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in 15th Day-Protests Michigan Torturers
The Prison Outreach Project
1. He has utilized the formal complaint process and grieved the situation. All have been denied and resulted in an even more harassment, discrimination and greater danger. The Department's response typically is "there is no violation of policy or procedure found. Grievance denied." (This despite being assaulted, raped, robbed, extorted, etc.) 2. Requested room moves when they are honored, have forced him into cells with even more homophobic cellmates. "We moved him three times and we can't satisfy him." (Contrary to statements of the MDOC, straight inmates often are allowed to find compatible cellmates. Keeping the peace is a sound management practice.) 3. Protective Custody: a. Frequently denied. b. Viewed as a negative by the parole board. c. Strongly resembles the punishment, solitary confinement ("in the hole"). d. If requested too frequently, the inmate will be moved to a Level 5 facility (Maximum Security Prison) **. 4. Ron has been given negative misconduct reports ("major tickets") for refusing to move into cells with sexual predators, hate group members, and violent homophobic cons. He accepted the "punishment" of being placed in the hole as being far better than the imminent danger these administrative moves have created. Consequently, the parole board has consistently denied Ron Rousseau parole for being forced to take matters into his own hands protecting himself. As a result, his initial 1 ½ to 20 year sentence (the sentencing Judge thought 3 years would be too long) has become 9 years of 24 hour a day hell. 5. To accept the treatment that the Michigan Department of Corrections is placing upon him and be maimed, raped and possibly infected with HIV and/or killed. Last August, after a move to the Saginaw Correctional Facility, the cellmate pattern continued. Ron tried protective custody, direct conferences with the warden, refusing room moves etc. The prison officials responded with shakedowns, bogus drug testing with improper testing procedures, and tickets. Finally, he gave up and agreed to a move. A few days later, he was nearly killed in an assault. He received 11 stitches across his temple and still experiences periods of dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, excruciating migraine headaches, to name a few. When he had healed enough to move, he was transferred to the Ryan Correctional Facility but once again the pattern continued. Follow-up medical and psychological care was minimal and ineffective. At one point, he was placed in a cell with another recent transferee from Saginaw, investigated for being a part of the assault on Ron at Saginaw. When others complained, Ron was transferred to the Macomb Correctional Facility. It made no difference. He was tipped off to expect trouble from the administration. He was placed into a cell with a former member of the Aryan Nations. But this move didn't go as had been planned. The cellmate turned out to be a "great guy" and Ron could finally sleep at night. However, they were subjected to frequent shakedowns. These were not routine shakedowns to search for contraband, but occasions used to ransack the room. Files were torn open and papers scattered, neatly folded clothes were scattered about like dirty clothes in a messy laundry, irreplaceable pictures of family and friends were mutilated and destroyed, and Ron's footlocker was bent out of shape. He and his cellmate were strip searched and drug tested. These destructive shakedowns follow him wherever he is sent. ("We have the right to shakedown prisoners whenever we feel it necessary.") Two weeks after his move into this cell, he was ordered into another one with an openly hostile cellmate. Three weeks before Ron's move into the cell, his bunkie had requested a move. Suddenly, it was honored. Both protested. Ron refused the move and was ticketed and placed in Segregation. When an inmate is placed into Segregation, the procedures call for ordering the cellmate out of the room. Then, the room must be immediately secured until the prisoner's personal goods can be inventoried and packed. Inexplicably (yet conveniently), many of these items were stolen and destroyed during this process. Ron has since been removed from Segregation and placed into a cell with yet another hostile cellmate (http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile.asp?mdocNumber=134752) who has demanded that Ron be moved out of HIS (the cellmates') cell.
For more information: http://www.gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/penpoints/080601pp.htm http://content.gay.com/channels/news/activist_way/mitchell_prison.html http://www.gaytoday.com/penpoints/091602pp.asp http://www.gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/people/111201pe.htm http://gaytoday.com/world/041003wo.asp Write to Ron: Ron Rousseau #171281 Macomb Correctional Facility 34625 26 Mile Road New Haven, MI 48048 MDOC Official: Norma Killough can be reached by telephone at 517-373-0287. She says there are currently no plans for helping him. A simple call could be helpful, one asking her to look into Ron's plight and to do something about the Michigan prison system's deliberate placements of abusive inmates in his cell. * The Prison Outreach Project is a group of inmates and concerned friends working to persuade the Michigan Department of Corrections to bring a halt to the discriminatory abuse of gay inmates. David Forbush: telephone 989.348.5989 ** According to the records of the MDOC, gay inmates (referred to as "HOMOS") are disproportionately housed at Maximum Security institutions. |
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Ron Rousseau, a gay inmate in Michigan's prison system, is on a hunger strike protesting conditions in the prison 
Ron Rousseau (right) meets with Jeffrey Montgomery of Michigan's Triangle Foundation