Abuse at SCI-Greene

Allegations of prisoner abuse by prison staff at State Correctional Institution-Greene (SCI-GREENE) are pervasive. SCI-GREENE is a Supermax security prison located in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, 40 miles south of Pittsburgh and 6 miles from the West Virginia line.

Staff firings and charges of racism have shaken up SCI Greene over the years [http://statecollegelaw.com/firings_sci_green_tx.html] .SCI-GREENE is perhaps most known for employing Charles Graner, who became a household name after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse case in Iraq. As one writer has pointed out, in Prison Legal News, Graner "took what he learned here (SCI-GREENE), over there (ABU GHRAIB). [http://www.prisonlegalnews.org/includes/_public/_issues/pln_2004/10pln04.pdf]

Mumia Abu Jamal, an SCI-GREENE inmate of international notoriety, writes: "a score of guards were charged with brutal, racist, and vile behavior against men in the hole. Roughly two dozen guards were fired, but after union appeals, most were quietly reinstated" [http://www.prisonlegalnews.org/includes/_public/_issues/pln_2004/10pln04.pdf] .

With a prison guard population that is 95% white overseeing an inmate population that is 98% black [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Graner] , a certain perception of institutional racism permeates SCI-GREENE's atmosphere. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes, "Most of them [the Caucasian staff ] never had to deal with black people before." [http://statecollegelaw.com/firings_sci_green_tx.html] .

From state representatives to church groups, many individuals and groups have been working to open up official investigations of the said practices at SCI-GREENE [http://ccadp.org/SCI_GREENE.htm] .

External links

* [http://ccadp.org/SCI_GREENE.htm SCI GREENE: A CHRONICLE]
* [http://www.ccadp.org/jimmyreport0999.htm ABUSE AT SCI GREENE]
* [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0342241 Abu-Jamal Tells of Life at Sci Greene Prison on Democracy Now!]
* [http://www.freemumia.com/graner.html "Currently Employed SCI-Greene Prison Guard Supervised Torture of Prisoners in Iraq; PA Officials Covering up his PA Record"]
* [http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/agitation/iraq/iraqprisonconnections.html Abuse of Iraqi prisoners: the U.$. prison connection]
* [http://www.cor.state.pa.us/greene/site/default.asp Official site of SCI-GREENE]