April 30–May 7, 1998

hit and run

The Hole Truth

Forty-one officers at Pennsylvania's largest maximum security prison are being investigated in light of evidence that they pushed, shoved and physically abused inmates there. Nearly half the prison's population was sentenced in Philadelphia.

The State Department of Corrections is holding "pre-disciplinary proceedings" this week on numerous charges lodged against guards at the State Correctional Institution Greene (SCI Greene), near Waynesburg in the southwest corner of the state.

In addition, the Greene County district attorney last week began his own investigation of the same charges against the correctional officers.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections initially began looking into the violations back in November, when an inmate alleged that guards had used "unnecessary force" while transferring him to the restrictive housing unit of the prison. This cell block is where inmates are taken for infractions committed while inside the prison, such as threatening a guard or ignoring rules.

Security cameras videotape all transfers into the unit, known as "the hole." Therefore, the Corrections Department was able to view the tape made the day of the complaint.

"It was clear the prisoner had been grabbed by the throat and pushed against the wall," says Greene County District Attorney David Pollock.

Department of Corrections officials decided to review other tapes. "The first seven tapes drawn at random showed similar behavior, where a prisoner was told to do something and—with little provocation—he was pushed," Pollock says.

About 655 of SCI Greene's 1,470 prisoners were convicted of crimes committed in Philadelphia. Characterized as "the end of the line," the prison is where some of Pennsylvania's most dangerous offenders are sent—including 110 who now sit on death row.

The issue of who is accountable for the guards' use of unnecessary force is tricky, according to prisoner rights advocates.

Supervisors are supposed to regularly review the tapes to ensure guards are following procedure. So the question being asked is: Did the prison captains fail to monitor the videos, or were they well aware of the guards' violent actions but accepting of them?

"It is possible that the guards were ordered to use force, and now the captains will try to use the guards as scapegoats by saying they initiated it themselves," says Jamie Graham, chair for the Philadelphia chapter of Pennsylvania Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty.

The allegations are also forcing the state to dance around some of the issues, Graham adds.

"The Department of Corrections wants to proceed quickly enough on this investigation that it appears they are doing something, but in reality they don't want to fundamentally change things at SCI Greene," he says.

Pollock agrees that prison supervisors will need to accept some level of responsibility. "The problem is, it is possible guards were simply taking actions that were always acceptable," he says. "And suddenly, the state is now saying it is abuse."

During pre-disciplinary hearings over the next two weeks, state investigators will present their findings as they pertain to all 41 accused officers, says Michael Lukens, press secretary for the Department of Corrections. A department panel will then determine if and how the officers should be disciplined.

Any findings will be turned over to the Greene County district attorney, as well.

Lukens says the case is complicated because the term "use of force" has many meanings, and not all of them imply brutality.

"Force begins any time a staff member makes physical contact with an inmate," he says. "But force is sometimes necessary and in accordance with policy."

In a related matter, prison superintendent Ben Varner was discharged from his position at SCI Greene last week, and transferred to a medium security prison in Luzerne County. Lukens says the department felt SCI Greene "needed a change in leadership" but that Varner's demotion was not directly related to the investigation of guards at SCI Greene.

-Gwen Shaffer