On April 22, a rebellion took place at Westville Correctional Facility, in Westville, IN. People caged on a unit where many people were getting sick with COVID-19, and receiving no medical care, briefly overpowered the guards and took their keys. At least one guard was injured. 85% of incarcerated people tested for covid-19 at Westville CF have tested positive, and in April incarcerated people were still not allowed to wear masks. Only 209 of the 3100 people caged at Westville CF have been tested for Covid-19, to date. The DOC has tried to deny any uprising took place, first labeling it a ‘disturbance’ in the press, and then flat-out denying anything happened at all in later press conferences. Just as they have lied about their handing of the covid-19 pandemic, so they have lied about this event.
IDOC Watch has recently heard from family members of several people who were caged on the unit where the rebellion took place, about what has been happening to them since then. The people who were on that unit have been tortured and brutalized repeatedly in order to get them to provide information on who started the rebellion. They were sent to the Westville Control Unit (fka Maximum Control Complex), where they were repeatedly beaten, starved and dehydrated, and subjected to intense sexual and psychological torture, including guards rubbing their genitalia on their food, spanking them, calling them “bitches” and threatening to rape their mothers and other family members, intentionally coughing on them in order to spread Covid-19, poking holes in the two cups of water distributed each day (while held in cells with no running water), forcing them to urinate and defecate on their food trays because there are no toilets in the cells, denying them medical care, and denying Muslims their religious rights.
At this point there are around 13 people who have refused to give information, in part out of fear for what would happen to them if they did. These people, who normally wouldn’t associate with one another due to being of different races, have made a pact not to not leave anyone behind. They have now been moved to RHU, a building that has not been used at WCF for years, and are being held in the basement of the building, known as the ‘dungeon.’ Their property has all been confiscated. They have not been able to contact their families for over a week now, and the last their loved ones heard, two of them were being dragged unconscious from their cells with only underwear on, after being severely beaten. One had a sheet around his neck.
Military officers stationed at Westville CF who have witnessed the torture and abuse have sworn they will testify to what they’ve seen.
Westville CF staff and administrators who have participated in this torture and abuse include:
Warden John Galipeau, Public Information Officer David Leonard, Lt. Creighton, Lt. Jones, Lt. Palmeroy, Ofc. Ayres, Ofc. Watts, and Ofc. Vega.
Please listen to these recordings of loved ones of those being tortured. One of those being tortured has less than a year left to serve on his sentence, has asthma, and had terrible case of Covid-19 prior to the rebellion in April. Another is locked up on a technical parole violation, and got Covid-19 after being put in the Control Unit as punishment for the rebellion, as the Control Unit is where Covid-19 positive people have been quarantined. Then, please call & email IDOC Central Office, IDOC Chief Counsel Robert Bugher, Governor Eric Holcomb, and the Indiana Ombudsmen Bureau to stop this horrifying torture and abuse!
IDOC Central Office: (317) 232-5711 ext. 2, ext. 3, ext. 1
IDOC Cheif Counsel Robert Bugher: rbugher@idoc.in.gov
IDOC Ombudsman: (317) 234-3190, Ombud@idoa.in.gov
Governor Eric Holcomb: 317-232-4567, https://www.in.gov/gov/2752.htm
Sample Script:
“Hello, I am [calling/emailing] to express my concern about the horrible human and civil rights violations occurring at Westville Correctional Facility. 13 people, including Chase Jones #271517, David Wright #202217, Roddi Boesel #120948, and Zachary Springer #184664, have been tortured by Westville CF staff since April 22, and are now being held without access to communication on RHU. Torture has included sexual abuse, starvation and dehydration, beatings, psychological torture, and guards intentionally spreading Covid-19. These men must be transferred out of Westville CF immediately, their property must be returned, and their medical issues must be addressed right away!”
