Dear All,

This is a medical issue. Conditions at McAlester are a breeding ground for sickness. Those of us who are concerned about medical care and conditions within prisons will desire to know the environmental conditions at McAlester cause disease and infections. Therefore I'm passing on this current information which I received today from an inmate there. He requests his name not be known. He said not only inmates but Staff as well, complain of the excessively hot condition within the cells and their wings. The prison turned their furnaces on and it is 80 degrees outside, making inside cell heat 90 to 110 degrees. Not all inmates have fans and/or if a fan burns out, it's months before they have a replacement, often requiring the inmate to buy one, if they have the money in their account. Death Row inmates at McAlester prison are suffering the following conditions described at this very moment as I write. So I am asking urgently, you email or write the warden at McAlester and the Department of Corrections in Oklahoma to correct this inhumane condition for prisoners on Death Row. Microorganisms live and proliferate under special environmental conditions. Two conditions they like are warmth and darkness. Prisons typically provide these two breeding requirements within their walls, and especially on Death row wings.

1. Dark cells, having light lesser than the "Human Rights" clause requires, are breeding places for pathologic microorganisms.

2. In addition, prisons turn heat on and up when it's 80 degrees outside, bringing the temperature within cells to 90 and 100 degrees as is the case at McAlester currently.

3. Now it's true bacteria do not grow well with high heat, but inmates who live 24 hours a day, for example, in 90 degree temperatures with no air circulation become more susceptible to disease and infection.

I am also suggesting, if any of you live in Oklahoma or near that state, please write an article on these conditions and have it published in the newspapers to help public awareness of these intolerable conditions that humans, inmates or not, are subjected to while in prison. I do not have the email addresses of the McAlester Warden or DOC of Oklahoma, but I want to thank those of you who will respond with letters or email to officials who can change these conditions at McAlester prison.

The prison address is: Oklahoma State Penitentiary, P.O. Box 97, McAlester, OK 74502.

Respectfully written, Elaine Ruth Pope

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