From the Editor - Prison Legal News

ADX Media Visit (cont.)
view of the nearby Sangre de Cristo Rocky
Mountains.
Life at ADX is populated with mostly
solitude sprinkled with some closed-circuit
and cable television, a lending library
and law library, GED and ESL (English
as a Second Language) programs, religious
services and even yoga which Paul
Zohn, one of the resident psychologists
exclaims “they love it.” Board games such
as “Fact or Crap” can be checked out by
the prisoners earning their way out of
ADX to the nearby USP through their
docile behavior.
This daily life includes plenty of
censorship such as newspapers arriving
a month late while guards clip articles
considered security or mental health
risks. Letters are likewise censored,
especially after it came to light that
three of the 1993 World Trade Center
bombers were corresponding with others
the Federal Government considers
terrorists. This prompted Colorado
U.S. Senators Wayne Allard and Ken
Salazar along with then U.S. Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales to tour ADX
in February 2007 with a corresponding
increase in censorship.
The tour appeared to be in response
to the story which appeared in both Westword
and PLN, Fortress Of Solitude: The
Bureau Of Prisons Is As Good At Keeping
Prisoners In As It Is At Keeping Reporters
Out, PLN, Oct. 2007, by Alan Prendergast
that noted that since 2001 the BOP
had denied every single media request to
interview a prisoner at ADX. The show
tour by the BOP keeps the denial of all
media interviews intact. Tellingly, Prendergast
was not invited on the tour. He is
the only journalist in Colorado that has
reported criticially on BOP operations in
the state since the Florence, prison complex
opened.
The ensuing puff pieces the tour produced
indicate the BOP need not worry
about a critical or discerning media. They
are more than happy to regurgitate the
party line.
Unlike the famous quote of T.S. Eliot,
“We must cease from exploration; and the
end of all our exploring will be to arrive
where we began and to know the place for
the first time,” this fluff tour of ADX did
not leave us knowing the place for the first
time but realizing that we can be fooled
just as easily inside ADX as out.
April 2008
Administrative Errors and Poor PHS
Medical Care Precede Chronically Ill
Vermont Prisoner’s Death
by David M. Reutter
Report by the Vermont Protection
A and Advocacy System (VP & A)
has found breakdowns by staff of the Vermont
Department of Corrections (VDOC)
in its furlough procedure and troubling care
provided by VDOC’s medical provider,
Prison Health Services (PHS). The July 2007
report focuses on the treatment of VDOC
prisoner Michael Estabrook.
The subject of the report has been
unable to read it. That is because while in custody
of VDOC, Estabrook died at Fletcher
Allen Health Care (FAHC) on March 7,
2006. The report is based upon Estabrook’s
medical and classification file notes. At the
time of his death, Estabrook was 37 years
old, divorced with two children.
In May 2004, he entered VDOC a very
sick man. He suffered from a disabling disease
called severe dilated cardiomyopathy,
which is a condition that decreases the
heart’s ability to pump blood because the
heart’s main pumping chamber, the left
ventricle, is enlarged and weakened. He
also had congestive heart failure.
Recognizing his condition was “terminal
and debilitating,” VDOC around
July 21, 2005, granted Estabrook a medical
furlough because he was physically
incapable of presenting a danger to society.
His furlough, however, was revoked
on April 27, 2005, due to an outstanding
warrant for a failure to pay a $601 fine. He
was to remain imprisoned until he fully
paid that fine.
After detailing the chronological facts
from Estabrook’s files, the VP & A made
its findings. It began with “Medical Furlough
Issues.” It found Estabrook should
have been granted a medical furlough
“during his last incarceration based on his
deteriorating state and need for strict and
careful medical monitoring.”
In July 2005, a PHS physician noted
that Estabrook should be transferred to a
prison with a “higher level of nursing care,
closer to cardiologist in FAHC.” That doctor
also found his care “basically remains a
guessing game” that resulted in renal failure
during his last imprisonment. VDOC’s
Medical Director reviewed Estabrook
for medical furlough. She recommended
against furlough based on outdated, inaccurate
or erroneous information, and that
28
did not accurately reflect the severity of
Estabrook’s medical situation.
Despite saying she reviewed his case,
the Medical Director never compiled all
the documents required under VDOC’s
Medical Furlough Directive and submitted
them to the clinical director and
director of security and operations for
their review. Between August 2005 and
February, there are six different notations
that reflect Estabrook was requesting a
medical furlough, but no one took official
action to act on that request despite their
reassurances otherwise.
Starting in November 2005, there are
at least eight notes that indicate Estabrook’s
condition was deteriorating and no appropriate
medical response occurred. In June 2004,
FAHC outlined for VDOC medical providers
conditions that merited medical follow up.
The greatest concern for Estabrook was fluid
retention, which required daily weighing and
action if a gain of 3 to 4 pounds or more
occurred over 1 to 2 days. After January 1,
2006, the daily weighing stopped. Between
February 11 and February 22, 2006, Estabrook
gained 11 pounds, meaning medical
providers failure to monitor his condition
contributed to his deteriorations. Most strikingly,
he was ordered by VDOC doctors “to
take lots of fluids.”
On January 17, 2006, Estabrook
requested to be placed in the Infirmary.
Under PHS policy, that request should
have been granted. Estabrook, however,
was only told by PHS staff they would
follow up on the request, but none did.
Unsurprisingly, “PHS ran out of a few of
Mr. Estabrook’s critical medications” between
November 2005 and February 2006.
Finally, a PHS physician entered a Do Not
Resuscitate order in Estabrook’s file without
consultation. Not only did this violate
Vermont law, it was against Estabrook’s
wishes. The order was later rescinded and
did not contribute to his death.
The VP & A report concludes with
9 common sense recommendations to
prevent the administrative failures leading
up to his death. The report, entitled
Investigation Into the Death of Michael
Estabrook While In the Custody of the
Vermont Department of Corrections is
available on PLN’s website.
Prison Legal News