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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 2004)
I Page 2 Spilyay Tyrooo, Warm Springs, Oregon September 50, 2004 GirPs death is blamed on (AP) - Senior Bureau of In 1 dian Affairs officials ignored warnings that jail cells at Ameri can Indian boarding schools could prove lethal, and should be held responsible for the death of a 16-year-old girl at an Oregon school last year, a fed eral inspector testified. Earl Devaney, the Interior Department's inspector general, told the Senate Finance Com mittee last week that the Depart ment of Justice should take ac tion against senior Indian Af fairs officials for the death of Cindy Gilbert Sohappy, who Report says prison conditions deplorable (AP) - Indian prisons are "a national disgrace" in which 11 people have died and hundreds have tried to kill themselves or escaped over the past three years, government officials say. U.S. senators said they were deeply troubled by the report of the situation from the Interior Department's top watchdog and likened the jails to the U.S. military's mistreatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Earl Devaney, the department's inspector general, painted a grim picture for the Senate Finance Committee. His report, capping a year of inves tigation, found at least 11 fatali ties, 236 suicide attempts and 632 escapes since the Bush ad ministration took office in Janu ary 2001. The report's release coincided with the opening Tuesday of the Smithsonian Institution's Na tional Museum of the Ameri can Indian. The Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs had 2,080 people in 70 Indian jails, ''detention centers and other cor rectional facilities as of mid "2002, according to the latest fig ures from the Justice Depart ment. One jail in six held twice its recommended maximum of prisoners. Problems chronicled by Devaney included mixing of juveniles with adults that re sulted in the raping of a youth; poorly trained and inadequate numbers of staff; "countless" assaults on detention officers; and broken toilets, showers and sinks. His staff toured 27 jails and interviewed 150 BIA and tribal officials. Parent advisory meeting Oct. 13 There will be a meeting of the Title VII Parent Ad visory Committee starting at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13. The meeting will be at the the Warm Springs Elemen tary School Library. Ft. Still school reunion in Oct. The 2004 Fort Still Indian School reunion is set for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 22-23, at the campus gym at Lawton, Okla. Friday dinner will be at the Camanche Nation Senior Nutri tion Center, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Saturday events start at 9 a.m. and last throughout the day. Raffle items and donations are appreciated, but your par ticipation is what is really appre ciated. There will be a $100 for the former student coming from the longest distance. Contact for information are Tommy Johnson (580) 512 6311; Phyllis Bohay Hunter (405) 247-1558; Hazel or George Paul (505) 463-5395; Darlene French DeFoe (828) 497-7417; Richard or Pat Bread (405) 643-2770; Albert Pohocsucut (405) 257-2113. died after she was incarcerated while under the influence of al cohol. "There were senior people in the BIA who knew about this years before," Devaney said. According to federal records, on the night of Dec. 6, Sohappy was placed in one of the Chemawa Indian School's hold ing cells after staff found her to be intoxicated. A dormitory worker stationed outside the cells was supposed to check on her every 15 minutes but did not The worker finally checked The report singled out the detention center at south-central Washington's Yakama Nation Reservation, where an inmate hung himself from a light fix ture in June. The body of Ricky Owens Sampson was left hang ing in his cell for at least five hours because the jail had just one staffer on duty that night. In May, the Yakamas were forced to stop housing juveniles at their 50-bed jail in order to separate younger offenders from adults. "I reject the notion that it's simply a matter of money. I think it's a matter of will," he said in answering senators' ques tions. Congress has increased BIA's yearly budget for law en forcement, including prisons and other detention facilities, to $170 million from $149 million three years ago. Another $150 million for new construction has come through Justice Depart ment grants since 1997, but the agency completed only two of 13 planned new jails. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who chairs the Finance Commit tee, described the events in Iraq as a reminder that the way people are jailed is a measure of the United States' commit ment to human rights. "I think the IG has it exactly right when he says these jails are a national disgrace," Grassley said. "The IG notes that the con ditions are often worse than those in Third World countries. Once again our government has failed to uphold its responsibili ties to Native Americans." Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who requested the committee hearing, said he was shocked, dismayed and angry at findings 04 DODGE 2500 QUAD 4x4. PW. PL. CUMMINS MSRP $ J97855 RFBATF TS&S DISCOUNT 33557 05 SUBARU FORESTERlZSHQi AWD MSRP JT7T944 REBATE TS&S DISCOUNT USA' 33421 f - 02 DODGE DURANGO LEATHERLOAOED, & SHARP 33364A 51 8,999 In the past three years, the bureau has paid $855,000 to settle lawsuits related to "neglect and misman agement" of its jails. on Sohappy about three hours after she had been placed in the cell and discovered that she was not breathing. She was declared dead a few minutes later. Bill Williams, an assistant U.S. attorney in Oregon, declined in such as BIA's inability to show how it spent $9.8 million of the $1 1.4 million it received this year for opening new facilities. Grassley, however, called it "not a problem of this administration, or the previous administration. This is a problem of an en trenched bureaucracy that isn't , getting the job done." Dave Anderson, the Interior assistant secretary who heads the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said his agency was trying hard to correct long-standing problems. "We are making progress but recognize a lot more work needs to be done," he said. 04 DODGE 1500 YEAH, IT'S HEMI MFBATE r.)0 f5&S DISCOUNT $.JOO ihijc:k homus jiouo rrc tisoo 33012 ssr r nmriTa Miniwwii M DOUG W iW ft VinX 05 SUBARU OUTBACK AWD8ga,r tTf,Tt --iat. 1 4-i"N 1 ft... TS&S DISCOUNT J817 03 DODGE STRATUS AUTO, AIR, AND MORE 33059A $11,999 www.fssmadrasecrestviewcable.com1 senior BIA officials June to prosecute school staff members, saying he lacked evi dence of a crime. Devaney said after Tuesday's hearing that he would be look ing beyond staff members and focusing on school and national administrators. He said the bureau's law en forcement and education divi sions were blaming each other for the death. Sohappy's case was one of 1 1 deaths, 236 suicide attempts and 631 escapes documented in Devaney 's report to the commit tee. The report condemned the What's Going On In WIB F -1 It I. U V I I I mm w WflnuSpiwgs CommuMtij Radio visit us online at www.kwso.org ; A til fcfifcjg ;qJ GIOVANNI QUAD 04 DODGE 1500 4X4, HEMI - HEMI - ffl'.frti lil KAII .! 1 (If '.o I HI IV'K 1. I t It M I 32772 L , i 04 DODGE NEON COOL GAS SAVER fTI'Tffl zT' --ti A MSRP W05 RI.OAIE i500 CK BONUS tlOOO TSA'. CHUCOUNT i'.C 33197 97 DODGE 1500 i V8, AUTO, 4X4 31911D Come see the difference in Madras. BIA's operation of 72 detention facilities as a "liability time bomb" and compared condi tions to those found in Third World jails. Dave Anderson, the head of the BIA, and about 40 federal staffers and two tribal leaders attended the hearing. Anderson defended the staff of the bureau he was appointed to head shortly after Cindy Sohappy's death. . "I want to make sure we don't paint a portrayal of them as all inefficient, bad people," he said. ? V Ul Jet W tU Uta fee to u ROD DAVID QUAD HEMI PW. PL Mskp i7Ti..i'jO RI.BATC 14000 C l l BONUS lOOO T., DISCOUNT tt4 32633 04 HYUNDAI ACCE MSRP llu.liM KLBAIf. ilOOO isx,s niscouNr $1616' 33160 97 ISUZU RODEO VERY CLEAN 4 $6999 32949A For as much knowledge as bureau officials had about Chemawa, Devaney said, over sight was lax for facilities the bureau funded, owned or staffed. He said that top bureau law enforcement officials were sur prised to learn of 98 percent of the incidents cited in his report. In the past three years, the bureau has paid $855,000 to settle lawsuits related to "neglect and mismanagement" of its jails. Another $11 million in claims are pending, Devaney said. JUL! in JOHN I VfeJ I V 04 DODGE DURANGO 4X4 AND MUCH MORE fla, firm 4 $5999 NT I i . i p i it,.. '33. -x2r i
