November 21, 2011

Newest development in Clive Kinlock’s journey

About one week after documenting the staff abuse foisted on Clive, he was given a transfer slip just after completing his job cleaning showers in his unit, around midnight, Nov 15.  It appeared that the order the federal judge stamped in his file saying he was not to be transferred until ready to be deported, was ‘missing’.   So at 5 AM on Tuesday the 15^th, Clive and a couple others were given orange jump suits to wear and tightly shackled, then loaded in a caged van.  They had no t-shirts on nor were they given coats even though the temps were below freezing, nor was the van heated.  They were shackled so tightly that soon they had no feeling in their hands and feet and their arms and legs began to swell.  A bag of food was thrown onto the floor of the van but their hands were so numb and painfully swollen some couldn’t even pick up the food.

During the journey to Great Falls, where Clive was to be dropped off, the drivers drove in such a frightening and careless manner he feared they would not reach their destination.  While some of the slipping and sliding on the road was due to snow and ice, he felt some was a deliberate attempt to throw them around in the back of the van.  By the time they reached his drop off destination, his mouth was sore and bleeding from his teeth chattering from the cold and if the guards hadn’t caught him he would have fallen getting out of the van from having no feeling left in his feet.  In spite of his own misery, he asked the guards to loosen the cuffs on one the other inmates whose hands were turning purple and who was being taken on further.

Extreme exposure to cold can cause frostbite, especially when the blood flow to the limbs is restricted by overtightened shackles. Was the State of Montana trying to torture or injure these inmates? Why would they treat these human beings worse than most people treat their dog? These people have already been handed down a sentence by the due process of law, the guards responsible for this are engaged in torture of inmates and should be fired and prosecuted.