Federal Prisons

I am in need of a copy of the amendments. I am also in need of a copy of the Universal Declaration of Rights for all prisoners. I had both of these at one time and they either got lost or stolen.

I also need to know how much uninterrupted sleep we offenders are supposed to receive. You see, we woke up several times every night for anything from a roster check to count. Even sometimes for lay-ins. At count time sometimes the officers turn on the lights and wake us up due to their not having flashlights. The lights are on for these counts for an hour and a half sometimes, uncalled for. I need to do something about this problem.

Not too long ago I purchased from y’all the Offenders Grievance Operations Manual, which I paid about $10 for. I need y’alls help in the sense that if y’all could please send me any kind of proof that I did purchase this manual from y’all. Or if you could please send me a witness statement that I did purchase this manual from you. The reason that I need this kind of proof is because said manual has been confiscated by a C.O. that works in the law library. And it would help a lot if you could please help with this matter. I thank you so very much for your help in resolving this matter. I will wait for your prompt response. I need this information as soon as possible so I can file my step 1 grievance. Thank you!

I attempted to participate in the grievance campaign complaint by submitting the form you provided to me to fill out and submit my querimony to the following: The North Carolina Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction – Secretary of "corruption", Mr. Erik A. Hook on April 12, 2019 without any response and the enclosed letter from the office of Inspector General on April 9, 2019. And I did not expect nothing less from either agency.

Enclosed letter dated May 2, 2019

Thank you for your correspondence received April 26, 2019. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of the Inspector General, investigates allegations of misconduct by employees and contractors of DOJ, as well as waste, fraud and abuse affecting DOJ programs or operations.

The matters you raised are outside our investigative jurisdiction, therefore no action can be taken by our Office. Please be advised that we have not retained any copy of your material and any additional material you submit regarding this matter will be destroyed.

Of course, if you have new information that involves other allegations or issues regarding DOJ employees, contractors, programs or operations, please feel free to submit that information to us.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to review your concerns.

Sincerely,

Office of the Inspector General
Investigations Division

Me and other Federal pre-trial prisoners are living in inhuman conditions at UPS Atlanta. There are massive water leaks coming out the walls and also from the ceiling onto the ground. We are having problems with plumbing resulting in feces from coming in the toilet. There is black mold in our showers and in most of the cells.

Since I have been at USP-Atlanta I was provided with one set of underclothes that don’t get laundered clean for at least two to three weeks at a time. A clean set are not provided so basically you have to go without clean underwear for two to three weeks. One washcloth, one towel, one blanket and one sheet was provided. These items are not laundered or replaced. I attempt to rise them in my cell. There is no soap provided and not enough airflow for these items to dry it leaves a mildewed smell.

We are on lockdown almost 3 to 5 days at a time for no reason. Meals are served in the cells every meal. Watery cold oatmeal and small portion of foods. Commissary is extremely limited. I’ve attached a copy of the USP Atlanta pre-trial commissary list. We’ve submitted several written request to be allowed to add more items to the commissary only for staff to refuse our inquiries or at the minimum be allowed to substitute some of the stuff for something healthy yet they still refuse. The only items we can get are the cause of a lot of guys getting high blood pressure or diabetes.

The lack of grooming items is an issue as well. Nothing to brush our hair or grease not even lotion is sold here. We have no good hygiene. The cells and the dayroom are infested with roaches everywhere. The facility has no cleaning supplies to keep the cells clean. During the months of June and July the hottest days of the summer the pod still has no air conditioning or airflow. This is the condition of the pre-trial inmates at USP Atlanta.

Having recently organized several concerns within the Idaho prisoner population at Eagle Pass correctional Facility on the Mexican border in Texas, I faced swift acts of retaliation by the Idaho Department of Corrections and employees of the GEO Group, Inc. On approximately February 22, 2019, I made multiple submissions of three formal complaints, with one accompanied by a large group of signatures representing a class action petition. This presentation was delivered to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the Inspector General of Texas, the Texas State Health Department, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, ACLU Texas, ACLU Idaho, and Idaho media. Additional resources were expected to be added to this mailing list pending initial response.

The retaliation took form through the modifying of a pre-existing disciplinary offense from November 11, 2018. In accordance with the EPCF Inmate Handbook, the violation was initially served as creating a disturbance 23.0, a minimum offense. This disciplinary charge wasn't written specific to IDOC policy and failed to meet the appellate process time lines and federal guidelines for Disciplinary Due Process Procedure. It's processing has also violated IDOC Policy 318.02.01.001 (Disciplinary Procedures for Inmates), Sections 18 (Transfers), 26 (Time Limits for Formal Sanctions), 30 (Appeals: Method of Administrative Review), and 33 (Audits and Data Analysis).

This disciplinary offense that has been modified is central to a complaint presented following the second group disturbance in November, which involved approximately twenty prisoners. Other prisoners involved were charged with the same offense listed above, as well as additional offenses of greater severity. These offenses were also not processed according to IDOC Policy 3/8. While sanctions were served in full at the time, they were disproportionate to the offenses as classified by the EPCF Inmate Handbook and were also in excess of IDOC Policy 3/8. This and the massive failure to provide disciplinary due process to the entire group of prisoners form the body of this complaint.

In addition to failing to meet the standards set by IDOC Policy 3/8, there is a clear violation of Texas Minimum jail Standards, Section 283.2, regarding facility rules and regulations. Prior to them being provided to and signed for by prisoners, there was a failure to replace the current disciplinary policy in the EPCF Inmate Handbook with IDOC Policy 3/8 when it was presented for approval by the TCJS. Per this mandate of Texas jurisdiction, regardless of the contract IDOC signed with the GEO Group, Inc, the rules provided to and signed for by the prisoners are the ones the facility must adhere to.

By either standard of the rules, those that were presented to us prisoners or the ones that we were expected to have innate knowledge of, disciplinary due process failed and the sanctions given were disproportionate to the rule violations. They also exceeded maximum recommendations as outlined by IDOC policy 3/8, Section 26.

Once my sanctions were completed and while seeking intervention for daily human rights violations, I returned to general population, my job, and my normal routine for over two months without incident.

It is of note that there are still offenders in segregation in Texas for offenses more severe than mine that took place during this incident. Also worth nothing, while approximately two dozen offenders received violations with a severity equal to or greater than mine within a one-week period, I am the only inmate returned to Idaho with enough classification points to be placed in maximum security facility for five years. This despite a previously clean history without disciplinary or being labeled as Security Threat Group.

What this does follow is two months of sanctions completed, three months of waiting for appeals to process and one week of corrective actions following the first class action petition I initiated for proper food service sanitation.

It is well known I have been actively pursuing litigation. I have also recently been quoted airing the group concerns for my fellow prisoners through Idaho media. Broadcasting the opinion that IDOC fails to recognize viable issues without public interest being involved is fairly common for me.

It is because of this I now face additional sanctions – even more disproportionate to the rule violation – while my first appeal, from months ago, has yet to be processed and returned (IDOC prisoners in Texas get two appeals per IDOC agreement number A18-002, Section 5.5).

There are many of us involved in the mechanical aspects of my formal complaints. Of those, an equal number are eligible for my current situation. However, as I am alone in being the sole organizer presenter of our group issues. I am alone in being removed from Texas to face a more immediate and unnecessary form of discipline. One that prevents me from continuing to organize the class action petitions I initiated and have been actively representing to many different interests.

Letters IDOC refuses to send from May 5, 2019 outgoing mail

Declaration of Undersigned Prisoners

We, the Undersigned Persons, committed to the care and custody of the Louisiana Department of Corrections (LDOC), hereby submit the following declaration and petition bearing witness to inhumane conditions of solitary confinement in the N-1 building at the David Wade Corrections Center (DWCC).

Our Complaint:

(1) We, the undersigned, are currently housed in the N-1 building at DWCC, 670 Bell Hill Road, Homer, LA 71040.

(2) We are aware that the Constitution, under the 8th Amendment, bans cruel and unusual punishments; the Amendment also imposes duties on prison officials who must provide humane conditions of confinement and ensure that inmates receive adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and must take reasonable measures to guarantee the safety of the inmates.

(3) We are aware that Louisiana prison officials have sworn by LSA-R.S.15:828 to provide humane treatment and rehabilitation to persons committed to its care and to direct efforts to return every person in its custody to the community as promptly as practicable.

(4) We are confined in a double-bunked 6x9 or 54 square feet cell with another human being 22 hours a day and are compelled to endure the degrading experience of being in close proximity of another human being while defecating.

(5) There are no educational or rehabilitation programs for the majority of prisoners confined in the N-1 building except for a selected few inmates who are soon to be released.

(6) We get 1 hour and 30 minutes on the yard and/or gym seven days a week. Each day we walk to the kitchen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner which takes about one minute to get there. We are given 10 minutes to eat.

(7) The daily planner for inmates confined in the N-1 building is to provide inmates 1 hour and 30 minutes on yard or gym; escort inmates to kitchen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to sit and eat for approximately 10 minutes each meal; provide a 10 minute shower for each cell every day; provide 1 ten minute phone call per week; confine prisoners in cell 22 hours a day.

(8) When we are taking a shower we are threatened by guards with disciplinary reports if we are not out on time. A typical order is: “if you are not out of shower in 10 minutes pack your shit and I’m sending you back to N-2, N-3, or N-4” – a more punitive form of solitary confinement.

(9) When walking outside to yard, gym or kitchen, guards order us to put our hands behind our back or they’ll write us up and send us back to N-2, N-3, N-4.

(10) When we are sitting at the table eating, guards order us not to talk or they’ll write us up and send us back to N-2, N-3, N-4.

(11) Guards are harassing us every day and are threatening to write up disciplinary reports and send us back to a more punitive cellblock (N-2, N-3, N-4) if we question any arbitrary use of authority or even voice an opinion in opposition to the status quo. Also, guards take away good time credits, phone, TV, radio, canteen, and contact visits for talking too loud or not having hands behind back or for any reason they want. We are also threatened with slave labor discipline including isolation (removing mattress from cell from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.), strip cell (removing mattress and bedding and stationery from cell for 10 to 30 days or longer), food loaf 2 (taking one’s meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and mixing it all together into one big mass, bake it in oven and serve it to prisoners for punishment).

(12) When prison guards write up disciplinary reports and transfer us to the more punitive restrictive solitary confinement in N-2, N-3, N-4 or N-5, guards then enforce an arbitrary rule that gives prisoners the ultimatum of sending all their books and personal property home or let the prison dispose of it.

(13) Louisiana prison officials charge indigent prisoners (who earn less than 4 cents an hour) $3.00 for routine requests for health care services, $6.00 for emergency medical requests, and $2.00 for each new medical prescription. They wait until our family and friends send us money and take it to pay prisoners’ medical bills.

Our Concerns:

(14) How much public monies are appropriated to the LDOC budget and specifically allotted to provide humane treatment and implement the rehabilitation program pursuant to LSA-R.S.15:828?

(15) Why does Elayn Hunt Correctional Center located in the capitol of Louisiana have so many educational and rehabilitation programs teaching prisoners job and life skills for reentry whereas there are no such programs to engage the majority of prisoners confined in the N-1, N-2, N-3, and N-4 solitary confinement buildings at DWCC.

(16) It is customary for Louisiana prison officials and DWCC prison guards to tell inmates confined in the prison’s cellblocks to wait until transfer to prison dormitory to participate in programs when in fact there are no such programs available and ready to engage the majority of the state’s 34,000 prisoner population. The programs are especially needed for prisoners confined in a 6x9 or 54 square feet cell with another person for 22 or more hours per day.

(17) Why can’t prisoners use phone and computers every day to communicate with family and peers as part of rehabilitation and staying connected to the community?

(18) Why do prisoners have to be transferred miles and miles away from loved ones to remote correctional facilities when there are facilities closer to loved ones?

(19) Why are prison guards allowed to treat prisoners as chattel slaves, confined in cages 22 or more hours per day, take away phone calls and visitation and canteen at will, and take away earned good time credits for any reason at all without input from family, one’s peers and community?

(20) Why do the outside communities allow prison guards to create hostile living environments and conditions of confinement that leaves prisoners in a state of chattel slavery, stress, anxiety, anger, rage, inner torment, despair, worry, and in a worse condition from when we first entered the prison?

(21) Why do state governments and/or peers in the community allow racist or bigoted white families who reside in the rural and country parts of Louisiana to run the state’s corrections system with impunity? For example, DWCC Warden Jerry Goodwin institutes racist and bigoted corrections policies and practices for the very purpose of oppression, repression, antagonizing and dehumanizing the inmates who will one day be released from prison.

(22) David Wade Correctional Center Colonel Lonnie Nail, a bigot and a racist, takes his orders from Warden Jerry Goodwin, another racist and bigot. Both Goodwin and Nail influences subordinate corrections officers to act toward prisoners in a racist or bigoted manner and with an arrogant attitude. This creates a hostile living environment and debilitating conditions of confinement for both guards and prisoners and prevents rehabilitation of inmates.

(23) In other industrialized democracies like Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, et al, it is reported that no prisoner should be declared beyond reform or redemption without first attempting to rehabilitate them. Punitive or harsh conditions of confinement are not supported because they see the loss of freedom inherent in a prison sentence as punishment enough. One Netherlands official reported that their motto is to start with the idea of “Reintegration back into society on day one” when people are locked up. “You can’t make an honest argument that how someone is treated while incarcerated doesn’t affect how they behave when they get out,” the official added.

(24) Additionally, some Scandinavian countries have adopted open prison programs without fences or armed guards. Prisoners who prove by their conduct that they can be trusted are placed in a prison resembling a college campus more than a prison. The result is a 20% recidivism rate, compared to a 67% rate in the United States.

(25) The National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) in a position statement says: “Prolonged (greater than 15 consecutive days) solitary confinement is cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, and harmful to an individual’s health.”

What We Believe:

(26) We believe that when the greater portion of public monies goes to war and the military, this leaves little funds left for community reinvestment and human development. The people have less access to resources by which to get a better idea of human behavior and rely on higher education instead of prison to solve cultural, social, political, economic problems in the system that may put people at risk to domestic violence and crime as a way to survive and cope with shortcomings in the system.

(27) We believe that investing public monies in the rehabilitation program LSA-R.S.15:828 to teach prisoners job and life skills will redeem inmates, instill morals, and make incarcerated people productive and fit for society.

(28) We believe that confining inmates in cellblocks 15 or more hours per day is immoral, uncivilized, brutalizing, a waste of time and counter-productive to rehabilitation and society’s goals of “promoting the general welfare” and “providing a more perfect union with justice for all.”

(29) We believe that corrections officers who prove by their actions that incarcerated people are nothing more than chattel slaves are bucking the laws and creating hardening criminals and these corrections officers are, therefore, a menace to society.

Our Demands:

(30) We are demanding a public conversation from community activists and civil rights leaders about (i) the historic relationship between chattel slavery, the retaliatory assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and the resurrection of slavery written into the 13th Amendment; (ii) the historic relationship between the 13th Amendment, the backlash against Reconstruction, Peonage, Convict Leasing, and Slavery; (iii) the historic relationship between the 13th Amendment, the War Against Poverty, the War on Drugs, Criminal Justice and Prison Slavery.

(31) We demand that the Louisiana legislature pass the Decarcerate Louisiana Anti-Slavery and Freedom Liberation Act of 2020 into law and end prison slavery and the warehousing of incarcerated people for the very purpose of repression, oppression, and using prisoners and their families and supporters as a profit center for corporate exploitation and to generate revenue to balance the budget and stimulate the state economy.

(32) We are demanding that Warden Jerry Goodwin and Colonel Lonnie Nail step down and be replaced by people are deemed excellent public servants in good standing with human rights watchdog groups and civil rights community.

(33) We are demanding that the LDOC provide public monies to operate state prison dormitories and cellblocks as rehabilitation centers to teach incarcerated people job and life skills 5 days a week from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

(34) We are demanding that the LDOC release a public statement announcing that “from this day forward it will not support punitive or harsh conditions of confinement,” and that “no prisoner should be declared beyond reform or redemption without first attempting to rehabilitate them.”

(35) We are demanding that the prison cellblocks be operated as open dormitories (made in part a health clinic and part college campus) so that incarcerated people can have enough space to walk around and socialize, participate in class studies, exercise, use telephone as the need arise. Prisoners are already punished by incarceration so there is no need to punish or further isolate them. Racism and abuse of power will not be tolerated.

(36) We are demanding an end to unjust policies and practices that impose punishments and deprive incarcerated people of phone calls, visitation, canteen, good time credits, books and other personal property that pose no threat to public safety.

(37) We are demanding that LDOC provide incarcerated people cellphones and computers to communicate with the public and stay connected to the community.

(38) We are demanding the right to communicate with reporters to aid and assist incarcerated persons in preparing a press release to communicate to the public Decarcerate Louisiana’s vision and mission statements, aims, and plans for moving forward.

(39) We are demanding the right to participate in the U.S.-European Criminal Justice Innovation Project and share our complaint, concerns, and demands for a humane corrections program.

(40) We are only demanding the right to enough space to create, to innovate, to excel in learning, to use scientific knowledge to improve our person and place and standing in the free world. The rule of law must support the betterment and upliftment of all humanity. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said: “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

(41) We demand that the responsibility for prisoner medical care be removed from DOC wardens and place it under the management of the state’s health office; increase state health officer staff to better monitor prisoner health care and oversee vendor contracts.

(42) We have a God-given right and responsibility to resist abuse of power from the wrongdoers, to confront unjust authority and oppression, to battle for justice until we achieve our demands for liberation and freedom.

I was recently sent to have hernia repair surgery and once I was back on my feet I was scheduled for "staple removal". The nurse was trying to remove staples and actually stapled me in my incision. She was trying to remove staples with an actual surgical stapler and because of the staple she put into me they had to dig the staple out and because of this my incision was opened back up and I had to receive more staples because of this!

I can't believe this happened to me. I am currently trying to receive my medical records for that day but I am having a hard time because I am indigent. I filed a step one grievance but I have been transferred to another unit and I don't know what to do.

I tried to speak to the head of the medical department the day of the incident but she refused to speak with me. She told the nurse for me to place a request in to speak to her. I don't know what to do. I know the incident was documented because the doctor had to remove the staple and I told her to get the trash can from the OR room because the nurse had thrown the stapler in the trash before getting the actual staple removed. The doctor said "no way". She wrote in the notes that I had a "new" staple and that it had to be removed and then two more staples had to be put back on the incision and closed it.

I don't know what else to do about this incident. Who do I write and how do I get my medical records?

We were just been released from a 2 month lockdown because a new Warden had stepped in and wanted us to know hes the boss. We were not given clean clothes for 30 days straight. We received johnny sacks for 5 weeks straight before getting our first trayed meal. We all lost weight!

I filled grievance after grievance. The Grievance Investigator never even showed up for the first month. We had to buy our grievances and I-60's from other Inmates because the Staff told us they were out.

I am in G-5 Closed Custody which means I can't leave my cell. These people have and are denying us access to the Law Library. They're only sending what they want and when they want. You name it and its happening here. We are still being denied recreation yard time. I am in a bad faith based POD. We were being refused that until recently.

I am writing regarding an issue that affects my friend who is imprisoned at the TDCJ Unit A.D. Hughes in Gatesville, Texas. Prison Administrators at this unit are continually denying the inmates and convicts in Administrative Segregation (AdSeg) any amount of time out of their cells to exercise or shower as well as continually providing the inmates and convicts with nutritionally inadequate meals thus violating State and Federal Law. These issues are causing damage to their mental and physical health in addition to indirectly creating a risk to public safety.

My friend is in AdSeg where the inmates and convicts are already confined for 23 hours each day in a cell the size of a small closet which was designed to create maximum isolation from human contact. Their only break from this type of confinement is one hour out-of-cell exercise the State and Federal Courts ordered TDCJ to provide during incarceration (Ruiz v. Estelle, 679 F.2d 1115 1151-52 (5th Cir., 1982)). An hour of out-of-cell exercise or activity was ordered each and every single day because of the risk to the mental and physical health of all inmates and convicts who are subjected to uninterrupted confinement in a tiny four-wall cell. This serious issue is well established and recognized.

However, at the Hughes Unit prison, officials are habitually and continually disregarding the established laws. For instance, in the four and a half month period from April 2018 through August 2018, there was no out-of-cell exercise provided to inmates and convicts in AdSeg on 156 of those days. This isn't a new development or the result of an emergency situation. Over the last several years, out-of-cell exercise has been canceled at a similar rate on this unit. Administrators at the A.D. Hughes Unit have not been consistently complying with State of Federal Laws—at best they are complying half the time.

To make matters worse, on about half of that time, administrators are providing inmates and convicts in AdSeg meals that are calorically and nutritionally inadequate which is also a violation of State and Federal Law. Approximately one fourth of all meals served consist of just two sandwiches and nothing more. The first sandwich has only a single slice of processed lunch-meat, soy patty or other similar meat-type product. The second sandwich has about a spoonful of peanut butter. The two sandwiches combined contain about 500 calories. There are never any fruits of vegetables or any other food required for a balanced diet made available to the inmates in AdSeg. It is impossible for these two sandwiches that are provided every now and then to maintain a person's health. Sometimes the convicts at the Hughes Unit could be forced to eat nothing but these sandwiches for months at a time, but only if there was a disciplinary lock-down and we are to be on a 2,500 calories daily dIet.

They got out-of-cell time only 95 times. There is no valid reason for the issues to be happening on a regular basis. Inmates and convicts are given the excuse that there is a lack of staff to provide out-of-cell exercise or to serve proper meals when they question these issues. While this may have been true in some instances, there are many days where exercise was denied while there was adequate staffing on the unit. The staff are choosing to cancel out-of-cell exercise because they don't feel like performing their daily work-time duties. When staff wants a day off they just ask the ranking officer in charge to declare a staff shortage and then they sit around on the unit during their shift doing nothing but collecting payment for a job they aren't performing—money provided by taxpayers. No one is holding TDCJ-CID unit administrators, or these staff members, accountable for their behavior mainly because it takes place all the way down the line from the executive director down to the CO II.

Even when there is a genuine staff shortage that fact doesn't absolve prison administrators of the responsibility of doing whatever is necessary to fully and adequately staff the prisons. Indeed the very essence of their duty is to create and maintain prisons that comply with all relevant laws. The chronic staff shortage is due in part to halfhearted measures taken to hire new employees: when new employees are hired they are often fired on trivial pretexts in order to keep staffing levels artificially low to save money on the prison budget.

It is always important to remember that these inmates and convicts will eventually be paroled or serve their sentences and be released back into society. There is a growing awareness that these types segregation units are incubators of mental illness and further criminality; even when run properly, which they never have been and never will be. Prison administrators' disregard for the inmates and convicts' rights and well being here at the Hughes Unit is only making the problems worse, but only because they wear a different color uniform than us that puts them as bias against us from jump street. After mistreating and antagonizing the convicts for years, TDCJ-CID administrators will just release them back into society, leaving an unsuspecting public to deal with the resulting fallout. Prison administrators at the Hughes Unit are putting us all at risk with this type of unlawful behavior.

Please investigate this matter and see to it that prison officials at the Hughes Unit provide the AdSeg inmates and convicts with a minimum of an hour of out-of-cell recreation every single day as well as showers on a daily basis and nutritious meals as ordered by State and Federal Law.

I was moved to another unit for a heat restriction that I have due to medical problems, and have to be in air conditioning. TDCJ lost a lawsuit and Fed court tells them to A/C the Pack One unit. So now they are doing some system wide moving us inmates who have heat restrictions, or what is called heat sensitive medical conditions. There is about 24 conditions that they have at this time. The number one is if inmates are 65 and older. I am 67, but I have a lot of the conditions they talk about having.

Anyway, the Texas prison system is trying to get us old inmates into a temperature control housing which is with A/C. But the bad thing they are putting us in what is called 12 Building which is the Ad-Seg on Stiles unit. Now they made 3 pods for general population heat restriction but we are treated like we are Ad-Seg.

We do get day room from 7am to 10:30pm, phone, TV, we go to commissary off the building, mail room. We don’t have a chow hall we only have a room with 6 tables, they have to bring cooked food to 12 building from the main kitchen. To the kitchen on 12 building which only has a steam table that we get served off of it.