Guard Peppersprays Female Prisoner's Corpse (by Lifer Renee)

Renee - She was only a teenager when she received a sixty-year sentence from a judge in Pima County. Fourteen years into her sentence, Renee is writing from Perryville prison in Goodyear, Arizona, providing a rare and unique insight into a women's prison.

I was walking back to the yard after work. My heart was heavy. The yard was silent due to a lockdown.
At about 7am, I heard a panic-stricken voice over the radio. “This is 30 Yard to Main Control. I am initiating an ICS. I have inmate Soto in her cell. She has something tied around her neck. She is unresponsive. I need Medical and an A-Team response.”
Moments later: “The nurse is administering CPR.”

The next afternoon, we were released from lockdown status, so I went to see my friend, Cletis.
I asked her, “Friend, what happened? Please tell me she didn’t die.”
“Oh my God! Yes, friend, she did die.” Looking at me dead in the eye, she grabbed my arm. “Friend, they couldn’t get her down. Officer A. is traumatized. They said Soto, was blue and they couldn’t cut whatever was around her neck.”
“Where did she hang herself from?”
“The ladder.”
“Where the hell were the Suicide Prevention Aides?”
“They lost their jobs because of the budget cuts.”
“Where the hell were the cops?”
“Well, Macey was showing her ass again, causing all kinds of trouble. All of the officers on 30 Yard were dealing with that.” Cletis then asked, “Friend, do you know they sprayed her?”
“Sprayed her for what?”
“To try and get her to move. They unloaded a can of pepper spray in the room.”
“They sprayed someone who was dead!”
“Yes, friend. Then Johnson set her room on fire. She lit the place up. That’s why we didn’t come out last night.”
“How sad,” I said. “They keep those girls back there entirely too long.”
“I know, friend.”
Silence fell between us as we watched the women on the yard.

Click here for Renee’s blog about the death of Marcia Powell.

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Shaun P. Attwood