Prisons’ medical service defended
By Michelle Starr
Staff writer
A doctor with a plastic skeleton and
drill box, national prison accreditation
information and testimony from doctors
was used Friday to defend the Nebraska
correctional facilities against accusa
tions of inadequacy to task force mem
bers.
The five-member task force,
appointed by Gov. Mike Johanns to
review medical services in the prison
facilities independently, met for the sec
ond time at a public meeting Friday
afternoon in the state office building,
Members of the task force listened
to defense and asked questions to which
the employees mainly used accredita
tion, national standards and physicians’
testimony as a basis for answers against
allegations brought by Dr. Fraisal
Ahmed.
Ahmed, who spoke out against the
level of medical care available to
inmates, sparked a 14-month long
investigation by the state ombudsman,
Marshal Lux.
Lux and members of the ombuds
man’s office interviewed medical staff,
inmates and prison authorities and
released a report on Nov. 23,1999.
The report documented testimony
and cases that display inadequate med
ical care at the Nebraska Department of
Correctional Services.
Dr. John Cherry brought a skeleton
model with pins exemplifying a medical
problem Rowland Linemann, a former
inmate, had after a car accident.
Cherry also brought the mainte
nance drill that he admitted to having
used to take the pins out of Linemann’s
hips in April 1999.
Linemann, now released from
prison, experiences problems with
mobility because of the procedure.
Dr. Richard Elliot said he treated his
patients to the fullest of his abilities and
cited one instance when he went to the
hospital to check on a drug addict who
was experiencing pain from addiction.
He said many drug addicts require
more care than other inmates, which
means more time, energy and money.
“(The patient was) in a lot of pain
because he was a drug addict; many of
them are, you know,” Elliot said.
Dr. Jeffrey Baldwin, an associate
professor of pharmacy practice at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center
in Omaha who works with addicts,
responded defensively to Elliot’s atti
tude of treating drug addicts.
“Addicts deserve adequate pain
medicine just like anyone else,”
Baldwin said.
Jack Faulkner, assistant director of
the state correctional services, defended
the state and said since 1979 the
Nebraska Department of Correctional
Services has been accredited by the
American Correctional Association.
Nebraska applied for accreditation a
year after the program began.
Harold Clarke, director of the
Department of Correctional Services,
said Nebraska is one of eight states that
” When you ’re telling us a problem, it
looks like no one has looked at it.”
Ann Morse
physician, Internal Medical Associates, task force member
has all institutions accredited, and most
states in the nation aim for accreditation.
Accreditation is not mandatory but
rather a matter of professional integrity,
Clarke said.
George Green, legal counsel for the
department, said die system adheres to
Nebraska statute 181 that states all pris
oners should have access to medical
and dental care.
Green went on to say that Ahmed
was the physician to take Robert Zolper
off medication before Zolper suffered a
fatal heart attack September 1998 and
that he yelled at a nurse, saying she had
killed Zolper.
Ahmed’s attorney, Eric Brown of
Polsky, Cope, Shiffermilller & Coe,
said during the incident Ahmed yelled
at a nurse and was given six months
probation. The probation later was
vacated on Nov. 22, 1999, by the
Nebraska Personnel Board on the basis
that he had been disciplined unjustly,
Brown said.
Robert Woodson, health care super
visor for the department, said health
care was sufficient for the facility and
that a physician or nurse always was
available.
He went further to say inmates typi
cally have a high rate of wanting med
Clothesline Project returns to campus
By Margaret Behm
Staff writer
T-shirts and sounds that symbol
ize violence against women will be in
the Nebraska Union today and
Tuesday to bring about awareness to
campus for the UNL display of
Clothesline Project.
Holly Bahl, who helped organize
the campus display of the project,
said it will show people that violence
can happen anywhere.
“Violence is a problem every
where, and sometimes we forget
about it because it’s not always
brought out,” said Bahl, a graduate
student in counseling and psycholo
gy. “This is a way to do that.”
The project will be in the Rotunda
Gallery and will display about 20 T
shirts made by violence victims.
“T-shirts that are made of th^eir
experiences will be in the gallery and
bring awareness to this campus,”
Bahl said. “Making the T-shirts is part
of the healing process for survivors.”
Gong, whistle and bell sounds
will symbolize different types of vio
lence and show the frequency of
occurrence.
A gong will sound about every 12
seconds to show.how often a woman
is battered. A whistle will go off
about every minute for how often a
rape is reported. A bell will ring about
once an hour to show that between
three to four women are killed
because of violence every day.
Mark Bartek, Prevent student
group member, said the sounds are
effective.
Prevent organized the event with
the Rape/Spouse Abuse Crisis Center
and the Women’s Center.
“When you’re standing there, and
you hear the bell and you realize that
possibly at that moment someone
died because of violence, it connects
you to it,” said Bartek, a senior com
munication studies major.
The event focuses on women
because 97 percent of domestic vio
lence victims are women, Bartek
said.
Even though the project is mainly
about violence toward women, every
one could benefit from visiting the
display, Matt Hedin said.
“It’s a great experience that I wish
everyone on campus would come to,”
Hedin said.
Hedin organized last year’s event
after he saw a similar one in Iowa.
Last year’s took place in the Harper
Schramm-Smith residence hall com
plex.
Hedin said he was impressed by
the effect the display had on visitors.
“The experience was overwhelm
ing,” Hedin said. “A few people had
tears in their eyes because it had so
much feeling behind it.”
The display illustrates to women
who have experienced violence that
there are other women who have
stepped forward to get help, Hedin
said.
“I’m hoping that women will
know they’re not alone,” said Hedin,
a senior advertising major.
“Hopefully, they’ll seek help and
know there is a support system out
there.”
It will also show men that vio
lence against women is a problem,
Hedin said.
“For guys, this will open their
eyes that this is an issue,” Hedin said.
“For a lot of guys, they don’t think it’s
a problem they need to address.”
Bartek said violence is a fear that
females on this campus have, espe
cially when they are walking alone at
night.
Bartek said he doesn’t like
women being afraid of him at night
and wishes they wouldn’t have to be.
“It bothers me when I walk by a
female at night and that fear goes into
her mind,” Bartek said. “No one
should have to fear anyone.”
ical attention. He said they want to be in
the infirmary to escape work.
All inmates are required to be
involved in some type of work; school
ing is included as a type of work.
Women are four times as likely to
require medical attention than men in
the facility, Woodson said.
Dr. Ann Morse, a practicing physi
cian with Internal Medical Associates
in Grand Island and a member of the
task force, said outside of incarceration,
women typically require more health
care than men, and the prison’s statistic
was not abnormal.
Morse also questioned internal and
external evaluation of the medical facil
ity.
“When you’re telling us a problem,
it looks like no one has looked at it,”
Morse said.
The task force is scheduled to view
the state’s correctional facilities them
selves Feb. 25 - which is not open to the
public - and the next public meeting is
scheduled for March 3.
The task force did not hear testimo
ny from Elkhom Sen. Dwite Pedersen
because time ran out. But the senator
did have time to advise the task force to
look into all of the facilities throughout
the state.
Daily Nebraskan online:
www.dailyneb.com
Ireland’s
cabinet
taken over
BELFAST, Northern Ireland
(AP) - The senior Protestant in
Northern Ireland’s impotent admin
istration said Saturday that the Irish
Republican Army must promise to
disarm if the government is to have
its powers restored.
Ulster Unionist Party leader
David Trimble emerged unscathed
from a party conference in down
town Belfast, where his critics had
planned to demand his ouster and the
party’s withdrawal from the 10
week-old administration.
But Britain had stripped the
Cabinet’s authority Friday and
resumed control -from London - sav
ing Trimble’s political skin.
The Belfast coalition of two
British Protestant and two Irish
Catholic parties, was the goal of
Northern Ireland’s Good Friday
peace accord of 1998.
At a news conference in Catholic
west Belfast, a downcast Gerry
Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, said
Britain’s determination to safeguard
Trimble’s shaky hold over his party
confirmed that the Ulster Unionists
could wield “a veto over progress.”
The Cabinet was formed in
November under a compromise plan
mediated by American diplomat
George Mitchell. But it fell apart this
month over the IRA’s continued
refusal to start scrapping its secret
weapons dumps, as the accord envi
sioned.
^MDS Harris
Together, We're Making Lives Better
621 Rose Street, Lincoln
www.mdsharris.com/rcrt/recruit.htm
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Schedule of Events
Monday, Feb. 14
7:30 pan. - 3:30 pan. "After the Thrill of Victory-."
Nebraska Union, Auditorium
Tiffany Cohen Adams
Reception & informal discussion to follow |
Tuesday, Feb. 15
3:30 aan. -10 aan. "Hope in Healing" _ ||
Nebraska Union
I Tiffany Cohen Adams
Wednesday, Feb. 16
10 aan. - I pan. “WPY BAZAAR: Uniting Body, Mind & Spirit"
Featuring "A Room with a View"
\ . Nebraska Union Lounge & Gallery
Thursday, Feb. 17
12 pan. -12:50 pan. "Mirror, Mirror" speaks about body image,
East Campus Union
4:30 pan. "Freshman 15* speaks about healthful living,
Campus Recreation
7*30 pan. "How to Help a Friend", Nebraska Union
• s* '