One Man At War Against Prison
The fairy tale that the lowest form of life in prison is a snitch is proving to be just that– a fairy tail at least in the case of James Ofeldt.
With rumors of better treatment and perhaps even transfers from Ely Max to other much more lenient prisons, inmates are said to be lining up to volunteer testimony against one of their own.
click link to read motion: ofeldtmotion
James “Big Time” Ofeldt is accused of the May, 2011 murder of cell mate Erik “Bingo” Hauser.
Ofeldt has never denied killing his cell mate but has insisted that he was acting in self defense.
Ofeldt’s attorneys have laid at least a preliminary case of self defense and according to more than a few pieces of correspondence between prison officials and the White Pine County Sheriff’s office they may have enough to raise at least a reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors.
Documents obtained by the Advocate at least suggest that both investigators from the prison and the White Pine County Sheriff’s Department did not dismiss that angle out of hand.
According to those and other documents Ofeldt was fingered for killing to seal a truce between two white prison gangs the Aryan Warriors and the Skin Heads. Ofeldt, the correspondence suggested, was accused of ironically being a snitch by the Aryan Warriors and Houser was picked for the job.
There is however apparently a difference between snitching and snitching.
While Ofeldt was reportedly facing a death sentence for the mere suspicion of ratting out a fellow inmate, those who have agreed to testify against him are allegedly being rewarded with better conditions and even transfers out of Ely Max to much nicer facilities at Lovelock medium security.
According to court documents at least four inmates who were all in Ely Max at the time of the killing and who are listed as witnesses for the prosecution in the case all four have since been transferred to the medium security prison in Lovelock. One of those four, whose names have not been released, is described as the leader of the prison gang who put the contract out on Ofeldt.
While life in Lovelock is by no means paradise, to inmates at Ely Max it is a much better place to do time.
Unlike the 23 hour lock down and numerous head counts in a place known by cons as ‘The Graveyard’, Lovelock Correctional Center offers a wide range of programs for all of the inmate population and an opportunity to enroll in educational classes in pursuit of a GED, high school diploma or college degrees. Lovelock’s Legislative approved program, Structured Living Program is one of the most successful. SLP initially started as a 10 week military-style institutional orientation program. With the popularity among inmates to enroll, this program quickly expanded to a six month regimen with opportunities for inmates to earn Merit Credits, attend classes, programs, education, attain jobs and participate in physical fitness training. Lovelock has begun offering inmates some vocational training in areas of dry cleaning, culinary food service, and automotive maintenance and repair. Lovelock also has its own medical and mental health staff serving the inmate population.
Apart from the alleged rewards another motive for Ofeldt’s fellow inmates could be simple revenge– James “Big Time” Ofeldt is not a nice guy.
From the day he arrived in 2004 Ofeldt has apparently been at war with Ely State Prison waged against both staff and fellow inmates alike. According to his prison disciplinary report, Ofeldt has spent almost half his so far nine years in prison under one form of discipline or another and close to four years in solitary confinement otherwise know as disciplinary segregation.
Most of the infractions Ofeldt was punished for were violent from fighting, assaults on other inmates to assaults on guards. His longest stretch in solitary began on October 31, 2009 and ended shortly before he killed cell mate Hauser in May 2011.
That long stretch in isolation could also play a role in his defense.
Last year, Judge Dan Papez found the potential of violence so great that he granted the prosecution motion that Ofeldt wear a stun belt during his upcoming trial.
Ofeldt was recently examined by Dr. John Matthew Fabian PSY.D., J.D., ABPP. According to his website. Dr. Fabian is one of a few national expert witnesses who is both board certified in Forensic and Clinical Psychology, and Fellowship Trained in Clinical Neuropsychology.
Dr. Fabian was formerly director of a state court psychiatric clinic, and he has worked and testified in adult and juvenile court psychiatric clinics, state forensic hospital, and Federal Bureau of Prison Forensic Studies Unit. Dr. Fabian has also worked as a clinical neuropsychologist at University of New Mexico School of Medicine Center for Neuropsychological Services and Veteran’s Administration Polytrauma Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD Unit. Dr. Fabian is an unparalleled expert witness having earned his Juris Doctorate to compliment his extensive forensic expertise.
In a phone interview Tuesday with the High Desert Advocate Fabian said he was asked to evaluate whether or not Ofeldt may have felt his life was threatened when the inmate killed Hauser.
While Fabian declined to tell his conclusion, the fact of his report still to be completed prompted the prosecution to agree this week to a defense request to continue the trial now set for April 2014.
While Fabian did not mention whether Ofeldt long periods of isolation could form a part of an insanity defense, the months if not years he spent in solitary would certainly figure on his state of mind.
The effect of solitary confinement on mental health has been studied and discussed by psychiatrists since the 1930s. According to psychiatrist Stuart Grassian, a specialist in the area, inmates are more likely to under-report than to over-report its effects (i.e., “Some of the guys can’t take it—not me”). Grassian has found that common effects of solitary confinement include increased sensitivity to stimuli, hallucinations, and other changes in perception, as well as cognitive problems including memory loss, difficulty thinking, and impulsiveness. These effects may together constitute a unique syndrome, sometimes called “SHU syndrome”. Others term it “Social-Sensory Deprivation Syndrome”.] Grassian’s 1983 study of inmates at Walpole State Prison is credited with identifying (duration and degree of) sensory deprivation as an important variable in mental health outcomes. Craig Haney built upon Grassian’s findings and found the following symptoms present among inmates housed in SHUs: anxiety, headaches, chronic tiredness, trouble sleeping, impending nervous breakdown, perspiring hands, heart palpitations, loss of appetite, trembling hands and nightmares. Haney also found that suicidal thoughts, perceptual distortions, chronic depression, emotional flatness, violent fantasies, social withdrawal and ruminations were present among these inmates a short time after admittance into the SHU.
Some have argued that evidence for a unique syndrome is insufficient and accused its proponents of bias because they advocate for prisoners in legal cases relating to solitary confinement. A study conducted by the Colorado Department of Corrections found that solitary confinement did not undermine mental health, and suggested that inmates in isolation often had mental health problems that should not be attributed to the isolation itself.
The International Red Cross considers Solitary Confinement to be a form of psychological torture when the period of confinement is longer than a few weeks or is continued indefinitely.Negative psychological effects have been documented, leading one judge in a 2001 suit to rule that “[Solitary confinement] units are virtual incubators of psychoses—seeding illness in otherwise healthy inmates and exacerbating illness in those already suffering from mental infirmities.”