Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter (Special Alert :Coronavirus Emergency)
WELCOME to First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter that addresses Idaho Corrections concerns.
Brought to you by the Captive Perspective and made available at bookofirving82431.com.
This publication provides an insider’s look at issues affecting the Idaho Department of Correction’s community. If you wish to assist this effort, share the link, cut and paste, or print and send a copy to another.
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Out Mission: To better develop our current state of Corrections.
The Idaho Legislature shares our mission and welcomes your comments! Feel free to send them your thoughts, attached to a copy of this publication.
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FROM THE EDITOR
Our publication schedule has moved to “as-needed” for the foreseeable future, to address situations that are rapidly evolving.
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IDOC TAKES PRECAUTIONS FOLLOWING IDAHO’S FIRST CONFIRMED CASE OF COVID-19
Following March 13th’s state of emergency declaration from Governor Little, and an announcement that COVID-19 was confirmed in Ada County, IDOC implemented their Incident Command System and placed all in-state prison facilities on a modified secure status.
All volunteers and visitation are banned, and rehabilitation programs and recreation is restricted to offender housing units. Orderly operations are set for timely reviews.
Director Josh Tewalt and Corizon Health services have kept in-state offenders and their loved ones informed through JPay Messaging and IDOC’s website. Memos, digital and paper, have been delivered to offenders regularly. Here are the messages they contain:
— The Commission of Pardons and Parole has implemented options for parole hearings to prevent virus transaction. Hearings will continue to be held, and victims, families and attorneys will be able to present remotely through telephone or video conferencing.
— American Legion Post 202 and others are helping clean and sanitize common living areas.
— 2 free phone calls per week will be provided from CenturyLink.
— JPay will offer 2 free estamps each week for email or videograms.
— Keefe will be giving everyone a complimentary hygiene kit and a snack, while temporarily increasing the commissary spending limit from $100 to $150 per week.
— IDOC is piloting video calls at a couple institutions. Bandwidth limitations currently prevent several facilities from supporting that option. Ways to provide access to video visiting/calling without crashing our system are being considered.
— Medical screening is being conducted prior to entry at all facilities.
— Medical copays have been suspended and people experiencing any form of symptoms are encouraged to see Medical. Flyers in common areas describing the symptoms associated with COVID-19 are being distributed to provide direction for those experiencing signs.
— Corizon Health regional office is having their providers review offsite consultations and reschedule those that aren’t urgent or emergent. Appointments that have been deemed routine will be rescheduled to a later date with community providers.
More information will be shared as it comes available.
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First Amend This! has yet to confirm if triage delays have been addressed following our last issue.
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FOR 610 IDOC INMATES ON THE NOW-CLOSED MEXICAN BORDER, THINGS WILL BE A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT.
Eagle Pass Correctional Facility doesn’t have the space to allow social distancing. Their negative-pressure isolation modules are no more than a few, and with the exception of Restrictive Housing Units, and two open dorms, EPCF crams eight men in a cell. There is no real ability to isolate.
To prevent the threat from entering the facility, staff are undergoing examinations prior to entering the building. But there may not be enough to cover shifts if even a few are flagged as a risk: 2018’s offender disruptions required GEO to call staff from surrounding areas to contain two separate situations involving small groups of inmates. Where IDOC is capable of responding to similar situations at any facility in minutes, GEO Group took hours to organize their response.
While Duncan Regional Medical Center is approximately twenty minutes away, it will take more than forty minutes for an ambulance to take an emergency where it needs to go — that’s if Medical calls when they’re suppose to. (Kevin Bliss reminds us again of Kim Taylor’s 2019 death in this month’s Prison Legal News article, “Death Highlights Need for Change In Texas GEO-Run Prison.“)
I can also confirm false claims of treatment and restrictions have been placed on the practical use of EPCF’s medical equipment. After I was told by the dentist an X-ray was needed, a non-dentist said he was wrong. Witnessed with an IDOC health care monitor in the room, the non-dentist was quickly corrected.Monte Hansen was alerted of a records falsification during my quest to save The Savable Tooth.. He was not interested.
EPCF also doesn’t have JPay or CenturyLink, due to GEO’s contractual arrangement with Global Tel Link. Fortunately, GTL is offering one free 15-minute video visit and two 5-minute phonecalls a week, for the next four weeks. Unfortunately, their Telmate system requires an account balance to read incoming messages, at the rate of three- to five-cents-per-minute — hindering emergency updates from home.
We suggest Contract Monitors Tim Higgins and Monte Hansen spend more than one-day-a-week ensuring compliance issues and medical needs are being met, assuming on-site monitoring is now taking place at all.
See our last issue for sanitation concerns at this facility.
There are currently no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Maverick County.
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We’d like to know what’s happening at EPCF. If you have relevant information, please leave it in the comments section of any FAT! edition. Offender/family concerns will be forwarded to officials and press.
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