosing from Prison Legal News entitled Violence on the Rise in BOP Facilities, by Brandon Sample, included in this site with permission. The BOP is failing to protect those entrusted to their charge. Change at the top is long overdue.
Two of the murders at Pollock in 2007 occurred during the one-week overlap when the current Warden was being replaced by a replacement Warden. Two Wardens on duty and still there were murders. Yet another murder happened a couple of months later in January, 2008.
