By: Su’ganni Tiuza
I have been in prison for 12 years. Ten of the twelve years spent in various Massachusetts state prisons. In these years I have seen so many men die. Die, not from old age. Die, by suicide, hopelessness, and escaping pain. The faces of these men, are vividly rolling around in my mental footage. Compelling me to write a collage of horrific events. In hopes that the strong mobilize the weak, to abolish a system that will always do more harm than rehabilitation.
Shawn Noonan was a young white man, doing a significant amount of Prison time. The prison was Shirley Super Max. Located in Shirley, Massachusetts. A heavily segregated mad house, in which prisoners are warehoused. The “Max,” a place that is very successful in peddling depression, stress, and “self-medicate-to-cope.” A hellhole, filled with rage, misplaced combativeness, and idle time…
Shawn got heavy into self-medicating with the popular destructive drug of the day. His family had money and out of Love for him, sent him any amount of money he requested. He lived “prison rich”, blowing money on anything he wanted. Drugs overflowing in his pocket, flowing straight to his nose and the noses of the leeches that hung shamelessly on him. Shawn had a good heart and people used his good heart for the personal selfish gain of others.
Like any well, Shawns money well went very dry. His parents financially cut him off. Word got back to them that Shawn was using his requested funds on drugs. Well, Shawn owed a lot of money to a lot of people. He was in heavy debt and had a very serious drug habit. His train wreck was imminent. He wanted to still get high and those he owed, still wanted their money. His creditors didn’t give a damn about his financial woes. As one creditor forcefully put it to Shawn, ” I don’t give a damn if you have to suck 10 dicks to get my money, I want it by the end of this week…”
At this time, the Max was becoming very repressive. The dead energy was a vacuum, sucking the life out of the prisoners. Recreation was getting cut back. Programs were very scarce, and the programs available, it was easier for the devil to pass the pearly gates, than for a prisoner to get in them. The same old draconian conditions made the prisoners snap, due to them being wound up so tight. The effect on Shawn was fatal.
Spiraling into a deep depression, Shawn was alone, and his mental condition was evident. This cruel and very unusual place called prison was the devil conscious on Shawn’s left shoulder, encouraging and facilitating his demise. Drugs were the last coping mechanism that allowed him to deal with an extreme egregious house of death. When that last frontier was taken, he became a short ticking time bomb.
It was Shawn’s time to have recreation within his prison unit. His door and the approximately 40 other prisoners doors opened up. An eerie silence followed, as prisoners passed by and looked into Shawn’s open cell. In the usual loud and chaotic noise of the unit, it was easy to sense something went very wrong. The expression of the prisoners said, “Death has arrived.”
Shawn laid lifeless in his cell. He hanged himself on the seat of the desk. His body stretched out on the cold concrete floor. His face was the same color of his hair. Reddish brown. No more pain. No more suffering off the hands of the wicked. No more being slowly tortured by a conniving institution, with a detriment to public safety that the public is unaware of.
The list of the departed (by suicide) is vast. Like Shawn’s story, each fatal end, has a depressive story. That of an elite oppressive force, that has carte blanche to do what it wants, outside of the law. Even murder if the right circumstances presented itself. A system that does more harm than rehabilitation.
Then there are the men who have done all they could to kill themselves, but failed. They too have a depressive story, yet their ending is more misery, hopelessness, and torture. Their further punishment is being placed in a cell, with no clothing of any type nor anything else. Just a paper johnny (smock) over their naked body and a sheetless mattress, with a guard right outside their cell, observing their every movement.
I did 22 months in solitary confinement, from 2008 to February 26, 2010. Most of these months were in the Disciplinary Detention Unit (DDU), in Walpole state prison. DDU is a highly secure prison unit, for Massachusetts prisoners, that have been sentenced to serve long solitary confinement time. There are prisoners serving 6 months solitary confinement time in DDU. There are also people serving 30 years solitary confinement time in DDU. Brenden was a middle aged man, who was on the same tier with me in DDU. He received a 8 year DDU sentence. Did I mention how damaging DDU is to the human psyche? I’m no Dr.Phil, but I empirically know that not one person leaves DDU the same. Many leave deranged from the despicable and inhumane conditions.
Brenden, with deep desire, tried to kill himself. He successfully smuggled a razor into his cell. When the right time presented itself, he sliced his self repeatedly like you wouldn’t believe. When all was said and done, he was found (by a guard) in his own pool of blood. Everybody on the tier, including myself, thought he was dead. It wasn’t until credible word reached us and he came back to the tier, that we found out he was still alive.
Suicide in prison has no demographic. Old, Young, Black, White, Lifer, Non-Lifer, Muscles, No Muscles, etc. Prison on paper and on its DOC websites seems like “Correction” and “Rehabilitation.” Smoke and Mirrors. Yet when the smoke clears and the mirrors crack, there lies a torture chamber.
At first, for prison etiquette purposes, I chose to not use actual names of the two men in my slave narrative. Yet after a lot of thought, I felt it best to publish the actual names. The stories are real and anyone in tune with suicide in Massachusetts prisons knows that there is a grave suicide issue. Not only are prisoners committing suicide, but unfortunately many guards in Massachusetts have committed suicide as well. The guards too are affected by this oppressive and depressive system…People are dying here. Forget about the fact that these people are convicts and guards. They’re human beings and they’re dying and all the root causes are traced back to this cruel and very unusual place called prison. This is a true injustice for the departed’s family and for society. I deeply encourage you to do all that’s in your power to mobilize effectively, with the goal of abolishing this prison industrial complex. Something is very wrong here and it must be stopped today…