Under Lock & Key

The term “Gospel” really just means “Good News”… so I bring to my fellow comrades “The Gospel According to Firewater!” :D

’Behold fellow sufferers who are locked in hot, filthy cages and begging for cold water… I bring you Good News as given to me through the Power and Grace of Lexis Nexis! Last night while I was unable to sleep due to heat, excessive gas and stomach troubles due to the unholy waters of this evil unit, the Great and all knowing Lexis Nexis spoke to me through the “Search All” button when I typed in “Extreme Heat TDCJ.” Low and behold: Tiede v. Collier, 2024 U.S. dist LEXIS 105904, U.S.D.C. Western Dist of Texas, Austin Division; Cause no. 1:23-CV-1004-RP; 2024 WL 3016562. Prior History: Tiede v. Collier, 2023 U.S. Dist LEXIS 173756; 2023 WL 6345966 (W.D. Tex Sept 28, 2023; 1:23-CV-1004-RP) It appears that the great LEXIS has heard our cries for help and Just-ICE! There are a whole bunch of Legal Eagles involved in this action and have formed 5 groups to sue Bryan Collier on behalf of ALL TDCJ prisoners! And the courts are not giving Collier any breaks so far! This is good news that has been too long in coming but Firewater has a good feeling about this one! Here on the Coffield Unit Firewater has been organizing a grievance campaign to address the Emergency Needs of prisoners during our first heat wave of the season. This Unit was not prepared and we had no ice water at all for hours at a time during triple-digit temperatures and triple-digit heat indices!

We filed emergency grievances (about 8-10) on T-wing, and of course, Firewater’s was improperly screened out because he had already submitted a grievance about being housed in a non-air-conditioned unit during the hot summer months. So the Grievance Investigator (G.I.) claimed that I am only allowed 1 grievance every 7 days and totally ignored not only the big printed “Emergency Grievance” at the top of the step one but also the content that stated that we were being denied access to ice water during a Heat Wave/Heat Advisory. That’s okay though, all I had to do is add some more recent facts and names and dates to the step one and wait for the appropriate time to re-file. Our inmate handbook clearly states on pages 74-75(G. #2):

“Only one grievance shall be processed every seven days [with the exception of a disciplinary and emergency grievances.]”

SEE ALSO: Valentin v. Collier. Civil Action 4:20-CV-1115, U.S.D.C. (S.D.TX, Houston Div. 2020). Valentine v. Collier, 2020 U.S. Dist LEXIS 112807 (Medical Emergency)!!! NO ICE WATER I think would qualify as a “Medical Emergency” during a Texas heat wave! But we still have to play by their rules even though Firewater knows the G.I. is wrong! Because the grievance system which does not recognize no ice water to be a “Medical Emergency” means that the grievance system “operates as a simple dead end!”

Anyway – Firewater is in Cage #209 and the recording equipment for temperatures etc. is locked in Cage 222, just 13 cages down the run/row. So at 3:00pm every day a Warden, Major, or other high ranking guard will pass by Firewater’s cage on their way to download the last 24 hour weather info from Cage 222, onto a Smartphone and email it in or whatever they have to do with it. So Firewater has opportunities to ask them questions. We are typically locked in our cells at 2:00pm daily for count, therefore cutting off access to the Igloo which has our cold water and ice in it and of course we are locked in our cages @ night from 10:30 pm to 4:00 am when sometimes the daily heat does not go away until 6:00 am.

So, there are problems with AD-10.64’s claims that we have unlimited access to ice & cold water and 24/7 access to respite. Especially when we are locked in cages and the zookeepers never come to check on us like AD-10.64 tells them to do “wellness checks”. Anyway, I hope the litigation in Austin is the final nail in Bryan Collier, Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott’s coffins with regards to air conditioning these human ovens.

Sending cool thoughts your way! Firewater!

In mid-February on H-pod here in the ECB [Expansion Cell Blocks] prisoners got together and submitted 30 grievances about lack of dayroom and outside rec which G-5, G-4 and G-2 are all experiencing here in the ECB. The response from Warden Smith was that they are “understaffed”. I may submit my own grievance just to see if I get the same response though I have to be careful as the guards are using the gangs to police the prisoners and some of these fucking “Homeboys” do the pigs’ work for them violently. But I thought I would call your attention to an interview of Bryan Collier in the Nov-Dec 2023 and Jan. 2024 Echo Newspaper. In the January edition Collier admits to having “staffing” problems. So both Collier and Smith are aware of this understaffing but still it continues and they are not releasing anybody or hiring enough to quell the problems.

Two weeks ago it is rumored that a prisoner was raped by his celly. The word is this is the reason one of my classmates has been missing. I don’t know if a FOIA can be filed and help his family to get these motherfuckers? But being understaffed is dangerous and cruel for all of us.

These 30 grievances from G-4’s in H-pod on ECB and the January 2024 interview of Collier show corroborated “Deliberate Indifference.” Maybe I should also grieve this and send my copies to a supporter who can coordinate with prisoners, legislators, and the D.O.J. I’m sure Genocide Joe would love to get a piece of Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton for the bad press they have given him on the border?? We should take advantage of these asshole politicians whenever we can!!! Anyway, if you have any extra ULKs sitting around and can afford to send me another bulk mailing, please do so, so that I can distribute them here.

Securus advertises package pricing for movies I think that are about $12 a month but they are not offering these packages. Instead we have to pay from 6-12 dollars per movie rental! And they blame Hollywood Studios for this price gouging. I wonder if Hollywood knows about how they are exploiting us and our families? We should get Netflix for $16/month or something but 4.99-19.99 before tax is too much to charge “slaves” who do not get paid for their mandatory work!

MIM(Prisons) responds: It’s ironic that Abbott is fighting to militarize the border, but can’t find enough people to run his prisons. Though it’s our understanding that many Texas prisons are already being staffed by Nigerian immigrants working on visas. Meanwhile they have gangs working for the state, implementing repression and keeping the population sedated on drugs, while the staff sit around doing nothing. Though Biden has no qualms about supporting genocide, he does like scoring political points on Greg Abbot. This comrade might have a good idea here.

I’m attacking the “Heat Sensitivity Scoring (HSS).”

We feel that being classified as “Heat Sensitive”, which requires a cool-bed housing assignment, is a medical treatment and a medical diagnosis. A diagnosis that you should be able to choose if you want the “treatment” or not. We have a right to refuse medical treatment but they will not let us opt out of this “classification” and will not explain how this “Heat Score” was calculated.

The best information I’ve gotten on the Cool-bed litigation came from Nell Gaither at the Trans Pride Initiative PO Box 3982, Dallas, TX 75208 (214) 449-1439, tpride.org. She copied and pasted Document 59-2 from Sain v. Collier 4:18-CV-4412 and I had her letter entered in my case. It is a 4 page letter and you can buy it for $0.50 per page from the Clerk in the Western District, Austin Division @ 501 W. 5th St., Suite 1100, Austin, TX 78701.

TDCJ makes First Nation practitioners take a religious knowledge test before they will approve them for a Designated Native American Unit and if you can’t pass the test you can’t meet with clergy or attend ceremonies, etc.

I was shipped off of my Designated Unit and put in High Security in Allred because I was “Heat Sensitive.” SO they denied me of my religion due to my health conditions and wouldn’t tell me I had to re-take the test to re-apply for a Designated Unit (which is unconstitutional). Anyway, what they’re really doing is shipping [lawsuit/paperwork] filers off to high security claiming they are “Heat Sensitive.”

If this happens to others, all they need to do is contact the Chaplain and apply for a transfer to a Designated Unit again. They will have to take the test again as is TDCJ Religious Policy AD-07.30 policy number 09.02(rev3)p.1 &2 and policy 09.02(rev2) Attachment A.

We are looking to do away with this unconstitutional religious discrimination and teach our own religion. TDCJ’s text is based on Lakota religion and there are no Lakota tribes in Texas, so it is difficult to get Native Chaplains willing to teach a religion that is not their own.

People are fired up about ULK 78! I’m going to be ordering all of my grievances to send to TX Prison Reform. Thank you Triumphant of T.E.A.M. O.N.E.! for the good info. I’ve already ordered my grievances, I have 56! You can purchase them from the law library for $0.10 each.

Note to my Connally Unit comrades: As of 1 August 2022, TDCJ will no longer make legal copies, which is fucked up! I’m having to send my original documents through the mail to the court and hope they don’t steal my mail. Warden Rayford has banned inmate-to-inmate legal visits and there is no drinking water in the Law Library and no bathroom breaks. If you need to go to the pisser, your session is over.

No legal copies and legal visits hinders our access to courts, but I suggest sending an I-60 in and getting a denial on paper even if you don’t need a jailhouse lawyer. Then, if you loose your case you can say this was because you didn’t have your “helper.” Johnson v. Avery, 393 U.S. 483, 490(1969) says you have a right to get legal help from other prisoners unless the prison “provides some reasonable alternative to assist inmates in the preparation of petitions.” And if they are still retaliating after that, make sure you got a lot of witnesses. It is a federal crime for state actors (the prison officials) to threaten or assault witnesses in federal litigation 18 U.S.C.§1512(a)(2).

In ULK 76 you printed an article by the Connally Committee of Texas T.E.A.M. O.N.E. titled “Connally Unit Denying Grievances & Retaliating”. I cannot vouch for the retaliation from here in High Security, but as for not responding to grievances and being chronically understaffed, I can vouch for.

I filed 2 grievances back in early April and have had zero response to them. I found a good cite in Prison Legal News June 2022 edition. It says, “A prisoner’s administrative remedies are exhausted when prison officials fail to timely respond to a properly filed grievance.” (Haight v. Thompson 763 F. 3d 554 (6th Cir 2014)) According to this, if they do not respond to our grievances we can go on to a §1983 Civil Action.

My suggestion to TEAM ONE here at Connally is to go ahead and file §1983 Lawsuits with hand-written copies of your Step 1’s and try to file a Step 2. But your remedies are exhausted when TDCJ fails to respond to your grievances. They have 40 days to respond to a Step 1 or file an extension. If it has been more than 40 days and you have no answer, your administrative remedies are exhausted. I’m sending a handwritten copy of my Step 1 into the District Court this week. They will file, stamp it and assign it a document number and I’ll use it as evidence in my case.

As far as being understaffed, I can certainly agree with the writers of that article. Every end of the month into the first of the month this place is a ghost town. We are locked in our cells and fed sack lunches.

We did recently win a small victory as far as the grooming policy goes. AD-03.83 & SM-06.16 (Rev5) were updated on 10 May 2022 to allow male prisoners to grow long hair and wear pony tails. There were a lot of §1983 lawsuits pending on this subject. I’m still not totally satisfied with the updated policy because TDCJ reserves the right to force cut our hair for disciplinary reasons and they do not do this to the women. Growing our hair is a religious right, not a privilege to be revoked so I still have it listed in my lawsuit.