Mistreatment of mental health prisoners in North Carolina

by Phillip L. Hairston

Prison-and-the-mentally-ill-and-poor-cartoon, Mistreatment of mental health prisoners in North Carolina, Abolition Now! I need to bring to your attention a corrupt, retaliatory, unprofessional, ruthless tyrant, who holds the slave-master title of unit manager, and his blatant, unethical conduct and his disregard for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) Division of Prisons policy and procedure, which he swore under oath to uphold. His name is Kevin Ingram! Mr. Ingram is a Black man who hates his own and rules with an iron fist.

His motto is “Lockdown Boss Man!” His remedy for any question or complaint, justified or not, is, “I will lock you up!” He retaliates against anyone who complains about him or the way he runs his unit.

This is a man who has deep rooted identity issues within himself and lashes out punishment whenever he feels that his authority or decisions are challenged, even when those decisions are clearly wrong and mean-spirited. This is a man who is in charge of a 300-man mental health unit, Union Unit.

Here, the mental health inmates are subjected to cruel and unusual mistreatment. We are locked down on a modified housing type of schedule, even though we are Level 3 mental health prisoners in General Population. We do not have proper access to our mental health providers, as a lot of our referrals disappear, and when we keep asking Mr. Ingram to please allow us to speak with our mental health providers he asks, “What is it in reference to?”

When we refuse to state why, because mental health information is confidential, Mr. Ingram will threaten to lock us up in Fox-Pod, a modified housing 48-man block that houses mostly gang members and violent offenders.

The mental health inmates are subjected to cruel and unusual mistreatment. We are locked down on a modified housing type of schedule, even though we are Level 3 mental health prisoners in General Population. We do not have proper access to our mental health providers, as a lot of our referrals disappear.

The majority of us men on the Union Unit-1 are trying to implement a safe and positive atmosphere, with us older men setting positive examples for the younger generation, regardless of the stigma that comes with the term “mental health.” But even with this calm non-violent environment that we promote, Mr. Ingram still keeps his foot on our throats, oppressing us, refusing to allow us the basic things we need such as proper yard time, clean and sanitized barber equipment, and mental health access. He is causing unrest and further damaging our mental health capacity when such actions are not warranted.

Our plight is your plight, because statistics say one out of every three prisoners who have spent at least two years incarcerated suffer from some form of mental illness, ranging from mild and self-contained to psychotic and extremely dangerous – and 95 percent of all prisoners will one day be released back to society. Do you want these men and women coming home to your community, unstable, around your family? Of course not.

But if tyrants like Mr. Kevin Ingram are allowed to continue mistreating and abusing mental health prisoners, further contributing to their mental deterioration, that is what’s going to happen.

Our plight is your plight. Do you want these men and women coming home to your community, unstable, around your family? Of course not.

If anyone has contacts with any attorneys, please help us here in the mental health unit at Lanesboro Correctional Institution in Polkton, N.C., from the extreme abuse of authority by Mr. Kevin Ingram.

May God bless you, and bless the Bay View.

Send our brother some love and light: Phillip L. Hairston (Greek Masta Mind), 0161247, NCI, P.O. Box 600, Nashville, NC 27856. Phillip was moved since writing this letter.