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[no title] Wed 8-18-18 Dear Prison Writing Archieve, Many women are dying here in Carswell that should be home in their final days or months with their families. Less than 1% of the filed Compassionate Relief forms are granted. Because of rooming with an INA (nurse aid) I have listened to the statements of intensely poor care being provided to patients on the 4th floor. Some of these patients I've known well over the years. They do have families that want to share the end of their lives with them. Only one in the last two years did not have a family to take her. This occurred because her health was so severely compromised the family did not know how to cope or access care. In the last fifteen years the list of inmates who has died is vastly long. Nearly every patient has been denied Compassionate Release. Proposed laws address C.R. on a constant basis and recently the Dept. of Justice revised the release criteria. However the BOP refuses applications. The warden here candidly states, "If they can dress or feed themselves, they're not going anywhere." "They can die right here." So there's usable criteria that's current and Warden Upton has denied all but one petition for C.R. Unfortunately she had to spend family money on an attorney's services. On 4th floor it's common to limit the number of diaper changes allowed per day, decubitus ulcers are a norm, colostomies are frequent, malnutrition is evident and fractures are highly frequent due to being less due to poor nutrition. Patient inmates are spoken to aggressively and cussed at. Professionalism does not exist. How can conditions and staff attitudes be so deplorable? Many (most) people would benefit if given a standard of care medically. Because of no care in the BOP my kidney levels have deteriorated to stage 4 failure. In society I held military insurance and had great care at Mayo Hospital, To pay a home monitoring fee would extend my life by years. My sentence is conspiracy and holds no validity. There are 1000's of us held on conspiracy. This means someone said, Truth or evidence is not a factor. So unless these laws address conspiracy and compassionate release I will die in prison. I'm blessed with a great education, am still capable of working and have great family support. Those of us sentenced on conspiracy should have the opportunity to pay a fee [to] probation and parole thus allowing us to be productive. All prisons, male and female, would rather allow inmates to die in prison versus having quality medical care and important time with family members. Respectfully Submitted, Lee Novinger
