Category: Dispatches

A Public Service Announcement from the Idaho Department of Correction: Know This Before Attempting to Celebrate the Holidays by Drinking Homemade Prison Wine

The IDOC shared this message with its residents over JPay on 11.17.23. It is presented here in accordance with the Idaho Public Records Act Pruno: A Recipe for Botulism You may have heard about a cheap, quick way to make a kind of homemade alcohol that goes by many different names, including pruno, hooch, brew, … Continue reading “A Public Service Announcement from the Idaho Department of Correction: Know This Before Attempting to Celebrate the Holidays by Drinking Homemade Prison Wine”

First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, Nov. ’23

Previous: First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, Oct. ’23 [Censored!!!] Welcome to the November 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. … Continue reading “First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, Nov. ’23”

Patrick published in the Prison Journalism Project – Humor Section: Communicating With Tech Support From Prison

Patrick’s article is a non-fictionalized account of his recent experience with JPay tech support. Here it is! [Publisher’s note: I have worked in both internal and customer-facing tech support teams at a couple of large companies you may have dealt with. I’ve also helped design and provide the comms infrastructure for many of the call … Continue reading “Patrick published in the Prison Journalism Project – Humor Section: Communicating With Tech Support From Prison”

First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, Oct. ’23 [Censored!!!]

Previous: First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, Sept. ’23 Welcome to the October edition 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. Loved ones … Continue reading “First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, Oct. ’23 [Censored!!!]”

Someone at the Idaho Department of Correction Is Attempting to Sink My Journalism

I’m writing this update from my new home at the Idaho State Correctional Institution, a medium security facility. Prior to my transfer earlier this month from the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, I wondered how staff at this facility would respond to my efforts as an outreach journalist. It didn’t take long before I found out: … Continue reading “Someone at the Idaho Department of Correction Is Attempting to Sink My Journalism”

Published in Prison Journalism Project: “I Spoke to a Classroom in Germany From My Maximum Security Prison”

The Prison Journalism Project published an article that Patrick wrote as a follow-up to his Zoom discussion with instructor Henny Hearn and her class of criminal justice students at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. You can find it here.

Idaho Prison Arts Collective Benefit Event 10.7.23. Attendees to Help Support Transformative Art Programs in Idaho Prisons

The Idaho Prison Arts Collective, a non-profit organization that works closely with Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC), will be holding a benefit fundraising event on October 7 at the Boise Rock School. The funds raised will be used to cover the costs of the transformative art programs the collective offers IDOC residents. Founder and executive … Continue reading “Idaho Prison Arts Collective Benefit Event 10.7.23. Attendees to Help Support Transformative Art Programs in Idaho Prisons”

First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, Sept. ’23

Previous: First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, Aug. ’23 Welcome to the September 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. Loved … Continue reading “First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, Sept. ’23”

How to Win Friends and Influence Journalists

To: Society of Editors Stationers Hall Ava Maria Lane London, EC4M 7DD United Kingdom Campaign for Freedom of Information Lower Ground Floor, 5-7 Highgate Road London NW5 1JY United Kingdom British Journalism Review SAGE Publications 1 Olivers Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom International Foundation of Journalists IPC — Residence Palace Bloc … Continue reading “How to Win Friends and Influence Journalists”

It’s an Unusual Era We Live In: As Told by a Public Records Request Submitted to the IDOC

[This message forwarded from a resident of the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.] 8.21.23 Greetings, I’m looking to verify that public records request #R012838-070523 was interpreted to include all communications between employees of the IDOC and employees or representatives of Liberty Ammunition. The original request appears to have been transcribed as a request “for any communication … Continue reading “It’s an Unusual Era We Live In: As Told by a Public Records Request Submitted to the IDOC”