Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Apr 22
Welcome to the May issue of First Amend This!
This publication provides an insider look at issues affecting the Idaho Department of Correction community. If you wish to assist this effort, share the link, copy and paste, or print and send this issue to another.
Friends and families are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact them at idahoinmate@gmail.com.
Looking to help improve Idaho’s criminal justice system? We ask you to contact Erika Marshall with the Idaho Justice Project. The Idaho Justice Project works to bring the voices of people impacted by the criminal justice system to the legislative table to work on solutions.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
The Convicted Conference is coming in June and the following issues could still use attention. Should anyone find an opportunity to introduce them at the conference, those of us who can’t make it would greatly appreciate it
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- IDOC’s current use of administrative segregation is placing unnecessary risk upon Idaho communities. Unless more action is taken towards ad-seg reform, the Department will continue to return their most problematic prisoners back to their communities without programming or supervision. (FAT! Apr. ’21, May ’21, Aug. ’21, Nov. ’21)
- Per policy, pre-interview parole hearing packets are to be delivered four months prior to all scheduled hearings. For some time now, this has not been happening. These packets are portals that lead to one’s future. The information required to fill in the packet can take weeks to put together and the Parole Board tends to notice when the details are left blank. (FAT! Nov. ’21, Feb. ’22)
- The betterment materials being donated by prisoners belong on their prison library shelves and not with the unnamed and unrecorded organizations that receive the donations from the Department. (FAT! Aug. ’21, Mar. ’22)
- IDOC clients are encouraged to articulate their issues and be patient when approaching their problems through policy. Too often, their efforts are dismissed by staff who don’t take time to review that which is being presented. More attention needs to be given to the organized efforts, grievances and concerns of the resident population. (Ref: “Exhausted Grievances In Summary”)
On behalf of all those who are held in IDOC facilities, thank you for helping our voices be heard.
Let’s First Amend This!
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PANDEMIC PROMOTIONS COME TO AN END, COMMUNICATE WITH INDIGENT LOVED ONES NO MORE
Dear IDOC Resident,
Idaho Gov. Brad Little has announced that he will end his declaration of the public health emergency related to COVID on April 15, 2022. Effective May 1, 2022, the IDOC, in connection with ICSolutions, will end the promotional items that have been extended during the COVID pandemic…
Sincerely,
Idaho Department of Correction
This was the message relayed on April 5, preparing residents to relinquish the following comforts: One free monthly video connect session; Two free weekly e-stamps; Free Reply Wednesdays; and Two free weekly phone calls.
Because it wasn’t made clear at the time whether the cost of JPay stamps, priced prior to the pandemic at around $.50 apiece, would continue being offered in packages of 60 for $10, this reporter addressed a Resident Concern Form to the IDOC contract monitor asking if stamps would be returning to their previous prices. Associate #D40 responded, “Yes. I am working to see if anything can be done. Please stay tuned…”
The message went out to all within earshot — and it wasn’t long before it found itself compared to the September 9, 2020, announcement sent out by none other than Director Tewalt:
Costs for Calls/JPay: Speaking of rates, I’ve had some folks asking if the cost reductions were about to expire soon and the answer to that is no. We negotiated a permanent rate reduction…
It was impossible at the time to know what to believe; was the price of JPay stamps set to soar again or was someone overlooking an amendment to the contract?
The geniuses among us decided to play it safe and encouraged our networks to heed Associate #D40’s warning.
Prior to the pandemic, it was discovered that JPay had allowed the Washington State Department of Corrections to negotiate much better messaging rates for their clients. With one Washington prisoner placed on their contacts, families with loved ones imprisoned in Idaho could communicate more frequently at 1/3 the cost. Once the hack was identified and patched, the powers that be sent out a message that to this day is still remembered for its subtle intimation; finding ways to communicate with loved ones in prison at an affordable rate is a manipulative act.
A few months later and the world was hit by COVID. Everyone soon shared a sense of isolation and, JPay — bless their hearts — saved the day with a brand new promo. One which would allow stamps to again be purchased at Washington rates that are more easily afforded by separated loved ones.
Which brings us back to the panic that we help set in motion: May 1 has come and gone, and more affordable stamps remain;
And though we’re unable to say for sure as to why,
we’ll count ’em as blessings one stamp at a time.
— Irving 5:22
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CENTURION HEALTH MISSES ITS CUE
It pains us to report the death of a resident recently transferred from IMSI’s C-BLOCK to ISCI.
While it’s being alleged that Mr. Dine became combative with medical staff prior to transfer, a source familiar with the situation says he appeared to be suffering from a great deal of pain and was frustrated with the level of healthcare he was receiving.
C-Block is used by IDOC to house those suspected of suffering from extreme mental illness. In addition to the criminally convicted, the unit is also home to Idaho’s “civil commits”; citizens sent to prison without the option of a trial. Because the health services offered to C-Block residents are no different from those throughout rest of the facility, the unit does more to contain and compound mental illness than it does to offer one’s illness a place to be treated.
Not more than a few hallways away from where Mr. Dine was presumably wending his way towards death, another inmate in A-Block with ongoing issues was being medically treated with accusations of faking. According to his cellie, the night his appendix finally ruptured he spent hours pleading through his door from the floor of his cell before staff found themselves able to act in his favor. One trip to the hospital by ambulance later and an emergency surgery saved the man’s life.
Though IDOC’s Department of Health Services has publicly vowed to investigate every health care complaint made against Centurion by a resident or family member, this reporter has reason to question their promise. For it’s in the process of editing that I’m politely interrupted; through my window, seeking consult, is yet another Centurion client. After being injected with a serum that tests for tuberculosis, medical staff never came back to place eyes on the reaction. “Will you look at this for me? Does this mean I have it? They injected a bunch of us and said they’d come back, but they never came back. Aren’t they suppose to?” To the degree that tuberculosis is rated an infectious and deadly disease, it presents as a bit of a problem that those who are testing for it are not taking it seriously. And it’s not as if those who are responsible are somehow unaware; this ongoing problem was included with others in last month’s lead story of this very newsletter. A copy of that issue of this newsletter was previously sent from my cell to the Department of Health Services, as well as to multiple members of Centurion management.
In March, following up on the inquiry made by CBS2 News, it was firmly stated by IDOC that they are abiding by the standards set forth by the National Commission for Correctional Health Care.
After they said it, we requested a copy. It’s now seven weeks later and they’ve still not produced one.
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KEEFE CONFOUNDS ‘EM WITH TACTICAL MATH
On April 12, the following message was delivered over JPay:
Effective 5/1/2022, Keefe Commissary will be increasing all prices by 8.5% in accordance with section 17.4 of the commissary contract. The contract mirrors increases that are also happening in the community by matching increases or decreases to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI is abnormally high this year due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the supply chain, trucking, labor and manufacturing.
Keefe does understand the strain that this puts on our customers and will continue to acquire products that [bring the most value.]
We appreciate your business.
Thank you,
Keefe Commissary
Within minutes, another message arrived: A healthy array of products are being discontinued. Though they are set to be replaced with similar items, the price for these items is significantly higher.
Examples:
Price Per Ounce, Before and After
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-
- Regular Sausage: $ .51 / .77
- Spicy Sausage: $ .51 / .77
- Chick-O-Stick: $.37 / .91
- Squeeze cheese $ .16 / .32
- Hot cocoa mix $ .15 / .30
- Grape Jelly: $ .10 / .25
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While it’s true that Keefe isn’t immune to market fluctuations, the company is much better equipped than others to absorb them. The reason being that much of their Idaho labor force is comprised of female prisoners. Working for $1.35 – 2.00 per hour, these women are not federally recognized as employees, which prevents them from being protected by minimum wage and hour laws and keeps Keefe from covering them with workers’ compensation.
As an exclusive provider for Idaho prisons, the company is also able to operate without the threat of competition. Their customer loyalty is all but guaranteed: there is next to no incentive to offer special discounts, provide high-quality products or be proactive towards complaints.
In exchange for allowing Keefe to maintain exclusive rights, the Department is allowed to participate in a profit-sharing arrangement worth a guaranteed minimum of $1,250,000 plus 40% of the gross beyond the annual base sales target. And their commissions only go up with the inflation of prices. (It’s unclear what, if anything, Keefe contributes toward political lobbying efforts.)
So long as Keefe is capable of delivering security-centric products — food, electronics, recreational items and clothing — the company is likely to remain IDOC’s exclusive provider until the Department is forced to welcome bids from others in 2030.
For anyone wondering if there’s something to be done:
The Keefe contract stipulates that prices must be kept comparable to those of convenience stores in the Treasure Valley marketplace. And before any changes can be made to their prices or products, the company is required to submit a written request to the Keefe contract manager. Such requests are reviewed and then approved at regularly scheduled commissary review committee meetings. They must include labor and overhead increases and/or market, wholesale and manufacturing justifications, and only those that can be supported with objective market data will be considered. By obtaining these reports and double-checking data within them, one may find objections to present through the contract monitor.
Source: “Concession Services Agreement for Full Service Commissary Services and Account Management Services”, December ’21 Board of Correction Meeting Minutes. IDOC Policy 406.02.01.001 (Commissary Review Committee Meetings).
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ENSURING TRANSPARENCY: WHERE ARE WE AT?
After successfully lobbying the legislature to prevent the chain of transactions that are required to procure lethal injection drugs from becoming public record or being discoverable by the Court, the Department’s commitment to operate transparently is as suspect as the puppet with the big wooden nose.
It’s important to note that this wasn’t the only move made in recent years to change how records are kept or made available for reference. Not long ago IDOC’s centralized storage system did away with the storing of Resident Concern Forms — the forms that their clients are required to use to communicate their everyday issues to members of staff. Now stored only by those to whom they are addressed, there are no clear guidelines establishing how and where they’re kept, or for what amount of time they must remain in storage.
Under this new system, were multiple ranks of IDOC staff approached with a matter that ended in horror, an investigation would rely on every party privy prior to procure all damning evidence the Courts might use against them.
Add to this an opaqueness in Finance: Last year, a public record request failed to produce any form of proof that the mounds of property being donated by residents are actually delivered to non-profit organizations. The Department couldn’t even provide so much as the names of the organizations receiving these property donations.
To sum it up sweetly in a small amount of space: More can be done by this Department to operate transparently.
Below is information that can help us move its goals.
WHAT ARE PUBLIC RECORD REQUESTS?
Public record requests are requests for information resulting from bureaucratic operations. Anyone can submit them by way of mail or email. One need not even reside in the United States to make them.
Requests can be made for statistics, budgets, contracts, employee correspondence, incident reports, purchasing orders, meeting minutes, memos, offender records and more. Everything but that which might compromise safety, expose trade secrets or conflict with privacy laws.
A sample of a recent request offers an idea of the types of people who make them: crime victims, journalists, fact checkers, prosecutors, pen pals, significant others, IDOC residents, probation and parole workers, reentry organizations, etc.
Though costs can be accrued, they are often filled for free. Exceptions are: requests that take more than 2 hours to fill or require more than one hundred pages to be printed. (The cost of postage may also apply.)
IDOC residents can submit their requests on a Resident Concern Form. They should be addressed to the Records Custodian and read something like this: “This is a public record request for [details of request].”
Ref: IDOC Policy 108.00.01.001 (Public Record Requests).
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IDOC INVESTIGATES APPARENT SUICIDE OF PWCC RESIDENT
by Unknown Employee
April 9, 2022 — The Idaho Department of Correction is investigating the apparent suicide of a Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center resident.
The 41-year-old woman was found unconscious in her cell April 5 at 1:05 p.m.
Staff initiated life-saving measures and called 911. Paramedics responded to the scene and continued lifesaving measures. The woman was pronounced dead at a Pocatello hospital April 9 at 10:35 a.m.
PWCC is a 355-bed correctional facility for woman in Pocatello.
[This story originally appeared on the IDOC website.]
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WHO WAS SHE AND WHY DID SHE KILL HERSELF?
I wish
that lady
was properly
recognized.
I wish
her existence
more formal
acknowledgement.
P
r
o
b
a
b
l
y
she was
a daughter,
a mother,
a sister,
a wife,
a friend to many someones…
….in need of all her friends.
I
n
s
t
e
a
d
someone who wishes
to remain anonymous
remembers her only
as 1 of 355
nameless,
featureless,
familyless,
females,
My wishes
to the others,
now 354
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SOLITARY WATCH
Solitary Watch works to expose and oppose the use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails, and offers a free quarterly newsletter to prisoners. The organization often publishes correlations between high rates of suicide and the extended use of isolation. They welcome submissions of writing by those who have experienced serving time in solitary, SHU, RHU, Ad-seg, etc.
Solitary Watch
PO Box 11374
Washington, DC 20008
solitarywatch.org
Click here for work published from IDOC’s Ad-Seg.
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COVID NEWS
Early April, IDOC reported a less than 1% positivity rate after conducting roughly 1,163 tests within its prison facilities. At the same time it was announced that the Department would begin demobilization efforts in accordance with its COVID operations matrix.
All facilities are now working to reopen visitation and return to normal programming.
Masks are still required in medical, quarantine and isolation areas. In all other places, so long as the facility falls into what the operation matrix classifies as the “green category,” masks are considered optional.
All incoming transfers will continue to undergo a minimum 14-day quarantine in the Receiving and Diagnostics Unit.
Staffing levels are expected to impact the rate at which facilities demobilize.
With new variants on the horizon, vaccinations and boosters are still recommended. Those who would like to follow the recommendations are asked to participate in upcoming vaccination clinics or submit a Health Services Request.
Those with COVID concerns are invited to forward all exhausted grievances to:
ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1897
Boise, ID 83701
View IDOC’s COVID report here.
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CONVICTED CONFERENCE COMING TO MERIDIAN
The Convicted Conference will be coming to Ten Mile Christian Church in Meridian on June 4, from 10:00 – 17:00. The event is focused on providing healing and hope to Idaho’s justice-affected families.
Community organizations and government agencies will participate in 30-minute breakout sessions, in which one can expect intimate, authentic dialogue centered around community barriers, tangible resources, and Idaho’s recidivism problem.
Topics will include: Health and Healthcare, Communication, Parenting, Addiction and Recovery, Marriage and Partnerships, Reentry Support, Support and Assistance for Children of the Incarcerated Parents, and much, much more.
There will be plenty of opportunities to network and resource, as well as free food and children’s activities — with childcare offered to all in attendance.
Community organizations not scheduled to speak are invited to show up and explore solutions related to addiction, mental illness, housing, transportation and employment. Learn about or plug in to the support services that citizens returning from incarceration need.
There will be opportunities to meet with parole/probation officers, volunteers, mentors, and workforce and employment agencies, all of whom will be happy to introduce the formerly incarcerated and their families to available community resources.
Admission is free.
Saturday, June 4th 10am-5pm
Ten Mile Christian Church
3500 W. Franklin Road
Meridian, Idaho 83642
For more information, contact Travis Richey at travis@accomplishedventures.org.
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RENICK ON THE RADIO
With over five years of episodes available for streaming, Mark Renick hosts Victory Over Sin on Boise’s KBXL 94.1FM, Saturdays at 12:30 pm. The program, funded by an advocacy arm of St. Vincent de Paul Idaho, shares what it’s like to come out of incarceration and live life on parole.
IDOC CARES Grant recipient Mark Person, known throughout Idaho for his commitment and dedication to reentry services, will be joining Mr. Renick on the St. Vincent de Paul team. Great things are expected with the two combining forces.
Did someone say Free Pizza?! Fill your belly and feed your soul at the new Recovery Roundup. Saturday afternoons from 1:00 – 2:30 pm @ 5256 W. Fairview Ave. in Boise. All returning citizens are welcome to attend for an open discussion on the “the issues of the day.”
This month Mark welcomed artist William Glitz. After painting prison walls during incarceration, his murals can now be found in church and government office buildings. It’s now Glitz’s mission to help others find their place using his experience and offer more perspective to wherever it may be needed.
Learn more about Mark’s advocacy work and reentry resources at svdpid.org.
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RESIDENT AUDITING
A public record request has been made for all notes, documents and written requests submitted to the Keefe contract monitor prior to the most recent Commissary Review Committee Meeting. Minutes from the meeting have also been requested.
A separate request has been made for Keefe sales volume reports from 1-21-22 and 7-15-21, the last twelve months of revenue sharing payments from Keefe to IDOC, and the monthly Keefe invoice from January ’22.
March’s request for the standards set by the National Commission of Correctional Health Care has not yet been filled. These are the standards by which IDOC abides, according to statements made by the Department to CBS2 News.
March’s request for information pertaining to IDOC’s involvement with “The Preseason” Hustle 2.0 Program has also not been filled.
Per Idaho Code 74-120(11), a requester may not file multiple requests for public records solely to avoid payment of fees. When a public agency or independent public body reasonably believes that one or more requesters is segregating a request into a series of requests to avoid payment of fees, the public agency or independent public body may aggregate such requests and charge the appropriate fees. They shall not, however, aggregate multiple requests on unrelated subjects from one requester.
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INMATE SERVICES AT WORK
4-17-22
To: Chief Executive Officer Steven Wheeler, Chief Operating Officer Keith Lueking, Senior Corporate Director for Policy and Accreditation Tracey Titus , Vice President of Medical Operations Julie Buehler, Corporate Infectious Disease Coordinator Brenda Sue Medley Lane, Director of Electronic Health Records Christopher Bourque, Director of Marketing and Communications Katy Stofko, Vice President and General Counsel Deana Johnson.
Included is a copy of April’s Idaho Department of Correction newsletter, which covers some of the issues experienced over the six months that Centurion has been acting as our new health care provider. Other issues have been detailed in previous months. Those can also be found @ bookofirving82431.com. Thank you for devoting an appropriate level of attention to all our concerns.
Regards,
Patrick Irving 82431
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SUGGESTION BOX
I suggest pulling the tuberculosis test results reported by Centurion. If signatures reflect that staff are verifying the results at a rate of 100%, this resident will be happy to produce several affidavits testifying to the fact that this is not the case.
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Shout-out to Michelle Rhea from Machiavelli Pinkeye ()!()