The actions of Arizona Dept. of Corrections administrators and prison guards all the way up and down the chain of command are inexcusable, as well as unconscionable, with respect to the suicide of Anthony Lester. This mentally ill prisoner was taken off his prescribed mental health medications and not housed in a mental health facility -- despite the clear and written recommendations of his sentencing judge -- by an uncaring and, apparently, completely unconcerned DOC chain of command. This story amply demonstrates the problem we have throughout our entire country with using prisons as places to house seriously mentally ill people who belong in licensed mental health facilities. Thanks for investigative reporter Wendy Halloran for bringing this tragic story to light. If this country continues to incarcerate its citizens at the rate/capita that we do (Arizona ranks 7th/capita), then we have to be committed to providing the resources and professional staff to take care of the medical, mental health and other human needs of our prisoners. Otherwise, we need to much more seriously explore community treatment options, which have been proven to work.

Takes less tax dollars to train and oversee prison staff so that they work with honest dedication of carrying out the mission of their jobs.Following is a direct quote taken from the Arizona Department Of Corrections website, "I am honored to serve more than 10,000 well-trained corrections professionals who are dedicated to public, staff and inmate safety by effectively employing sound correctional practices, efficient operational procedures and proven programming opportunities for inmates." End quote. Had this quote,- which is a promise, a promise to all of us, including our inmates,- been respected by the correction officers, Tony would be alive today. Tony's death is a horrific loss. Unnecessary. Preventable.

Thank you MSNBC for helping us to bring to light one of America's greatest tragedies, our treatment of the seriously mentally ill. Arizona incarcerates the highest percentage of those with mental illness in the nation being second only to Nevada. In Arizona, if you have a serious mental illness, you are over nine times more likely to be in jail or prison than in a public mental health hospital bed. Anthony Lester's voice must be heard. Our non-profit agency, David's Hope, is dedicated to securing mental health treatment rather than incarceration for all those living with a mental illness. For help or just to share, you can find us at davidshopeaz.org

Patti Jones, Mesa Az

First and Foremost I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Wendy Halloran and Channel 12 KPNX News in Phoenix, Az for their excellence in journalistic skills in exposing this horrific tragedy that happened last July 11, 2010, when a severe mentally-ill inmate whose mental health needs were totally disregarded and he was regarded as a manipulator , gaimer of the system; even though his court appointed psychiatrists and sentencing judge highly recommended he be placed in menrtal health unit. Wendy Halloran and channel 12 KPNX news have worked tenaciously for a year to expose the deplorable treatment of the mentally-ill within the ADOC. It is through channel 12 KPNX and Wendy Halloran that these most vulnerable inmates now have a voice that is now heard. Her report exposed the sheer travesty that exists within the ADOC not only on ground level but throughout the whole system especially on the adminstrative level. It is not only alarming , but appalling how the Department itself has so little regard for human life with absolutely no respect for life what so ever. We captured the world's most inhumane individual Osama Bin Laden; then why is it then, that we have a department head that has so little regard for human decency; for so little regard for humanity. Perhaps now through MSNBC bringing such light to such a travesty; that such a change may erect out of such a horrific tragedy. Perhaps now our Department of Justice may become aware of such violations of civil rights that they may open an investigation into the ADOC. It is time that we stop living in the dark ages and start humanizing our mentally-ill prisoners and send a message that their lives matter!!!! If we can just save just one life than our Beloved Tony's Voice will have been heard and his death will not be in vain. Again Much Gratitude to MSNBC for taking Wendy Halloran's and Channel 12 KPNX MAGNIFICENT investigative report to a national level,perhaps now lives will be saved. May God Bless You MSNBC and Wendy Halloran, Channel 12 KPNX for their excellence in journalistic skills. Patti Jones

The Tony Lester Story is just the tip of the iceberg as an indicator how Arizona prisons marginalize human beings inside their prisons. The fact that Tony Lester was convicted as a mentally ill person is a tragedy in its own merits but what really criminalized his death was the total deliberate indifference shown for his civil rights, his humanity and all those other severely mentally ill prisoners that are filling our prisons up under the Governor's policy of mass incarceration. It is with much urgency the ACLU and the Department of Justice should proceed and investigate these prison policies related to suicide prevention, suicide watches, mentally ill treatment plans, and the housing of such disabled persons while incarcerated and left untreated, unprogrammed and certainly left unsupervised in their needs to be compliant with their medication and special needs. As a former corrections administrator, I have seen the toxic and harsh culture result in an attitude of apathy that is demonstrated by the fact that officers are ill prepared and trained to handle such emergencies and rely on raw supervisory skills to get through their shifts without leadership, instruction or direction from competent management rarely prepared for such critical tasks of life preservation and sound first aid rendered in the manner prescribed by established medical standards and mental health care. I have been made privy of this entire investigative packet and find it to contain alleged criminal conduct in content and context but will refrain from calling it criminal as the case is in litigation and hopefully result in changes how the ADOC practices its treatment of the severely mentally ill and others requiring closer supervision and special housing. The leadership culture within this prison system is that of Abu Ghraib and if you look at the specific individuals, you will find the dots connect to the horrific event in that Iraqi prison as Arizona is tainted with DNA of Abu Ghraib as it continues to stack up an unusual amount of "natural deaths", suicides and homicides since the current administration took over in January 2009.

Thank you Wendy Halloran, KPNX, and MSNBC for bringing Tony's tragic and preventable suicide to light. This is more than just an isolated incident. One week before Tony died, Dana Seawright was brutally beaten at Lewis Prison in a gang hit and hate crime because he was black and became friends with a Mexican. The case was closed unsolved, despite a host of witnesses and specific suspects and the culpability of guards who left his dorm unattended when the beat down took place - then watched him gag on blood and vomit without rendering aid. It was three hours before a helicopter got him to the hospital. He died five days later. The homicide and suicide rates in Arizona's state prisons have skyrocketed under the current administration, and mentally ill (Shannon Palmer, Jerry Kulp, James Jennings, Lasasha Cherry to name a few) and women prisoners in particular (Susan Lopez, Brenda Todd, Marcia Powell) have been dying of gross neglect, some begging for medical or psychiatric attention that comes too late, if at all. I've read the state's own records, and found at least one homicide (Pete Calleros) staged to look like a suicide for which no one was prosecuted - one of the suspects even got paroled without having received so much as a ticket. Please follow upon this story - The ACLU and Prison Law Office are even poised to file suit over these conditions and seek an injunction to protect vulnerable prisoners. No one else's child, father, sister or friend need to die like these folks have. ADC Director Chuck Ryan needs to step down.

Firstly, Wendy Halloran - thank you for an excellent investigative report. Very few reporters even bother about the prison population in this country so I commend you for your hard work and diligence in getting national attention brought to the issues of the mentally ill who are incarcerated in Arizona's Department of Corrections. Secondly, as a resident and tax payer in the State of Arizona I am disgusted at what is taking place in the Arizona Department of Corrections. If it is not blatantly obvious to everyone having seen this report then let me spell it out 'INCOMPETENT LEADERSHIP"!!! which starts with Charles Ryan, the Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. If this report does not scare the heck out of the Governor's Office, who appointed Mr Ryan, then I am not quite sure what is going to do it! Perhaps a few more dead bodies and some more massive lawsuits will do the trick??? This is not the first case of a mentally ill person dying under Charles Ryan's watch and it will not be the last. If CHARLES RYAN was half the man he pretends to be he would admit he cannot do the job and step down before another person loses their life in his prison. With regards to the correctional officers lacking the very necessary training and resources they need I go back to my original point - incompetent leadership and the obvious failure to provide what is required to operate a safe prison lies with Mr. Charles Ryan.

Perhaps if everyone who has family or friends in the penitentiary will speak out or write their congressman, congresswoman, legislator or even their district reps telling them enough is enough.. human lives are at stake and nobody cares?? what's wrong with that picture. Desensitived administrators working overtime to fill prison beds with victims rather than prison management according to rules of law and civility. The might $$$ has taken control of our minds and hearts and treats prisoners as assets rather than human beings. One dies and another is incarcerated regardless whether they are mentally ill or not.. a body is $$$ to Arizona prison management teams nothing else. This must be addressed and someone must be held accountable at the top. These correctional officers deserve leadership and are not getting it..

"... horrific tragedy..."???? I read several instances of that phrase in reference to Lester's suicide and the lack of reaction by a "trained" prison guard who didn't hazard his own life and health to save a possibly infected convict from himself. WOULD YOU? I think every cell should be equipped with a slip-knotted steel noose hung from the ceiling and a step-stool.

Sadly yes. Deliberate indifference is more than not responding to an ICS, it also includes not taking action during the response itself. I agree though, correctional officers lack the needed training to handle massive critical lacerations to ones neck. I also understand the fear these officers must have felt when facing such vast amounts of blood given the amount of Hepatitis, HIV and other communicable diseases running rapid like a plague in our prisons. But the incident commander has every single resource at their disposal available to them. Did they call for towels to cover the blood so attempts to control bleeding could be made? Did they apply direct pressure to the wound the absolute most basic blood loss control method? Did they call for a PPE cart equipped with blood gel, jump suits, squeegee, mop, goggles and masks? I know they are trained in at least these skills. How long was it before the on call nurse arrived? I feel the answers to these questions will lead us back to square one, deliberate indifference occurred.

In this case there was more deliberate indifference. Classification allowed this mentally unstable man to become a General Population inmate. The judge even made clear in the trial he was concerned for the mental instability of the individual. The inmate cried out to staff over and over for help with his mental health. Accountability need not just be on the staff who responded but on the psychology department, classification officer, warden and State Prison Director.

What happened here was a sad travesty and the only light that can come of it is the education our correctional system can gain from it. But such a thing can only happen as long as we never forget and never back off fighting to change the status quo.

There are lots of bad politicians, appointees and to be sure lobbyists in the Arizona government. But one man stands out as having the singular largest track record of failures, mistakes and down right atrocities under their failing leadership. That man is Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles L Ryan.

Director Ryan has been plagued by his own inability to lead and oversee his administration. Under his authority he has repeatedly surprised the citizens of this state with his failure. After Dora Schrirro left with former Governor Napolitano Director Ryan inherited the administration. During the early days of his Administration under his interim, an inmate by the name of Marcia Powell died while being held in an out door enclosure awaiting transportation to a mental health watch. This was quickly followed up by two more men who died in Tucson of the same cause of death from exposure. Fourteen staff were promptly terminated to lay blame, appease the public and media. Of those staff, twelve have returned to their jobs after proving they were not to blame. But the majority of them lost their retirements and seniority. The DOC quickly installed shade, water fountains and rewrote policies regarding holding inmates outdoors. This is a clear display of reactive over proactive, but it also showed the coming pattern of Director Ryan's leadership, to point the finger down hill and always be reactive and never proactive.

Later Director Ryan was appointed by Governor Brewer to become the actual Director and his status as an interim had been lifted. It was after this period of his term, the most publicized escape in modern history took place. The Management Training Corp, Kingman Complex Escape. There has never been such a massive breakdown in security practices, documented so well, as there was during this escape. First, the cousin / girlfriend of one of the inmates was caught attempting to smuggle in drugs to the facility, her visitation was not revoked for any time other than that visit and she was not arrested. Second, the inmate was using the drugs to negotiate cell phone usage with other inmates who smuggled one in earlier. Third, recorded institutional phone calls clearly detected a code for escape plots by the word "camping." Nothing was done other than to keep an eye out. Fourth, correctional staff at the facility were propping open a door to the inner perimeter because they were hot. Fifth, the outer zone alarms to the facility were activating falsely and staff had become desensitized to the alarm sounds. This had gone on for months and months and was well documented. Sixth, those very alarms had not received servicing in over two years. Seventh, prison inspections or audits had been skipped at the facility due to time and budget keeping oversight at a minimum. Eighth, there was only one staff member from the DOC working at the facility reporting to the Director about the goings on at the private prison. Ninth, inmates were often running about without identification for face to ID checks, thus making counts more about paper than actual accountability. Tenth, when the private prison changed custodial housing from level two inmates to level three inmates, Kingman Police were never notified of the change so they could increase patrols in the area. Eleventh, the perimeter officer was supposed to be posted with a partner, but under staffing had him working alone. In fact the lack of staff was so bad the perimeter officer was doubling as an escort. It was at this time he was escorting, that a woman drove onto the perimeter tossed wire cutters over the fence to three awaiting inmates who simply walked out the door propped open by a rock to meet her. They cut the fence, staff ignored the alarm and they drove off into the sunset. Later, on their lamb, they shot at Colorado Police, robbed a trucker and killed two tourists in New Mexico. Director Ryan blames the facility, his liaison / monitor in charge of oversight, he blames staff complacency and he blames Schrirros classification system. Director Ryan does not accept any blame for himself. But here is how things really are, one or two mistakes is an officers fault, two or three mistakes is the fault of a staff supervisor, three or four mistakes is the fault of the Warden and Monitor. A complete totality of mistakes is the fault of the Director and no-one else's, for it is he that is truly in charge. Ryan appointed the monitor, Ryan reviewed the audits and alarm maintenance records, Ryan failed to make the notifications to the local authorities that custody levels had changed. Ryan was again reactive and not proactive and made changes to policy. Ryan is also an Adviser to Management Training Corp and they kept the contract they had, even though they failed so horribly.

Next was a turn of events that was not very shocking, but none the less true. Ryan had slowly been changing they way administrators interacted with staff. The conditions of the working relationship between staff and administrators had become toxic, to the point of a Department wide hostile working environment. The union Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association stepped in and had members and non members (still DOC staff) alike sign a petition of No Confidence in Director Ryan's leadership. It was so serious local news channel five stepped up to cover the story. The letter was submitted to Governor Brewer and no action was taken of any kind.

During the years of 2010 and 2011 there was a shortage of a drug needed to execute inmates by lethal injection. But Ryan and Brewer had a need and desire to keep the truck rolling and make sure that executions continued. Some how the unavailable drug manifested (one of three required) in Director Ryan's hands. Lawyers of inmates to be executed were fighting to verify they legality of the drugs acquisition. Eventually even the press became concerned over where Ryan had got the drug. For weeks legal services and media alike were utilizing the Freedom of Information Act to learn how Ryan had obtained the drug. Eventually it had came about that he got it not through medical supply but from veterinary supply. It was ruled safe for human use in executions but did cause much embarrassment to the state.

There have been many more injustices from inmates not being properly triaged and diagnosed, to off site work crew inmates escaping custody, like a female working at the auto auction who simply started a car and drove away. Her behavior was unchecked, because the lowest custody inmates are allowed to work under the supervision of the employees contracting their labor and an officer who drives from sight to sight counting them. Ryan stated after her apprehension that the revenue generated from unsupervised off site crews out weighs the risk to the public for these rare escapes that occur. Tell that to the bank teller she robbed and set the tellers desk of on fire.

Privatizing prisons has been an ongoing affair and no state is deeper and faster in this process than Arizona. Director Ryan has been going along with this either because he supports the idea or he is going along with his superiors authority. (Governor Brewer) The private prison lobby in Arizona is incredibly powerful with men like Chuck Coughlin, a lobbyist for several private prison contractors and also being the policy adviser to Governor Brewer. Ryan had a responsibility to the legislators, to provide an in depth cost analysis between private and public prisons to determine which has more savings. Numbers from various studies have reflected both sides being winners in other research. But those numbers can be fudged based on who is taking them and their end goal. Ryan never generated this cost comparison and submitted it to the state

Tony and I had been close friends for nearly ten years before his suicide, and it was always evident to me that he was suffering from a mental illness. He was truly a good person and if only he had been in the proper care and had received the appropriate help that the judge in his case and a psychiatrist recommended, I know in my heart of hearts that he could have been rehabilitated and could have lived a happy, productive life. He was treated like garbage. The crime he committed was wrong, but he had so much more potential than he was given credit for.

This complete and utter disregard for human life simply can't be swept under the rug and I'm glad that his voice is finally being heard, because it was clearly ignored by the state up and until the day he died.

Who watches someone bleed out the way he did and does absolutely nothing? They shouldn't be trusted with anyone else's life. I'd have thought that working in a prison would mean you'd have to know how to handle life-threatening situations.

Thank you so much for the coverage and investigation.

I want to thank Wendy Halloran, Channel 12 News, MSNBC, and my mother, Patti Jones, for helping to bring to light the terrible injustice suffered by my cousin, Anthony Clayton Lester. The system failed him in every possible way and it is a tragedy to say the least. The last year has opened my eyes to the carelessness, impunity, and unaccountability in which certain officials in our current system operate. Someone truly needs to be held accountable for this tragedy; not just to find justice for Tony, but to help others in the future. Keep spreading the word. Peace.

Wendy, thank you for everything you have done. I am sincerely grateful for all of your effort into this story-- especially tracking down Director Ryan and allowing him to show what kind of a person he is on television. The story made a great impact on not only me and my family, but to everyone else who had watched it. Your passion for your work certainly glows with the amount of dedication you put in. We are lucky to have you on our side!

That goodness that a channel and its very competent investigator reporter have chosen to shed light on this tragic situation.  Were it not for their competence and professionism, this horrific death might have never come to public attention.

One has to wonder if Tony Lester should have gone to prison at all, if he was not suffering from delusions that caused him to commit the crime for which he was convicted?

More importantly is the lack of oversight that has been exercised by the management of the Department of Corrections since Director Ryan took over after Dora Schriro's departure.

Rather than accepting responsibility for the actions of his employees, not only those which resulted in Lester's death, and those of similar victims such as Marcia Powell, but also for his managers which allowed inappropriate inmates to be sent to Kingman/MTC, who should have been excluded because of the severity of their crimes and length of their criminal histories. This was clearly evident in the case of John McCluskey, who had a parole hold from Pennsylvania. At least one of his fellow homocidal escapees was, like him, a member of a security threat group (STG), white supremacists, that should have disqualified them from such transfers.

Likewise, Ryan's appointed for-profit prison monitors were clearly expected to "go along to get along,"  which allowed MTC to operate for years without a working alarms system, inadequately staffed with high turnover, poorly trained guards, and in the absence of a second fence that is the hallmark of virtually any medium security prison one could find anywhere in the U.S.

The apathy is pervasive and political power helps keep the for-profit system improperly monitored here in Arizona and around the country. In Oklahoma, GEO Group kept its internal policies secret, allowed a vulnerable prisoner to be placed in call with a prisoner who had repeatedly informed management he would not tolerate a cell partner, and would in fact kill any other inmate who was placed in his cell. GEO did not want to forego the revenues earned by filling that second bed. The convict did promptly murder his cellmate and GEO has been found liable in a case where the judgment amounts to $40 million, in its quest to make another $40 a day. In its Wheeler County prison in Georgia, CCA accepted a severely mentally ill prisoner, much like Ryan's team sent Lester to an appropriate placement. After a repeat arsonist was assigned by CCA to share the schizophrenic's cell, he responded by bragging loudly to other prisoners in front of his intended victim, that he intended to sodomize his cell partner that very night.

The terrified cellmate beat him to the punch, slitting his throat and smothering him. Despite that, CCA and the Georgia Department of Corrections claimed they were still "investigating" the case a year afterward, though the cause of death was no more elusive than was Lester's.

Clearly, Lester should have not been assigned to the prison to which he was sent. He should have received therapy after his suicide attempt. For him or any schizophrenic to be removed from medication, contrary to professional practice, was a gross violation of the rights of this disabled man. Giving him a razor compounded the malfeasance. Finally, for guards to have stood outside his cell for 23 minutes, failing to render assistance as Lester's life and blood slowly drained from his body, was nothing short of criminal negligence. If indeed, not being able to see one of his hands was an impediment to them rendering aid, they could have pulled his blanket away from that hand, or even could have had his cellmate do it.  If it took paramedics or EMTs or other medical aid 23 minutes after guards became aware of the critical situation to arrive to deal with the situation, that is still a matter that requires answers to the public.

The prison has a responsibility to protect the public, first and foremost. It has a responsibility to protect its staff, including from blood borne diseases, but certainly that does not preclude them from exercising the common sense we would expect from any ten-year-old.  Lastly, it has a responsibility to protect those committed to its care, and in this tragic case, totally failed to exercise the trust which it had been given.

Ryan's termination will not resolve this problem. It is the ultimate responsibility of Governor Brewer who would have a professional corrections system if it were an actual priority for her. She is allowing campaign contributions and a distorted spectrum of priorities that allow for such dysfunctional prison system to exist. Simply replacing Ryan with still another Terry Stewart protege, or some other bureaucrat of similar ilk, will not change the priorities that are absent from her stewardship.

All Arizonans deserve better, even those who are inmates.

Excellent commentary Frank and you are correct. Brewer is the key to prison reform. Terry Stewart theologists would likely be the same old same old in the case Ryan were to be replaced. But Ryans termination may be a warning to the next for office that careless abandon will not be tolerated by the pubic.

People who commit crimes against society give up there rights when they are convicted of those crimes. The State is not responsible for some irresonsible action by a prisoner. If some person is bent on harming themselves while incarerated let them have at it. Why should the state be responsible for some unbalanced criminal? Making excuses for others behavior and then blaming someone for not stopping it is pie in the sky liberal crap. If you can not due the time then do not committ the crime. Bleeding hearts over the criminals is really missed placed. In all species only the strong survive. Weak people should not become the burden of the state they offended in the first place. Nature takes care of those who are weak. So be glad he did not take anyone with hime.

Very sad, but if he cut his own throat, wrists and, it sounds like, his femural artery, then don't blame the poor low-paid guard, there was nothing for it, at that point. Does sound like serious "corrections" mismanagement if the court-appointed specialists' recommendations were all ignored as alleged here.

To the family, it is tragic that this happened. 

As for the Officers who responded, It takes a certain type of person to want to rush into a room FILLED with blood. My first responsibilty is protecting the puplic and to my family by taking care of myself and not taking anything home from work except a paycheck. If a person does not have the nessesary equipment to deal with an incident like that there should be NO reason for them to foolishly rush in and put their life at risk. The AZ officers couldn't see his hand to see a weapon, that is a sound concern.

The issue is his placement. This guy definately did not belong in general population. If the unit staff are unaware of his condition than it would be very difficult to lay blame for giving him the same issued items everybody recieves in general population. To try and blame the the line workers who basically shuffle inmates around a prison and do what their told, with or without the correct information, is not right. The mental health staff and middle managers are the ones required to pass on info with suicidal inmates and place them in the appropriate living area. While it is easy to become jaded and apathetic to inmates as a whole because let's face it, they're no there for bieng a good person, responding emergencies like this are NOT common and some people freak out over it.

In WA state there was a case of a State Patrol Officer who walked through blood in a scene and took his boots home where his small child contracted hepatitis. These are my thoughts when I respond to a incident with blood.

I appreciate your comments on one not wanting to expose onself to help a "Convicted Felon", for they have no rights and are treated beneath how our animals are treated. Perhaps this is the mentality of society, that these are felons and they do not need to be treated with any sense of humanity. That is why all prison units are readily equipped to handle such a crisis and how about calling medical. Unfortunately in this situation no medical was even alerted. These guards just rummaged through the cell looking to see if there was a suicide note, not worrying about becoming contaminated with the massive amount of blood. I do feel empathetic with these correctional officers, but in all reality there was no effort what so ever to even render any aid,and that is so totally unacceptable. It brings into question what kind if a individual just stands there and watch another human being gurgle,gasp and bleed completely out???? I know I could not but that is me. Unfortunately these guards were used as the Departments scape goat when in all reality, the gross negligence came from the administrstion, psychiatrists calling tony a manipulator, a gamer of the system. Perhaps if they would have listened to the family's attorney and family members begging to place tony in an appropriate unit, this tragey could have been avoided. These are the true culperits of the this horrific tragedy, these correctional officers should have at least used their common sense. Just remember Tony was someone's only child, someone's grandson, someone's nephew more importantly he was some little girl's daddy. So please a little human compassion before we pass judgment. God Bless, peace.

"Indifference and lack of trainings" are always the best excuses for these cop murders.

I commend Wendy on her bringing this issue to the public's attention. This was a senseless death. As an RN, I am all too aware of the potential "hazards" of coming into contact with possibly infected body fluids. As a human being, despite having no protective gear, I could not even comprehend standing and watching someone bleed to death. Is it lack of training? Absolutely. Lack of common sense? Of course. Possible apathy towards those who are incarcerated? I would say so by these individuals. No clear understanding of mental illness or the care of those suffering from this? Absolutely.

Where was the RN? Did no one contact the medical unit? It would not have taken 23 minutes for medical personnel to respond. But despite all of this, it still comes down to one thing: poor over site into proper placement and care of an inmate.

I am the mother of an inmate who is dually diagnosed (bipolar & substance abuse). Does it scare me that this could happen to him? YES. The public needs to understand that a large percentage of inmates have a mental illness diagnosis. We lock them up for the crimes that they commit, too often due to lack of mental health services in our state. We then do nothing to rehabilitate them or treat their mental illness while they are incarcerated. They are released and a large percentage re-offend, and the cycle continues.

Director Ryan and Governor Brewer must be held accountable for the conditions in our state prisons. But who will hold them to this if the public is apathetic to what happens to an inmate? There but for the grace of God, it could be your family member that we are commenting on.

Kudos to Lester for removing his apparently tainted genes from the gene pool, and also for sparing the tax payers from further expenses on his upkeep.

Every prison cell should be equipped with a ceiling hook, and every prisoner should be promptly issued with a rope on first request, so that there will be no need for creativity Lester had to use to get his wish to depart. Cutting oneself in all the places with prison-issued razor - that's gross. The desire of the officer to stay as far from it as possible is completely understandable.

I worked in large Correctional Facility for over 25 years in the Administrative field and my observations of over the years of watching Guards interact with inmates can be a bit enlightening for some..

First of all I find it very interesting that the inmates were given Razors instead of Electric Shavers to shave with which were apparently not "accounted for" by the Guards as to who when and how long and why it was not returned within 15 minutes but included in a health pack?...

As far as commenting about Prison Guards, after a while the average Guard could care less about the inmates or their well fare...Their just bodies to be moved around, disciplined, walked, fed, escorted to various areas within the confines of the Facility etc. etc...It is them against us and it is just a matter of keeping the Mutants from eating each other and causing lawsuits and stories like this one... Generally the inmates outnumber the Guards by 35 -1 so it is difficult for the Guards to keep an eye on each inmate. And the Guards themselves rarely have any close face to face or any real interaction with the inmates or Con's. They are called Con's not as a short version of Convict, but because every minute of the day the inmates are trying to figure out a way to "Con" a Guard out of something,,it is a way of "Counting Coup" and raises the status of the Inmates to have a Guard "working for them".. Sorry, but the women over time have shown to be the most susceptible to being "conned".

Now as far as 1st Aid and such or any kind of Medical Training, with the Unions getting deeply entrenched into the Prison Systems the Guards may not be required to step on the toes of the Union Nurses and therefore are not required to have any Medical training, that is not "their job", it is a Medical Problem.....and that is the mentality that comes with Unions....When I worked there the Deputies all were required to have a CPR Card but for other emergencies only the in house Medical Staff were authorized to treat the Inmate..And you can also thank the many Lawyers and the American Crinimals Legal Unit (ACLU) for bascially keeping the Guards from assisting Inmates in distress...They learned not to after being sued hundreds of times, so it is left up to the Medical Staff...See what Lawyers and Polticians can create...

It is very common to find the Mentally Ill in Jails...back around 1978-9 then California Governor "Moonbeam" Jerry Brown closed down a large number of State and County Mental Facilities believing that these people belonged in Board & Care Facilities or Half way houses..Unleashing thousands of patients who were basically let loose unto the unkowing public. Within a year a goodly portion of these patients were under Lock and Key at the Jails and the State Prisons. I know because I worked in a Locked County Facility and lost my job because of "Moonbeams" incompetence and that is when I went to work in the County Jail System....I find it very Amusing that "Moonbeam" now has to deal with a major Correctional problem he created back in 1977...It is so fitting and I laugh every time I think about it..Finally an incompetent Demoncrat has to deal with the problem he helped create...And that is what has happened with our nation as a whole..The Democrats created this nightmare and now they have to fix it and they only way they know how is to raise taxes...They have no clue as to what they really need to do and spend more time and energy trying to blame everyone else and the Republicans for the mess they themselves created........

The only problem with this story is that it was written by an outsider who apparently is doing a lot of guessing as to what goes on inside a Prison or a Correctional Facility and is providing a rather biased uneducated view of what he assumes is going on so please do not make any judgements until the complete and full story is told...

Eddie, I apppreciate your comment imensly, and thank-you for your service working in the prison system, a job a few of us do not realize how incredibly stressful and you all put your lives on the line for oour protection. But as you said in your comment is that this story was written by an out side individual who does not know what goes on in the system itself , I beg to differ with you on this: Ms. Halloran worked for a whole year tenaciously to obtain all of tony's mental healthcare and court records she had to get Channel 12 news attorney's involved to obtain the AIU and CIU investigative reports. I have gone through HUNDREDS of pages of these documents and read over ADOC's policies and see many violations of their own policies, I also have had the fortunate oppurtunity to meet with an ex-deputy ADOC Warden, who has seen all of tony's documents and he himself has seen the gross negligence. First of all, the admistration, physcians were well aware of tony's fragile mental state and chose to ignore all the family attorney's and family warnings. But I guess this is the mentality of the correctional environment. And oh yes there is an ICS video that Ms. Halloran and channel 12 have fought so hard to obtain that shows tony, gurgling, gasping,bleeding out and the guards talking amongst themselves wondering if there is a suicide note anywhere to be found. And then the first notification call to the next of kin never was made until 11:45 pm, when the ICS was activated at 7:35 pm. And Family was told that tony was taken to the hospital with non life threatning injuries but stable. After looking over all his medical records from UMC it clearly shows that tony bleed completely out soon after he left the unit his heart stopped and the UMC's trauma surgeon worked heriocly to save him but the time he had reached the hospital he was gone and even if he did survive he would be in a vegitaive state, the trauma surgeon had to ask prison staff to take off the chains off him he was going nowhere, we were informed they had to empty out half the blood bank on him. We have all these medical documents 100's pages for only a seven hour period. And then the aftermath for tony's mother trying to find her only son not realizing how close he was to leaving this earthly presence. Then when there was finally contact with ADOC family was only told sketchy information, that he only had one neck wound, it was not until the family brought our tony home that we mortified with all the gashes throughout his body, his body was so swollen from all the trauma it did not even look like him. So you are ABSOLUTELY right please do not make any judgements until the whole story is told. This is what Ms. Halloran and Channel 12 have been fighting with ADOC to obtain, you have only heard exerts of these audos if you listened to all of them you would be appalled as a fellow correction officer how these officers behaved not to mention the admistration. This story is not the only story of negligence there have been too many to count, Shannon Palmer, Robert Medina (suicide the same day as tony), Marcia Powell,Dana Seawright, Brenda Todd,Susan Lopez are just a few that died shortly after tony, suicide or homicide???? So I agree with you please just wait and see what will transpire out of this. Just remember this could be one of your family members..