The 13th Floor
SAFPF Uses Discredited Therapy
RECEIVED Fri., Dec. 12, 2008
Dear Editor,
I am the woman who testified at Sen. John Whitmire's committee hearing regarding the Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facilities Program. I wish to thank the Chronicle and Ms. Ruland for following this extremely important issue and giving it the attention it so desperately needs, despite the apparent lack of interest by politicians and lawmakers [“Rehabilitation or Torture?” News, May 23]. A medical illness like addiction is not treated by sleep deprivation, denial of the right to speak to another human being for weeks on end, enforced silent sitting in chairs and staring at walls for 16 hours a day, and being made the target of tirades of name-calling and abuse by other inmates as counselors look on in approval and urge others to jump in and "participate" in tearing down the psyche of the victim or suffer a write-up for "refusal to comply with treatment.” This is not "treatment.” Attack therapy, as it is referred to in the field, has been largely discredited and shown to be harmful – especially to vulnerable groups such as abused women and the mentally ill – both of which our "special needs" unit was full of – yet SAFPF continues to use it. If only these senators and congressmen who praise it could see what a real day there is like, surely they would not continue to fund such human-rights abuses – but these activities are always covered up or "prettied up" with words designed to hide the true nature of the "treatment" that goes on in these units.
Thanks again for covering this story.
I am the woman who testified at Sen. John Whitmire's committee hearing regarding the Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facilities Program. I wish to thank the Chronicle and Ms. Ruland for following this extremely important issue and giving it the attention it so desperately needs, despite the apparent lack of interest by politicians and lawmakers [“Rehabilitation or Torture?” News, May 23]. A medical illness like addiction is not treated by sleep deprivation, denial of the right to speak to another human being for weeks on end, enforced silent sitting in chairs and staring at walls for 16 hours a day, and being made the target of tirades of name-calling and abuse by other inmates as counselors look on in approval and urge others to jump in and "participate" in tearing down the psyche of the victim or suffer a write-up for "refusal to comply with treatment.” This is not "treatment.” Attack therapy, as it is referred to in the field, has been largely discredited and shown to be harmful – especially to vulnerable groups such as abused women and the mentally ill – both of which our "special needs" unit was full of – yet SAFPF continues to use it. If only these senators and congressmen who praise it could see what a real day there is like, surely they would not continue to fund such human-rights abuses – but these activities are always covered up or "prettied up" with words designed to hide the true nature of the "treatment" that goes on in these units.
Thanks again for covering this story.
Kerry Wolf
