Sterilized Behind Bars - New TYT & CIR Documentary

Summary

This video explores the disturbing history of forced sterilizations in California's prison system. Between 2006 and 2010, 148 women were sterilized without proper consent, echoing a dark legacy of eugenics in the state. The investigation uncovers how medical professionals and prison officials violated regulations, pressuring women to undergo irreversible procedures. Interviews with former inmates highlight the coercion they experienced, while officials pass blame. The scandal draws attention to the ongoing fight for prisoner rights and the need for accountability in medical practices within the justice system.

Takeaways

• 😔 Women in California prisons underwent forced sterilizations without proper consent between 2006 and 2010.
• 😠 Many of these sterilizations violated established rules, with officials knowingly breaking regulations.
• 📜 California has a dark history of state-sponsored sterilizations and eugenics, sterilizing 20,000 people over the years.
• 😢 Women affected by the sterilizations described feeling dehumanized, humiliated, and coerced.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Reporter Cory Johnson broke the story, revealing 148 sterilizations during a five-year period.
• 💡 California was a leader in eugenics, and its practices even influenced Nazi Germany’s eugenics program.
• ⚖️ Legal aid organizations like Justice Now documented cases of forced sterilizations, but verifying them is difficult.
• 🏥 Dr. James Heinrich, a key figure at Valley State Prison, was named in the investigation for promoting these sterilizations.
• 🤔 Despite new regulations, federal courts found medical care in California prisons violated constitutional rights as late as 2006.
• 🔍 An audit is ongoing to investigate these cases further, with hopes for more accountability and legislative clarity.

Q & A

What event prompted the investigation into sterilizations in California prisons?

The investigation into sterilizations in California prisons was prompted by a report from the Center for Investigative Reporting in 2013, which revealed that women were being sterilized without proper consent.

How many women were sterilized in California prisons between 2006 and 2010?

According to the investigation, 148 women were sterilized in California prisons between 2006 and 2010.

What historical practices in California were connected to the sterilizations?

California has a long history of state-sponsored sterilizations and eugenics practices, including the sterilization of prisoners by Dr. Leo Stanley, who removed and replaced the testicles of male inmates. The state also conducted over 20,000 sterilizations during the eugenics era, accounting for one-third of all sterilizations in the U.S.

What role did Dr. James Heinrich play in the recent sterilizations in California prisons?

Dr. James Heinrich was the chief OBGYN at Valley State Prison and was responsible for a significant increase in sterilizations between 2006 and 2010. He has been accused of pressuring women into undergoing sterilization procedures.

What is the significance of California’s 1970s legislation regarding sterilizations?

In the 1970s, sterilizations were prohibited at all state institutions in California unless medically necessary. This legislation was further clarified in 1995, but the investigation found that sterilizations continued to occur in prisons despite these laws.

What were some of the women’s experiences with sterilization in prison?

Women reported being pressured or coerced into sterilization procedures without full understanding or proper consent. Some felt humiliated and treated as less than human, while others said doctors dismissed their concerns or misled them about the necessity of the surgeries.

What is the link between California's eugenics program and Nazi Germany?

Nazi Germany modeled its eugenics program on the theories developed in California. Scientists at Stanford promoted sterilization as a way to improve society and shared research with Third Reich counterparts in the 1930s.

How did the California prison system justify the cost of sterilizations?

Dr. James Heinrich, who oversaw many of the sterilizations, justified the cost by arguing that the money spent on sterilizations was small compared to the savings in welfare costs by preventing unwanted children.

What oversight existed to prevent these sterilizations, and why did they continue?

A federal receivers office was established in 2006 to oversee medical care in California prisons, including enforcing the ban on sterilizations. However, evidence suggests that the receivers office knew about the sterilizations and failed to stop them between 2006 and 2010.

What were the main concerns expressed during the hearings in California regarding prison sterilizations?

The hearings in California raised concerns about informed consent and whether the women in prison were properly informed about the sterilization procedures. Many women felt coerced or manipulated into agreeing to the procedures, and there was a call for clearer laws and accountability for the doctors involved.

Outlines

00:00

😟 The Emotional Toll of Sterilization

The opening paragraph presents a personal account of a woman's emotional devastation after learning she had been sterilized without her consent while in prison. She expresses the profound loss she felt, describing it as taking away her womanhood. This event had a lasting impact on her mental and emotional well-being, as she struggled to cope with the sense of violation and trauma.

05:00

😲 California's Sterilization Scandal Exposed

This paragraph provides a historical overview of a report in 2013 by the Center for Investigative Reporting, which uncovered the sterilization of women in California prisons between 2006 and 2010. Public hearings followed, raising concerns about civil rights violations. Cory Johnson, the reporter behind the story, discovered that 148 women were sterilized, despite clear rules prohibiting such procedures. The story draws connections to California's history of eugenics and involuntary sterilization practices in state prisons.

10:00

📜 California's Troubling Eugenics History

The paragraph dives deeper into California's eugenics program, revealing that it was one of the most aggressive in the country. California sterilized approximately 20,000 people, accounting for one-third of all sterilizations in the U.S. The Nazis even modeled their eugenics program after California’s practices. Johnson links this troubling past to the present-day sterilizations in California's prisons, raising the possibility that the procedures might have persisted well into the 21st century despite legal prohibitions.

15:01

😔 Personal Accounts of Forced Sterilization

Several personal testimonies from women who underwent sterilizations in prison are featured in this paragraph. These women recount their experiences of being coerced or misled by medical professionals. They describe the shock and confusion they felt when learning about the sterilizations, as well as the emotional trauma of being treated as less than human. The invasive procedures were often performed without proper consent, leaving lasting scars.

🏥 Questionable Medical Practices in Prisons

The focus shifts to a specific doctor, Dr. James Heinrich, who worked as the chief OBGYN at Valley State Prison. Multiple women recall their interactions with him, highlighting his dismissive attitude and questionable medical practices, such as performing examinations while eating. The paragraph underscores Heinrich’s role in many sterilizations and how women, particularly pregnant inmates, were subjected to manipulative medical treatment. A former inmate, Crystal Nan, recounts how Heinrich’s unsettling behavior made her feel uncomfortable and suspicious.

⚖️ Legal and Ethical Failures in Prison Sterilizations

This paragraph explores the legal and ethical failures surrounding sterilizations in California prisons. A federal court found that medical care in the state’s prisons violated the Constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Despite regulations banning sterilizations, it was revealed that between 2006 and 2010, at least 50 procedures took place. The federal receiver’s office, responsible for overseeing inmate medical care, knew about the sterilizations but failed to act, raising concerns about their role in enforcing the ban.

📝 Challenges in Investigating Coercion

The spokesperson for the federal receiver's office, Joyce Heho, discusses how the office is now auditing cases of sterilization in prisons. She denies any knowledge of forced sterilizations but admits that inappropriate procedures occurred. When asked about the women’s claims of coercion, Heho cites patient privacy regulations, avoiding direct answers about specific cases. She assures that current regulations aim to prevent further coercion, though many remain skeptical of the receiver’s office and its ability to address past abuses.

💔 The Prisoner's Dilemma and Coercion

Misty Rojo, a former inmate, shares her perspective on the coercive environment in prisons. She explains how inmates often feel pressured to comply with medical procedures, even if they do not fully understand them. This paragraph discusses the power dynamics at play in prison, where doctors’ suggestions feel more like commands. Rojo highlights how informed consent is compromised in such an environment, as prisoners are conditioned to obey in order to avoid further punishment.

🎓 Lack of Answers and Ongoing Investigations

The final paragraph describes the frustration surrounding hearings aimed at investigating prison sterilizations. Despite efforts to uncover the truth, few answers were provided. The focus is on a lack of clarity as to why regulations were ignored, and why such practices were allowed to continue for so long. While the medical board is investigating Dr. Heinrich, many feel that justice has yet to be served. The paragraph closes with a reflection on the emotional toll this ongoing issue has had on the affected women.

Keywords

💡Sterilization

Sterilization refers to a medical procedure that permanently prevents someone from being able to have children. In the context of the video, it is used to describe the forced or coerced sterilization of women in California prisons, a practice that happened without their full consent. The video exposes how women were subjected to these procedures under questionable circumstances, which deprived them of their reproductive rights.

💡Eugenics

Eugenics is a controversial ideology that promotes selective breeding to 'improve' the genetic quality of a population. In the video, California’s history of state-sponsored eugenics is highlighted, linking past sterilizations of marginalized groups to the Nazi regime's policies. This context is used to explain the broader cultural and historical acceptance of sterilization in the U.S. prison system.

💡Consent

Consent refers to the agreement or permission for something to happen, particularly in medical procedures. In the video, the women in California prisons were often sterilized without proper consent. Many felt coerced, pressured by prison authorities, or misinformed, raising ethical concerns about whether the sterilizations were truly voluntary.

💡Coercion

Coercion is the act of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats. In the video, many of the women felt coerced into undergoing sterilization procedures, as they were in an environment where they feared the consequences of saying no. This raises questions about the integrity of the medical care provided to prisoners and the vulnerability of incarcerated individuals.

💡California Prisons

California Prisons refer to the correctional facilities where many of these sterilizations took place. The video focuses on the years between 2006 and 2010, during which 148 women were sterilized in these prisons. The prison setting is critical because the institutional power dynamics make it difficult for inmates to advocate for their rights or refuse medical procedures.

💡Federal Receivers Office

The Federal Receivers Office was established to oversee and improve medical care in California's prison system after it was found to violate the Constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Despite its role, the video suggests that sterilizations continued under its watch, raising concerns about oversight and accountability in the prison healthcare system.

💡Informed Consent

Informed Consent is the process by which a patient is fully informed about the potential risks, benefits, and alternatives of a medical procedure before agreeing to it. The video shows how many women in California prisons did not receive this level of information before being sterilized, leading to accusations that the procedures were performed without their proper understanding.

💡Reproductive Rights

Reproductive Rights refer to the rights of individuals to make decisions about their own reproductive health, including the right to have children and the right to access reproductive healthcare. In the video, these rights are violated when women in prison are sterilized without consent, stripping them of their ability to make choices about their own bodies.

💡Justice Now

Justice Now is a legal aid organization mentioned in the video that works to defend the rights of incarcerated people. They played a key role in documenting and exposing the cases of coerced sterilizations in California prisons. The organization’s involvement highlights the legal and advocacy efforts to stop these unethical medical practices.

💡Medical Ethics

Medical Ethics refers to the principles that govern the conduct of healthcare professionals, ensuring that they respect patients’ autonomy, do no harm, and provide care that is in the patient's best interest. The video questions the medical ethics of the doctors involved in the prison sterilizations, as many of the women were subjected to irreversible procedures under coercive conditions.

Highlights

The emotional trauma of being sterilized without consent, with women feeling less than human and deprived of their womanhood.

Between 2006 and 2010, 148 women were sterilized in California prisons, with the state admitting to the illegal surgeries.

California has a dark history with eugenics, sterilizing 20,000 people, accounting for one-third of all sterilizations in the U.S.

The Nazis modeled their eugenics program on theories developed in California, where sterilization was seen as a way to improve society.

In 1995, regulations were put in place to prevent sterilizations, but illegal procedures continued as recently as 2010.

Many women reported being sterilized without proper consent, including coerced hysterectomies and tubal ligations.

Cory Johnson’s investigative report highlighted how women were misled, with some not even being informed they were being sterilized.

Crystal Nan, who served 5 years in prison, described how Dr. James Heinrich persuaded women to undergo sterilization, treating them like less than human.

Dr. Heinrich, who was responsible for many of the sterilizations, justified the procedures by stating that it would save money on welfare for unwanted children.

Inmates reported feeling coerced to sign forms for sterilization procedures, as they were conditioned to comply with authority in the prison system.

Justice Now, a legal aid organization, documented numerous cases of sterilizations where women came out of surgery without their ovaries or uterus.

The receiver’s office, responsible for medical care oversight in California prisons, was aware of the sterilizations but failed to stop them until 2010.

In 2006, federal courts found that medical care in California prisons violated the Constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

There is concern that the issue of prison sterilizations may be brushed under the rug, with systemic failures in enforcing regulations.

The California medical board is now investigating Dr. Heinrich, but many women feel it is too late for justice.

Transcripts

it's scary to know that your life is in

someone's hands like that and they could

just do whatever they want without your

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consent

I would never forget it I felt literally

less than a

woman oh my God I can't even

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explain emotionally I was like I cried

and I cried I was like they took part of

my

Womanhood I was really messed up for a

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while

in the summer of 2013 the center for

investigative reporting broke the

disturbing story about the sterilization

of women in California prisons a story

that prompted hearings in the state

capital when a recent Center for

investigative reports story broke

claiming that women in the California

prison system were undergoing

sterilizations many of us were shocked

and outraged I think this is something

that unites all of us to protect the

civil rights of people who are not

free in the gallery was the reporter who

broke the story Cory Johnson he found

that between 2006 and

2010 148 women were sterilized in

California's prisons the state has

admitted that they have done these

illegal surgeries but we don't actually

know who they did them on what we found

thus far in the reporting is that uh

there were rules in place and that um

the officials involved in recommending

uh these procedures to the women knew

that the rules were in place and and

consciously decided to break the

rules how was this allowed to happen to

understand how it's important to look at

California's long history of state

sponsored sterilizations and even

Eugenics if you look back there was this

doctor by the name of Leo Stanley who

went into prisons and literally removed

the test testicles of male inmates and

replaced them with testicles of men who

had died but were deemed socially fit

and he had sterilized as many as 600 men

in the state of California and if you

look at California as a whole you'll

notice that it was actually the worst

state when it came to the Eugenics

program they basically sterilized as

many as 20,000 people and accounted for

about onethird of sterilizations in the

entire

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country

the Nazis modeled their Eugenics program

on theories developed in California that

was my initial impetus you know to look

at sterilizations that occurred you know

in the early

1900s scientists at Stanford promoted

sterilization as a way to improve

society and even traded papers in the

1930s with their Third Reich

counterparts and so as I'm digging to

try to learn more about his historical

Eugenics I get this tip that perhaps

there was more current day

sterilizations that had taken place and

that that these sterilizations may have

occurred in the prisons in the 1970s

sterilizations were prohibited at all

state institutions unless they were

medically necessary finally in 1995 even

clearer regulations were put in place to

close this chapter in California's

history but began investigating suspect

sterilizations that occurred as recently

as 2010 so I reached out and I cast my

net really wide and I took trips all

across the state um but for for a lot of

people uh talking about whether they

were sterilized is a very tough thing to

do it's a lot of Shame that's around it

there's a lot of guilt there's a lot of

hurt there's a lot of pain Cory

interviewed several women for his report

these are extracts from what they told

him read out by actors he said so we're

going to be doing this Tu liation right

I'm like tubo liation what are you

talking about I don't want any procedure

I just want to have my baby I went into

a straight

panic I figured that's just what happens

in prison that that's the best kind of

doctor you're going to

get he never told me nothing about

nothing

one of his nurses asked me how many kids

do you have she said seven like she was

just so appalled I felt

humiliated and insulted you know I made

a mistake and I'm here but I love my

kids being treated like I was less than

human It produced in me a

despair this is the drawer for the

destruction of reproductive capacity

Justice now a legal aid organization in

Oakland began documenting cases of

prison sterilization several years ago

and we started to receive reports from

people about having gone in for um

different kinds of reproductive care or

um surgeries and coming out without

their ovaries coming out without their

uterus the allegations they gathered

from former inmates are shocking but

difficult to verify this is what the the

women told Justice now again read by

actors he had a camera inside of me he

says he has to do this to give me a

hysterctomy I said I don't want a

hysterctomy he said how old are you I

said I'm 44 he said well you're too old

to have any more children so it doesn't

really matter I finally got sent to Meda

hospital to get a

talectomy and I met five women from

Valley State women's prison getting Hy

toies within a 24-hour

period there's a joke going around that

Meda is selling women's

uteruses I went to the library and I

picked up a few things on

hysterectomies and when I read the

pamphlet it had nothing to do with why I

had my

hysterectomy when I went back to my

paperwork it said prolapsed

uterus he never told me anything about

that

so I wonder if that's what he had to

write to get the hysterctomy

approved so when I heard stories like

these naturally you know I tried to

check them out Cory analyzed records of

the most common methods of sterilization

carried out in California's prisons over

the last 14 years he found a system

riddled with questionable procedures and

noticed that in 2006 the sterilization

spiked that was when Dr James Heinrich

became the chief OBGYN at Valley State

Prison my name is Crystal Nan I spent 5

and a half years at Valley State Prison

for Women Crystal was serving time for

her part in an armed robbery committed

by her boyfriend at 19 crystal found

herself pregnant and behind bars Dr

Hinrich was the main GYN doctor there at

the time when I first got there when I

first saw him he looked like oh he you

know he looks like a nice guy but when I

would ask him questions about my

pregnancy he would laugh at it and make

me feel stupid so then I didn't I didn't

feel comfortable with him after after

that and it it was weird because he

would examine um when he he would he

would be eating popcorn all the time

popcorn cheese and crackers and he would

be examining what he would be eating and

that's to me that's not it's not

hygienic you just it's it was gross so

it just it just creeped me out Crystal

was under Dr heinrich's care during her

pregnancy her baby was taken away Less

Than 3 days after she gave birth they

came and they got him I felt like I was

really alone now she was then assigned a

job in the prison's infirmary which

meant working under Dr Heinrich where

she witnessed firsthand how he persuaded

women to be sterilized well sometimes

there someone out there that maybe

needed a peup or needed something cuz

I'd have to wait behind the screen until

you know a nurse came over or came out

or poked out or I would say excuse me

you know when they were finished talking

like I need something and they would you

know come so I would hear you know I I

heard Dr hinr talking about well maybe

you know you should do something so you

can't have any more kids because if if

that's how your life is and you don't

have any support that's why I know for a

fact that people weren't just saying it

it's it's true Crystal wasn't surprised

that women felt they had been coerced by

their doctor inside of prison once

you're in there it's it's as if you're

treated as an animal as that you have no

rights no one's going to care because

basically you've been to prison so they

feel like that you're you're less than

and that you you know you don't deserve

to have kids you committed a crime

you're in prison you're doing your time

and they're thinking that yeah we're

doing Society of favor by not letting

you

reproduce we were told Dr Hinrich was

too ill to speak to us for this film in

an earlier interview he denied

pressuring anyone and said the money

spent to perform these operations in

prison was small compared to what you

save in welfare paying for these

unwanted children as they procreate more

in 2006 the same year Heinrich was hired

federal courts found that Medical Care

in California prisons violated the

Constitutional ban on cruel and unusual

punishment the court set up what they

call a federal receivers office its job

is to oversee the medical care for all

the inmates in California they're

responsible for enforcing the ban on

sterilizations however according to a

2008 document from the receivers office

itself they knew sterilizations were

continuing Justice now says this raises

serious concerns about whether the

receiver's office was doing its job we

received the

documentation of two bations being

performed between 2006 and 2010 directly

from the federal receivers office and 50

of those happened between 2008 and 2010

the California Department of Corrections

told us that any questions about without

sterilizations must be directed to the

receiver's office I feel like everyone

keeps passing the buck no one wants to

answer any questions so we're going to

talk to this woman named Joyce heho

she's the spokesperson for the

receiver's office I want to know why the

receiver's office didn't investigate

this until 2010 when there was evidence

indicating that they knew it was going

on as early as

2008 first of all I just want to mention

that number one under the regulations a

tubal liation shouldn't be performed but

what we can see from going back and

looking at the cases that were being

performed is that inmates were um asked

um as part of a service being provided

to them whether or not they wanted to

have a tubal liation and if so it

appears that the inmates were being

provided with um in an informed consent

form and talked to with regard to the

procedure that that uh was being offered

to them so have you spoken to the

doctors about any of this are they being

investigated and will there be any

consequences for their role in these

tubal ligations with all of the

information that we've provided to our

doctors and all of the patient education

with our patient uh education with our

doctors a doctor now performing a tubal

liation in our system would be very

egregious and absolutely would be

something thing that would be a

dismissible offense we have no

information at this time that any

procedure was ever forced on a female

were these procedures inappropriate

absolutely but were they forced um every

indication we have is that this has not

happened but where's the line I mean

there were two when I gave Joyce

specific examples of women who did feel

coerced she wouldn't talk about them

claiming patient

privacy so we are having the audit to

specifically look into these cases so I

can't specifically talk about each

individual case due to hippo regulations

but we know that the audit will delve

into each procedure to determine what

happened and why the audit is still

ongoing and the findings will be due out

early next year according to the State

House what we do is at Justice now

there's concern that the entire issue

may be brushed under the rug we spoke to

Joy hey

uh from the receiver's office she

basically said that they are now putting

certain regulations in place to prevent

this type of intimidation Behind Bars

yeah that's that's interesting that she

says that and again it's it's really

hard I mean I'm not saying Joyce heo is

a liar she doesn't know what she's

talking about but you have to remember

she was not working there during those

years people are still being coerced

because we're we're throwaways we're

cast out of society we were locked away

from society so we're basically

society's trash and a lot of their eyes

so it's easy for them to just treat us

as

such Misty Rojo knows this firsthand she

served nearly 9 years for attempted

murder at Valley State women's prison

she says at the heart of the

sterilization issue is informed consent

when prison doctors ask you to sign a

form it's not as cut and dry as it may

seem to those who have never been locked

up so for them to say we feel like you

should do this you feel more or less

compelled to comply because that's what

you're taught in there you comply with

the rules so you can get out so if you

can imagine that type of structure to be

asked to sign off your right to have

children it's still not inform it's not

very consensual it doesn't feel safe it

doesn't feel

comfortable the hearings last August in

California were a first step in state

efforts to uncover what really happened

with these sterilizations Behind Bars

they had representatives from the

Federal Court the receiver's office show

up it was a packed room there was a lot

of emotion in the room when you're in

prison you do what you're told to do to

get out period so even in the idea of

medical care if a doctor tells you you

should do this you're automatically

inclined to feel like you should do it

simply because of the environment you're

in and you're likely to sign a paper

without fully understanding the lifelong

ramications especially if they hand you

a paper you sign it that's it some

people may be happy with that decision

but at the end of the day it is not

informed consent and is coercive thank

you but in terms of detailed answers

into why this practice had been going on

uh in violation of the rules possibly

going all the way back from the early 9s

we didn't get any closer to getting any

answers in that hearing at

all what I guess what I'm trying to say

is we had a regulation in place and for

some some reason that regulation was not

followed and so we had some conflicting

um information going out to the people

um within the department and we think

that that's an important part of the

story shortly after the hearings we

obtain this letter showing that the

California medical board is

investigating the now retired Dr Hinrich

it's scary to know that your life is in

someone's hands like that you're um and

they could just do whatever they want

without your consent they could do it

and get away with

it without any repercussions or anything

going on and that it took this long for

it to be

exposed the Ultimate Dream would be for

them to pass a bill to further clarify

laws so that they know no one can do

this ever I would love for the doctors

um to have to take responsibility for

the surgeries that they did do um and I

would like for the people whom this

happened to to know that this was not

supposed to happen to

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them