This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Ironwood.
It should be noted that without visits, regular access to phones, religious services, self-help groups and other avenues of communication and interaction with family and positive peers, inmates are experiencing greater levels of anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns that this facility is unequipped to address and treat properly.
CDCR/Ironwood is not considering, or caring about, the fact that treatment of inhumane behavior and neglect is causing a significant increase in the mental health population and that these acquired disorders severely affect the immune system and one’s ability combat COVID.
I have been reinstated on mental health treatment since early [redacted], and my experiences with Ironwood’s staff and mental health personnel has been more than counter effective and discouraging than anything. Per CDCR policy I should’ve been transferred within 21 days of mental health placement, but here I sit 7 months later, with no significantly effective treatment, and my endorsement expired.
I have a long history of mental health treatment for anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and nightmares, related to long term sexual abuse and PTSD, and though it’s obvious that this situation has contributed to the resurgence of those symptoms, Ironwood has not considered it necessary to approve me for transfer where I can receive adequate treatment. I have submitted a complaint on this issue and it has been denied, appealed to second level.