Updates

Patrick Irving Sits With Employees of JPay, Showcases How the Company Sh*ts On Its Consumers (Round 2)

(Round 1 report)

[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]

Patrick: By responding to the following communication, you, the responder(s), hereby acknowledge as a representative of JPay, Securus, and/or all peripheral/parent companies that this exchange will be published in a series investigating the abusive practices of your employer(s), and that by choosing to respond, you, the responder(s), consent to the release of all communications initiated by Patrick Irving and, furthermore, fully indemnify Mr. Irving, as well as any and all collaborators and publishers working with his consent, of any and all liabilities that result from your ongoing participation in this investigative series.

After paying $20 late July for a Securus Technologies™ keyboard, I received a defective of piece of rubber-rollout hardware, reported the issue to your service center and was told it would be replaced. Now five months later, I have yet to receive a replacement as promised and feel that it is time for your company to provide me with a refund.

Pray tell, how does my experience reflect your company’s approach to customer service and to what extent must I now go for the return of my $20?

Monroe: Hi Patrick. Thank you for contacting Ticketing Support. We understand the frustration with not getting your keyboard on time. We have escalated your care to our technical team and a ticket has been generated to expedite your request. We will respond with a reference number and other important information. We appreciate your patience and will respond shortly.

Patrick: Sure you will, Monroe. And what do you suppose the response will be the seventh time around? Will it be similar to that given by Sanchez on August 31, when he assured me a new keyboard would arrive any day? Or will it be Miriam again, who said on September 25 that JPay was working to ship it? On October 6, Mollie told me it would take another 30-45 days. On October 21, Russ, when asked for a refund, said the keyboard would come in two to three weeks. Sandra, November 3, could only escalate my concern. And Emily, Christmas Day, stated, “We are working diligently to have your accessory shipped soon.”

It seems to me, Monroe, that the only acceptable response includes an admission that JPay has failed me and refund that, at minimum, matches what I have paid you.

The time for games is over, Monroe. Refund my $20.

Palmer: Hi Patrick. Thank you for contacting Ticketing Support. We understand the frustration with not getting your keyboard on time. We have escalated your care to our technical team and a ticket has been generated to expedite your RMA request. We will respond with a reference number and other important information. We appreciate your patience and will respond shortly.

Patrick: Is that right, Palmer? Then we shall let the record reflect that you, too, have expedited my request in the same way as the others, and that so much expediting has now taken place that we appear to have expedited ourselves in a circle. At what point does your employer suggest the expediting should stop long enough to solve the problem and return my $20?

Nori: Hi Patrick. Thank you for contacting Ticketing Support. We understand how frustrating about the keyboard which was not delivered and looking for refund [sic]. We added $21.18 credits back into your account, which you will see within 24-48 hours. Thank you for understanding that we appreciate your interest in our products and service.

Patrick: Thank you, Nori, for actually taking the time to understand the issue and for pushing the big red button that says, “Make Things Right.” Perhaps you can now explain the delay in delivering the $15 Gummy Ear Buds that I purchased from kiosk K_IMSI_09 nearly one month ago?

JPay Team: Hello. Thank you for contacting JPay Support. We have received your inquiry and want to assure you that a Technical Support Representative will work to give your request all of the attention it deserves. Every request is received on a first-come, first-served basis, and we appreciate your patience while we research your issue.

We know how inconvenient waiting for a reply can be. You have our commitment that our support team is doing everything we can to minimize delays.

Thanks, and you’ll be hearing from us soon.

See also:

First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Jan. ’23

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Dec. ’22

Welcome to the January 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 are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact the group’s admins at idahoinmate@gmail.com.

Looking to help improve Idaho’s criminal justice system? We ask that you 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.

***

EDITOR’S NOTE

As a member of the Prison Journalism Project (PJP), I recently earned an opportunity to participate in an advanced nonfiction writing workshop led by two amazing industry professionals:

Bill Keller worked at The New York Times for 30 years as a correspondent, editor and op-ed columnist. He was the founding editor of The Marshall Project. He has taught journalism seminars at Princeton University, as well as at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York (briefly, until the COVID shutdown). He is the author of “What’s Prison For?” published in October 2022.

Shaheen Pasha is co-founder and chief education officer of Prison Journalism Project. She is an assistant teaching professor at Penn State University and a veteran journalist with over 20 years of experience at news outlets that include CNN and Thomson Reuters. She has extensive experience teaching incarcerated students throughout the country.

Having committed to devoting myself to this workshop, I will still do my best to keep you apprised in coming months of Idaho prison news by offering an abbreviated version of this newsletter.

Thank you for understanding that all changes are temporary and made in the interest of allowing me to become a better journalist.

Let’s First Amend This!

***

CENTURION SUES TO PREVENT PAYOUTS FOR PRISONERS DEATHS FROM BECOMING PUBLIC RECORD

IDOC’s current health care provider is prepared to spend big money keeping the cost of its negligence secret.

On November 14, 2022, Centurion, the health care provider for Idaho prisons, filed a lawsuit in Florida’s Putnam County court seeking to prevent the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) from obtaining the settlement of a case filed by the estate of a prisoner killed through the company’s negligent practices.

For over three decades, the HRDC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has published legal resources, self-help guides and educational materials aimed at assisting incarcerated persons. This in addition to presenting legal challenges to policies and actions that harm prisoners and their loved ones.

HRDC founder and editor Paul Wright wrote of the lawsuit in the December issue of Prison Legal News, one of the organization’s two monthly publications, “Suits against media entities to intimidate us and prevent us from carrying out our news gathering and reporting functions are called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP). In 32 years, this is the first time we have been sued by the prison profiteers we report on. We must be doing something right.”

In the short time that Centurion has acted as the health care provider for Idaho prisons, this newsletter has reported on the company struggling to distribute chronic-care medications, falsifying tuberculosis test results and excessively charging its patients.

Source: Paul Wright, “From the Editor,” PLN (Dec. ’22).

***

WEEK ONE, DAY ONE BREAKFAST

Men/Women
______________________________
Brown Flakes 2 oz / 2 oz
Biscuits 4 oz /2 oz
Country gravy 1 cup / .5 cup
Scrambled eggs 4 oz / 3 oz
Sugar packets 2 / 1
Milk 16 oz / 16 oz
Fresh Fruit 1 / 1
————————————————

***

NEW DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM THE SUBJECT OF STAFF IRE

Atlas–the IDOC’s new offender management system, was implemented to streamline data and make the lives of workers easier. On the record, employees say the system has been difficult to work with; off the record, that piece of shit is a waste of time and money.

According to a survey conducted among IMSI staff, the load time is slow, the interface is challenging and the procedures for updating data require too much third-party involvement. “It kind of has the feel of an early-internet website,” reported one prison employee who prefers to remain anonymous.

Though the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole (ICPP) didn’t participate in the survey, it did post notice of problems with Atlas online. “The December 2022 Action Taken will be delayed due to technical difficulties with our Offender Management System. We are now working diligently to get this posted as soon possible. At this time we do not have an estimate when the decisions will be posted. We appreciate your patience and understanding.”

The December Notices of Action Taken were eventually posted on January 6th, 2023.

It unclear what Atlas cost or how long it will take to bring the system up to speed.

***

WEEK ONE, DAY ONE LUNCH
_______________________________
Super muffin
Men 2 each
Women 1 each
————————————————–

***

A MESSAGE FROM THE IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE CORRECTIONS

Do you suspect your child might have a disability?

The Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections is responsible to locate, refer and identify all children who are suspected of having a disability and are enrolled in our school.

If a child is having significant difficulty with vision, hearing, speech, behavior, is experiencing slow development typical for his/her age, physical impairments, or learning difficulty, he/she may be a child with a disability. Identification and intervention is essential to help ensure school success.

If you suspect your progeny of harboring a disability, please report them immediately to: juniperhills@idjc.idaho.gov or 208-334-5100.

***

WEEK ONE, DAY ONE DINNER

Men/Women
________________________________
Roast beef 4 oz / 3 oz
Mashed potato 1/2 cup / 1/2 cup
Peas 3/4 cup / 3/4 cup
Bread 2 oz/ 1 oz
Margarine patties 2 / 1
Pumpkin pie 1 / 1
Fruit 1/2 cup / 1/2 cup
Gravy 1/4 cup / 1/4 cup
___________________________________

***

IF CHRISTMAS IN THE CLINKER WASN’T ALREADY COLD ENOUGH…

Residents of the Idaho State Correctional Center found themselves showering in cold water for the second half of December after all three of the facility’s water boilers broke down in the course of a week.

Boise’s KTVB News reported receiving numerous reports from callers concerned with residents’ welfare.

Approached for comment by reporters, IDOC Public Information Officer Jeff Ray responded in an email that the first water boiler went down on December 17 and the other two followed one week later on Christmas Eve. All three boilers, he wrote, were expected to be resuscitated by early January. In the meantime, the Department would be looking to shower its residents in trailers.

Source: Tracy Bringhurst, “Idaho State Correctional Center’s Hot Water Boilers Are Busted,” KTVB.com

***

AN UPDATE ON COMMISSARY

The newest commissary pricelist for Idaho prisons can now be viewed online at bookofirving82431.com.

Presented as “The New Commissary Pricelist for Idaho Prisons and the Methodical Obstruction of Record Requests and Grievances,” the updated list reflects the return of several high-demand products at two to three times the price paid as recently as April.

In response to April’s pubic records request for the market data that Keefe was required to provide the IDOC prior to increasing its prices in May, the IDOC produced a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from December 2022.

Because the Keefe Commissary Network would have had to travel through time to supply the IDOC with December’s CPI prior to May, it appears as though the Department is either indifferent to the standards established within the Keefe contract or is simply failing to conform to the Idaho Public Records Act.

***

ISCI PROVIDES PRISONERS WITH INFORMATION TO PREPARE THEM FOR RELEASE

Thanks to the smart work of correctional case managers Dawna Clemo and Bethany Ciofalo, prisoners preparing for release from ISCI may now expose themselves to community resources in the recently opened Center of Hope.

Located in the facility’s education building, the Center of Hope provides prisoners with information on employment, aftercare, housing, mental health services and more.

Case managers Clemons and Ciofalo are now challenging other facilities to open similar centers, and they are willing to make it easy for any wardens who give them a call.

Source: ISCI Program Manager Luke Kormylo, “ISCI hosts grand opening for Center of Hope,” idoc.idaho.gov

***

DOG PROGRAM TO RETURN TO ISCC

The Education Project for Inmates and Canines (EPIC) is scheduled to return the Idaho State Correctional Center after a two year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 10-week program uses prisoners to train problematic, abandoned dogs prior to placing them back up for adoption.

Made possible in part by Meridian Canine Rescue, EPIC has long been considered by the Department, its participants, and the community a success, in that the dogs who complete their training typically postpone euthanization.

Please contact Meridian Canine Rescue to contribute to any of their many thoughtful efforts.

Source: Christinna Bautista, “Inmates and Canines Prison Program Returns to the Idaho Department of Correction,” Kivitv.com.

***

FROM THE LOG OF PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS: #R005023-111522

2021 Corizon contract needed.

For the past year, we have been having issues with Corizon paying out our 2021 patient claims for IDOC patients. Corizon has been non-communicative and/or has been delaying response to our request to get payment.

We are having a legal team review the case but they need a copy of the Corizon contract to fully ascertain our options. Would you be able to help us out with this request?

***

COVID NEWS

Since the start of COVID-19, the IDOC has administered over 82,675 tests to those of its clients it’s keeping in-state. More than 7070 are reported as positive.

Visitation remains fluid. Please view the Department’s website for updates.

This reporter requested a COVID booster and flu shot from IMSI in October. Neither have been provided and grievance is now being processed.

Residents experiencing issues related to COVID are invited to forward exhausted grievances to:

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1897
Boise, ID 83701

View IDOC’s COVID report here.

***

COOKIES FOR CORRECTIONS A HOLIDAY HIT

The week leading into Christmas, roughly six thousand prisoners in the desert south of Boise delighted as the faces of friendly volunteers went from cell to cell delivering bags of cookies.

The confections came courtesy of Cookies for Corrections, a yearly collaboration between local area churches and hoop-jumping prison management.

In just the last two years, the effort has expanded from servicing the 550-plus people held at IMSI to everyone housed in the Kuna prison complex.

To learn more, please inquire at svdpid.org.

***

RENICK ON THE RADIO

With 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, shares what it’s like to live incarcerated in Idaho and then come out of incarceration to live on parole.

As a former IDOC religious activities coordinator, Darrell Taylor has worked closely with justice-involved individuals in and out corrections. Last month he joined Mark to discuss the importance of providing returning citizens mentorship and opportunity.

In a separate interview, St. Vincent de Paul reentry career development manager Tim Leigh spoke of upcoming plans to expand reentry employment opportunities and the importance of providing returning citizens with community support and mentorship .

Visit svdpid.org for more information on reentry resources in southwestern Idaho.

***

RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Correctional Peace Officer Academy Session 90, the biggest in IDOC history, closed with a graduation ceremony at Boise State University. A total of 57 students celebrated the accomplishment.

ICIO–staff, residents and University of Idaho staff and students celebrated the completion of the 9th round of the Inside Out program.

ISCC–Sgt. Peter Bakotich was awarded Supervisor of the Quarter,
Lt. Travis Coffman was acknowledged for 10 years of service, Cpl. James Huffield was acknowledged for five years of service.

Nampa CRC–FSO Patty Vega-Lopez, Cpl. Rosalinda Ramos and Ofc. Joshua Hughes were honored for 15 years of service each.

Probation and Parole–Patrick Williams, a long-time District 4 parole officer, celebrated graduating to become a Boise Police officer.

Cpl. Aaron Streb was recognized as one of the reentry center Atlas Change Champions.

Sources: idoc.idaho.gov. @idcorrections on Instagram.

***

RESIDENT AUDITING 101

The following public records requests were submitted in December:

    1. Grant applications and awards for pre-prosecution diversion programs and trauma invention services for staff.
    2. December’s log of public records requests.
    3. A list and description of all apprentice programs offered to IDOC residents.
    4. The latest Board of Correction meeting minutes.
    5. Any proposals, requests for proposals, solicitations between the IDOC and digitized mail service providers over the last three years.

The following public record requests have yet to be filled:

    1. October’s request for the current arrangements between the IDOC and ICSolutions, and the IDOC and JPay.
    2. All payments made from prison service providers to the IDOC in 2022.

***

RESOURCES FOR INCARCERATED PERSONS

Get Clemency Now: A Guidebook to Everything A Person in Prison Needs to Know About Clemency and How Families Can Help” by Jason Hernandez.

After successfully petitioning President Obama for clemency, author Jason Hernandez set out educate others on the process. Though much in the book pertains to federal commutations, state prisoners and their loved ones will also find it helpful. Free PDF versions are offered online and others can be ordered through Hernandez or Amazon.

www.getclemencynow.org
getclemencynow@gmail.com

Special thanks to the Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative for sending us a copy!

***

INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

Ritchie Eppink
Wrest Collective
Boise, Idaho

12.19.22

Dear Ritchie,

Thanks for dropping in with holiday wishes, a congratulations on publishing and an intro to your new project. It sounds like you and the Wrest Collective will be doing some very cool community work this year, and I appreciate being asked for ideas on where to direct your time and talent.

Additional information will certainly help, but what immediately comes to mind are concerns brought to me by a Treasure Valley woman living in transitional housing. It seems there have been problems with owners abusing their authority, and some women are hesitant to report inappropriate behaviors and safety issues for fear of retaliation through Probation and Parole. Not so long ago it posed enough of a problem that those women began to strategize. Is this something you might be interested in?

Thanks again for dropping by. Best of luck this year!

Your friend,
Patrick Irving 82431

***

SUGGESTION BOX

I suggest supplying all 2,100 residents of the Idaho State Correctional Center with shoes that fully encapsulate their feet, as opposed to the rubber Crocs that welcome frostbite in the winter.

***

That’s it for this months, folks. Please continue keeping tabs…

Shout out from Shipwreck to the Wonder Twinz in Strong Island!

“On My Way / Somebody To Love (Acoustic Version)”
— Valerie June

Next: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Feb. ’23

Mile Marker 11222023: My First Writing Workshop!

As a proud member of the Prison Journalism Project (PJP), I am elated to announce myself as one of a handful of PJP writers selected to participate in an unprecedented, advanced nonfiction writing workshop led by Bill Keller and co-instructed by Shaheen Pasha.

Bill Keller worked at The New York Times for 30 years as a correspondent, editor and op-ed columnist. He was the founding editor of The Marshall Project. He has taught journalism seminars at Princeton University, as well as at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York (briefly, until the COVID shutdown). He is the author of “What’s Prison For?” published in October 2022.

Shaheen Pasha is co-founder and chief education officer of Prison Journalism Project. She is an assistant teaching professor at Penn State University and a veteran journalist with over 20 years of experience at news outlets such as CNN and Thomson Reuters. She has extensive experience teaching incarcerated students throughout the country.

The correspondence-based course consists of 12 learning modules and is expected to start any day.

One of roughly eleven PJP writers invited to apply for the course, an excerpt from my application letter describe what this means to me:

I expect by participating in a nonfiction writing workshop that every aspect of my operation, upon completion, would stand to benefit.

Were I to be accepted, I would enter into it having never participated in similar writing coursework. Thus I would expect to come away from it with several improved techniques for collecting and examining data, as well as for creating drafts and outlines and linking critical concepts. By paying close attention to teaching techniques, communication styles and the level of difficulty at which the course progresses, I would also expect to later reinvest the benefits I myself achieve into those who express an interest in learning from me personally.

In the months I’ve been counted among PJP writers, I’ve been able to spend what I would consider a significant amount of time speaking with an editor and also messaging with multiple members of staff to improve upon and ensure the quality of two accepted submissions; one of which I sent in unsolicited, the other written on request and submitted on a deadline. Beyond realizing that my work required additional layers of scrutiny and that I could, in many ways, do more to lead the reader down a smoother, informative path, I’ve learned to trust the processes and the people that make this project work and to give them my best effort without stressing too much on the outcome.

If accepted, I am prepared to prioritize every component of this workshop above all other pursuits and self-imposed obligations–including, if needed, the production of my newsletter–and fully apply myself to every lesson and assignment.

Upon completing this workshop, I plan to express my gratitude to PJP staff, writers and donors by performing to the best of my ability and paying it forward however I can.

The Newest Commissary Price List for Idaho Prisons and the Methodical Obstruction of Records Requests and Grievances (1.7.23)

This post contains the newest version of the IDOC pricelist*, which reflects the return of several high-demand products at two to three times the price at which they were offered in April.

In the last commissary price list post, I shared how I had been waiting months for public records containing the information Keefe presented to the IDOC to justify the price increases implemented in May.

After filing a grievance regarding IDOC transparency, I found myself supplied with a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index printout from December 2022, presented as objective market data supplied by Keefe eight months prior.

As for the other documents requested in that post–commissary committee review meeting minutes, supporting materials, payments from Keefe to IDOC–I found that the IDOC had little, if any, on-record deliberation when reviewing Keefe’s proposal to make moves that would dramatically increase their payouts.

It is worth noting that minutes from the March 2015 Commissary Review Committee Meeting show that revenue-sharing payments from Keefe to the IDOC are intended to be placed in the Inmate Management Fund, a fund which the Department has refused to prove exists in public records.

It’s also again worth emphasizing that these documents were only provided after this reporter filed the grievance below, and that Central Office admins have now refused for months to finish processing this grievance in accordance with IDOC policy.

IDOC GRIEVANCE NUMBER IM 220000469

Offender Name: Patrick Irving
Offender Number: 82431
Location: IMSI
Category: Administration
Date Received: 10/24/22

The Problem is:

Three public records requests submitted in April were never filled, and an August inquiry into their status was never answered. Without the records I have requested or a written reason for their obstruction, I am both hindered from introducing Department dealings into the realm of public knowledge and from contesting its refusal to provide public records as required by law.

I have tried to solve the problem informally by:

Requesting action from the Transparency Department and the IDOC Office of Professional Standards.

I suggest the following solution for the problem:

Provide Keefe sales volume reports for weeks 1-22-22 and 7-15-21; provide the 12 months of revenue payments (from 3-21 to 3-22 ) made from Keefe to the IDOC; provide all relevant notes, minutes and documents leading up to and distributed at the two commissary review committee meetings prior to 4-19-22.

LEVEL 1 — INITIAL RESPONSE by Jesse Winkelman

Grievance Disposition: Denied

I reviewed your grievance and all requests received by your facility’s record custodian have been submitted and completed for the months listed and found that all requests have been delivered to you within a timely and responsive manner.

After reviewing your solution, I found that it was not related to the issue you referenced as the problem. The proposed solution appears to be an amended request to a request you submitted in October 22 (ROO4168-101222). Based on this information, your grievance has been denied.

As a courtesy, we will submit a Public Records Request for those documents upon the completion of this Grievance (R004825-110822). In the future, Public Records Requests need to be submitted through concern form addressed to your facility’s record custodian to be processed in a timely manner.

LEVEL 2 — REVIEWING AUTHORITY RESPONSE by Sheryl LaFlamme

Grievance Disposition: Denied

I agree with Level 1 response. All three responses submitted in April were completed and delivered to you within a timely and responsive manner.

As a courtesy, we have entered your solutions to this grievance as a Public Records Request and you will be receiving the responsive documents shortly.

OFFENDER APPEAL

Attached to this appeal are the three concern forms on which I submitted the unfilled public records requests. Also attached: the concern form from July, in which I attempt to compel Mr. Winkelman to update me on the status of these requests. In yet another attempt to follow-up, I sent a letter dated 9-21-22 to the Transparency Department, informing Mr. Winkelman’s office that these requests, never filled, were required for “follow-up on an article published in May that is to soon be republished by a national organization.” That same letter made it clear that I have been publishing my struggle to obtain these very records, just as I expect to be publishing this grievance. If it is true that Mr. Winkelman failed to receive, for any reason, the original concern forms, there is still no good reason for Mr. Winkelman’s failure to respond to my follow-up attempts spanning five months after the fact.

APPELLATE RESPONSE by [missing in action]

[Maybe if we continue to ignore him, he’ll grow tired and walk away?…]

RESIDENT CONCERN FORM

Date: 12-13-22
From: Irving 82431
To: Grievance Coordinator

Issue/Concern: I submitted an appeal to Grievance # IM 220000469 weeks ago, [and in it] I attached several supporting documents that conflict with Level 1 and Level 2 responders’ responses. It is the status of this appeal that I am looking for. Can you please tell me what the hold up is? Thanks.

Reply from Associate F4991 on 12/19/22:

Apologies. I am still waiting for the appellate to respond. I will email her again and get this back ASAP.

As of 1/7/23, the appellate authority has yet to respond or inform me a continuation is required per IDOC Policy 316.02.01.001.

* It appears as though this price list is still missing some items, like the television that costs nearly $300. I can’t say for sure why these prices aren’t made public, but you’re welcome to speculate for me in the comments if you’d like.

Fullscreen Mode

Re: IDOC Censorship Notice 1.5.23

Scripps Howard First Amendment Center
School of Journalism and Media
University of Kentucky
102 Blazer Dining Hall
Lexington, KY 40506-0012

Freedom Forum Institute First Amendment Center
9893 Brewers Court
Laurel, MD 20723

First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37240

Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
475 Riverside Dr., Ste. 302
New York, NY 10115

Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment
308 James Building
University Park, PA 16802

Center for the First Amendment at UVA Law
580 Massive Rd.
Charlottesville, VA 22903

1.5.23

Hi folks,

Yesterday I published a fair and informative piece titled “Wife of Former Boise Police Department Captain Tied to White Supremacists Employed by Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole” @bookofirving82431.com. Today I was censored, for the first time in a long time, from receiving a newsfeed from SolitaryWatch.org. And so it’s in an act of peaceful defiance that I now reach out to you and other First Amendment Centers with a free online subscription to my First Amend This! newsletter [complementary issue enclosed].

May the force be with you as you share me with your fellows…

In friendship and incarceration,
Patrick Irving 82431
IMSI
PO Box 51
Boise, ID 83707
bookofirving82431.com

“Sorry Not Sorry”
— Demi Lovato

Wife of Former Boise Police Department Captain Tied to White Supremacists Employed by the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole

In 2019, Ashley Bryngelson, a pre-hearing investigation officer for the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole (ICPP), recommended that Sergio Castillo-Marquez, a Mexican citizen imprisoned for drug trafficking, be denied parole, deportation and reunification with his family in Mexico. Bryngelson’s husband, Matthew Bryngelson, has recently been in the news for his relationship with American Renaissance, according to official documents shared by Castillo-Marquez with this reporter.

As reported by the Idaho Statesman in November, Mathew Bryngelson, who retired as a captain from the Boise Police Department(BPD) in August, appeared under a fake name on the speaker list for the American Renaissance Conference. According to Boise State Public Radio host Samantha Wright, “American Renaissance portrays Whites as superior to Black people and says people of color commit more crimes than white people.” The Southern Poverty Law Center labels the conference as one which attracts Klansmen, neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

It has yet to be identified whether Ashley Bryngelson in any way supported the pseudonymous views Matthew Bryngelson was scheduled to espouse at the conference, or whether she may have attended others like it or promoted his posts on social media.

Three years ago, when former Parole Commissioner Patricia Young denied Idaho Governor Brad Little’s offer to continue serving past her term, she expressed concerns over racial disparities in Idaho’s correctional system.

October 27, 2020

Dear Governor Little,

Thank you for asking me to serve on the Commission of Pardons and Parole to finish a term ending in December 2020. It has been an intense learning experience and convinced me even more of the importance of universal pre-school. As I approach my 75th birthday I do not wish to serve past the end of this term.

I strongly urge you to appoint a qualified person of color. The number of Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans in prison in Idaho exceeds their percentage in the general population.

As you know I served as a magistrate judge for thirty-five years and I came to rely upon and expect excellent training in order to serve the public well. In my opinion, the position of parole commissioner requires training on risk assessments, the programming offered in the prison, how discipline issues are handled, bias, motivational interviewing, community safety, and an understanding of how the whole prison system works. I was stunned to have no orientation or training other than observing hearings when I began.

Independently, I sought information to become a knowledgeable and prepared member. I wanted to explore ways that Idaho’s high recidivism rate (the highest in the country according to the ACLU Smart Justice Report) may be reduced. Could it be by developing objective, not subjective guidelines for denial and revocation? I contacted the University of Idaho College of Law and a student volunteered to work with me to research parole trainings and practices around the country. The most helpful information we found comes from our neighbor state Wyoming. In 2019 the Prison Policy Initiative https://www.prisonpolicy.org graded the parole systems of all 50 states. It gave the highest grade to Wyoming [a B-] and Idaho an F. Grading of the parole systems of all 50 states explains Wyoming’s good policies and the basis of an F for Idaho.

Although I very much enjoy working with the other commissioners and the very competent staff, I do not want to keep working so many hours in a job that I feel is not grappling with ways to better serve the women and men in prison and the people of Idaho. As you know there are too many people in prison at a cost to the state of $25,000/year and thus insufficient funds to fully fund education Idaho is dead last in per pupil funding in the country. With what energies and insights I may have over the next few years I plan to focus on prevention, early childhood initiatives and sufficient funding for universal pre-schools.

Sincerely,

Patricia Young

A lawsuit filed in federal courts in 2021 alleges the ICPP is racially biased in granting parole. The plaintiff, Elias Custodio, a Hispanic male serving time on two manslaughter charges, claims his rights to due process and equal protection have been violated by the ICPP and its pre-hearing investigators. (Case Number 1:21-cv-00351-REP Custodio vs. Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole.)

Last month, the Boise City Council set aside $500,000 to hire the Washington D.C. firm Steptoe and Johnson to investigate whether Mathew Bryngelson’s ideologies played into his police work or tainted the department. The investigation will be led by the esteemed Michael Bromwich, who according to the firm’s website, possesses 40 years of experience as a criminal defense lawyer, federal prosecutor, special prosecutor, independent monitor, and also served as associate counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel for the Iran-Contra investigation.

Unfortunately, Bromwich’s firm was hired only to investigate the BPD, which makes it likely that they will only be looking for evidence of whether racist practices were deployed at the city level to place people in prison–and not by authorities at the state level with the power to release them.

Though Ashley Bryngelson’s current employment status has yet to be confirmed, she appears to have been employed by the ICPP at least into 2021.

“Broken Bones”
— Kaleo

Patrick Irving Sits With Employees of JPay, Showcases How the Company Sh*ts On Its Consumers (Round 1)

[This interview has been edited for clarity and length.]

Patrick: By responding to the following communication, you, the responder(s), hereby acknowledge that as a representative of JPay, Securus, and/or all peripheral/parent companies that this exchange will be published in a series investigating the abusive practices of your employer(s), and that by choosing to respond, you, the responder(s), consent to the release of all communications initiated by Patrick Irving and, furthermore, fully indemnify Mr. Irving, as well as any and all collaborators and publishers working with his consent, of any and all liabilities that result from your ongoing participation in this investigative series.

In all the complaints that I, Patrick Irving, author of the New York Times essay “Prisoners Like Me Are Being Held Hostage to Price Hikes,” have personally filed with your company over its defective VideoGram service–specifically, the way it cuts VideoGrams down to as few as 14 seconds after customers are billed for 30–your customer service department continues to claim that your company is in fact providing the 30 seconds promised, and that I, investigative reporter Patrick Irving, have had the ability to ensure prior to purchase that every video I’ve ever sent is a full 30 seconds long. But even after confirming that I have recorded for 30 seconds, the recording, once paid for, is frequently reduced to half that time, and sometimes even less.

Not long ago your company was fined millions of dollars by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for excessively charging consumers after forcing them to use your service. Yet you insist that it is company practice to not issue refunds even when you have accepted payment for services you cannot provide. Please explain the logic that drives your company to continue defrauding its customers with micro-scams similar to the one it is captured in now.

Sanchez: Hi Patrick. Thank you for contacting Ticket Support. We understand the frustration with your VideoGram messages and I am happy to help. While all VideoGram messages are allowed 30 seconds, they are able to be reviewed prior to sending to the select contact. If you do not like the video or you are unable to record the full 30 seconds, you are able to review the VideoGram before sending. Unfortunately, the system will not allow a refund.

Patrick: To be clear, you do understand that I am complaining about VideoGrams being cut in half after I review them to verify that I have recorded for 30 seconds?

In fact, in at least one of our prior communications, your company acknowledged this as a software issue.

So what purpose does it serve to continue placing blame on customers when your company has already acknowledged that it is at fault? Is there perhaps some policy that requires Securus employees to shit on as many people as humanly possible throughout the course of their work shift?

Faye: The issues you are experiencing with the video recording feature have been reported to our customer service developers and they are working towards a resolution–once the issue has been found. Pease keep checking back for its return to functionality.

Patrick: I see. And to your credit, acknowledging the problem is always the first step. But the next step, Faye, as I suspect you already know, is to be proactive in preventing future harm from being caused to your customers, and then, to begin making amends for all the harm you have caused in the past.

In this particular case, that would mean: 1) ensuring all of your customers are aware of the software issue; 2) not encouraging your customers to spend even more of their money to test if the problem is fixed, and; 3) refunding all those affected by your admittedly defective service.

As this is now the fifth time I have requested a refund for every one of my VideoGrams that has been cut short of 30 seconds–and by now we must presume that number to be reaching over 50–how about you begin with refunding me and save us both a bit of a hassle?

Monroe: Hi Patrick. Thank you for contacting Ticketing Support. We understand how frustrating it can be to have VideoGram issues. Please respond back with the name of the kiosk to escalate the issue.

Patrick: As you’ll note, Monroe, in complaints CCI-IMSI499470, CCI-CCI-IMSI493336 and CCI-IMSI539504, I inform your company that the problem persists on multiple kiosks, and to this the response is always the same: “The issues you are experiencing with the video recording feature have been reported to our software developers and they are working toward a resolution…”

And so I say to you again, your company is charging for services it is unable to provide as advertised and refusing to issue refunds to customers who complain. Please explain the policy that guides you to defraud your customers in such a way.

Sydney: Hi Patrick. Thank you for contacting Ticketing Support. We understand the frustration with your VideoGram messages and I am happy to help. While all VideoGram messages are allowed 30 seconds, you are able to view the VideoGram before sending. Unfortunately, the system will not allow a refund.

(Round 2)

See also:

Irving Now Serving: The Calaboose Kaleidoscope (five links that paint a picture of America’s prison system) 12.20.22

Patrick Irving writes from the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, often cramped behind a desk, on the starboard side of the toilet, not infrequently rubbing shoulders while his cellie is taking the throne. His experimental advocacy model–developed and refined with the help of his father–can be studied along with the scope of his work at bookofirving82431.com.

Working the ones and the twos for this week’s post: Ed Sheeran with “Bibia Be Ye Ye.”

***

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA (Home of America’s first penitentiary. Thanks, Quakers.)

“I am going to help them fry that N****r!” remains a perfectly acceptable sentiment in the courtrooms of Philadelphia, where Court Clerk Terri Maurer Carter and Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Kline are alleged to have heard Judge Albert Sabo promise to do just that during his first week of overseeing the 1982 trial of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

On October 26, 2022, Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons denied Abu-Jamal a new trial. This despite the question of Judge Sabo’s bias, evidence that trial witnesses received promises of money and favorable treatment in pending criminal cases to provide damaging testimony, and claims that the original prosecutor systematically prevented Black jurors from performing their civic duty.

View here: “Court Update For Mumia Abu Jamal, December 16th, 2022” by Noelle Hanrahan, prisonradio.org.

***

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (The Empire State)

Legendary prison journalist John J. Lennon takes you on a tour of conjugal visits in New York. New York is one of the last states to support the practice of family rejuvenation by allowing loved ones to spend time bonding in privileged, private settings.

View here: “Sex, Love and Marriage Behind Bars. What are Conjugal Visits Really Like?” by John J. Lennon, published in Esquire.

***

BOISE, IDAHO (Little Rock of the West)

Idaho’s Governor Brad Little has had the hardest time attempting to execute Gerald Pizzuto, Jr. The fourth and most recent attempt, scheduled to kick off the ten-day countdown to Christmas, appears have been no more than Little’s wishful thinking, as the state’s new extreme secrecy law, passed to protect the identities of lethal injection drug dealers, has yet to convince one solid connection that Idaho can keep from squealing under pressure.

View here: “Christmas-Countdown Execution Won’t Be Saved by Santa” by Patrick Irving, First Amend This!

***

NATIONAL COVERAGE

Beth Schwartzapfel with the Marshall Project spent months interviewing a wide range of incarcerated individuals to provide you with a look at prison economics and the lengths that some must go to procure basic essentials.

View more: “Prison Money Diaries: What People Really Make (and spend) Behind Bars” by Beth Schwarzapfel with The Marshall Project.

***

NEWS FROM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

Thanks to the legacy left behind by the amazing James Ridgeway, we are now able to highlight hundreds of reporters who have experienced being treated for behavioral problems by inflicting extreme demoralization in America’s tiniest torture chambers–aka “one of the many ways we’re striving to make our school-shooters saner.”

View more: “Seven Days in Solitary: A weekly roundup of news and views on solitary confinement,” published by Solitary Watch.

***

-fin-

13:06 12.20.22

First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Dec. ’22

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Nov. ’22

Welcome to the December 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 ones are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact the group’s admins at idahoinmate@gmail.com.

Looking to help improve Idaho’s criminal justice system? We ask that you 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.

EDITOR’S NOTE

In December 2019, I wrote and published the first edition of the First Amend This! newsletter as way to call attention to issues affecting Idaho prisoners and their loved ones.

Two issues, to be specific: 1) flaws within IDOC’s grievance system enable staff to investigate themselves for misconduct and; 2) the Department wasn’t holding itself or its contractors to the standards established in legally-binding contracts.

You might say that I was suffering from delusions of grandeur (supported by the fact I that I had no prior experience in journalism) as I presumed it would take sixty days, tops, before someone at Central Office put a stop to my monthly missiles by addressing those two concerns.

Unfortunately, as they say of presumptions: “You can’t just run around spewin’ all your ‘umptions at everyone whose job it is to see the job gets done!”

And so it goes–

Let’s First Amend This!

CHRISTMAS-COUNTDOWN EXECUTION WON’T BE SAVED BY SANTA

On November 16, Idaho District Court Judge Jay Gaskill issued a death warrant for Gerald Pizzuto, Jr., 66, who has remained on Death Row for the last 36 years, convicted of the 1985 murders of Berta Herndon and her nephew Delbert Herndon.

With the warrant promptly served to Pizzuto at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, the IDOC scheduled the execution for December 15.

On November 30, unable to procure the chemicals required to put Pizzuto to death, the Department announced that his execution would, for the fourth time, be delayed .

Earlier this year Director Josh Tewalt testified before Idaho’s House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee, not as a proponent of the ultimate penalty but as a state employee tasked with ensuring its implementation. “We’ve been unable to secure the necessary chemicals and potential suppliers have expressed concern that the language in our administrative rules is insufficient to protect their identities.”

Following his testimony, the Idaho Legislature passed into law House Bill 658, a widely criticized secrecy bill designed to protect the identity of any person or business who compounds, synthesizes, tests, sells, supplies, manufactures, stores, transports, procures, dispenses, prescribes or gets high from selling the substances used in an execution.

A few months prior to the passing of H.B. 658, the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole voted to commute Pizzuto’s sentence to life without parole–a sentence they likely expected to have been fulfilled by now, as terminal bladder cancer, heart disease and diabetes have been working hard to stamp Pizzuto out au naturel.

Citing the brutality involved in Pizzuto’s crime, Governor Brad Little opposed the Commission’s recommendation; but it wasn’t until after several battles through the courts that Little was able to reverse the Commission’s clemency.

Pizzuto’s legal team has filed a claim through federal courts, seeking a preliminary injunction to further postpone the execution and force the IDOC to unveil the measures it takes to procure and ensure the quality of lethal injection chemicals. They’re concerned that Pizzuto may experience severe levels of pain when the execution drugs mix with with those that treat his other ailments.

Following these concerns, Pizzuto has now thrice requested to be placed in front of a firing squad.

When asked during the committee hearing whether this would be possible, Director Tewalt demurred: “I don’t think you could expect fewer legal challenges to a firing squad. And more importantly, I don’t feel as the director of the Idaho Department of Correction the compulsion to ask my staff to have to do that.”

Lethal injection is currently the only form of execution legal in Idaho, a state that currently counts eight people on Death Row.

The Department neither comments on ongoing litigation nor notifies clients other than those to be executed that a homicide is scheduled to take place on facility grounds.

The Department has neglected to proactively recommend mental health services for residents who are feeling stressed by this execution that, for many, strikes very close to home.

Sources: Kevin Fixler, “Execution of Pizzuto Delayed by Lack of Lethal Drug,” Idaho Statesman. Ruth Brown, “IDOC Says It Doesn’t Have Lethal Injection Chemicals After Court Schedules Death Row Inmate’s Execution,” Idaho Capital Sun. Kevin Fixler, “Unable to Buy Lethal Injection Drugs, Idaho Seeks to Shield Potential Suppliers from Scrutiny” Idaho Statesman. Keith Ridler, “Idaho Governor Signs Law Shielding Sources of Execution Drug,” Associated Press. Clark Corbin, “Idaho House Passes Bill Granting Confidentiality in Executions. Identities of Lethal Injection Drug Suppliers and Manufacturers Would Become Secret Under House Bill 658” Idaho Capital Sun.

IDOC CHRISTMAS DINNER

Roast Pork Loin 5 oz
Corn Casserole 1/2 cup
Mashed Potato 1 Cup
Brown Gravy 1 Cup
Spinach Apple Salad 1 Cup
Dinner Roll 2oz
Margarine 1 pkt
Angel Food Cake/Strawberries 1 slice

NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR PRISON TELECOM PROVIDERS

On September 29, 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules that require prison telecom companies to provide communication-disabled customers with Telecommunication Relay Services (TRS) at no additional cost by 2024.

The rules apply to all carceral systems–including youth, immigration and severe-mental health facilities–that use broadband services and count more than 50 people incarcerated in the entire system at one time.

The rules also require service providers to do the following:

      • Lower the ancillary fee caps on all charges for single-call services.
      • Lower the cap on provider charges for processing credit card, debit card and other payments to calling services accounts.
      • Discontinue the confiscation of funds from inactive calling accounts until at least 180 days have passed without account activity, and then refund the balance or dispose of the funds in accordance with applicable state law.
      • Report more information about TRS and disability access.

Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf (HEARD), a DC-based advocate organization, wrote in a letter to supporters that the rules were a victory for hundreds of communication-disabled, incarcerated individuals who, over the course of a decade, have written the FCC to detail their daily struggles. “We offer humble and deep thanks to our currently and formerly incarcerated loved ones–all of whom have lost so much from the injustice and sacrificed and risked so much to force these changes for themselves and future generations.”

Prisoners and loved ones with communication disabilities are encouraged to contact HEARD and ask how to get involved:

HEARD
P.O. Box 1160
Washington, D.C. 20013
202.436.9278
contact@heardadvocates.org

Sources: Notice from HEARD (11.11.22). FCC News, “FCC Acts to Ensure Access to Communications Services for Incarcerated People With Disabilities.”

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE IDOC REGARDING JPAY VIDEO VISITS

We are aware that video visits are not being scheduled to the proper kiosks. We are actively working with JPay for a quick resolution. This is our top priority and we hope this will be resolved by Monday, December 19.

We apologize for the inconvenience and frustration you are experiencing. If you missed a visit and were charged, please call the help desk at 1-800-574-5729 and request a refund.

DIVISION OF PUBLIC WORKS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FROM CONTRACTORS TO BUILD NEW PRISON AND ADDITION

The Division of Public Works is now seeking bids from construction and design firms for the new 848-bed women’s prison and the 280-bed addition to the Idaho State Correctional Institution (ISCI) that Idaho Legislature approved earlier this year.

With a combined budget of $155.8 million, the two projects are predicted to relieve county jails of IDOC overflow and enable the return of state prisoners currently housed in a privately run, CoreCivic prison in Arizona.

Both structures will be erected in the Kuna prison complex south of Boise. The location is expected to help the IDOC reduce costs associated with shuttling females to and from the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center for classification, intake and medical purposes.

The addition to the men’s facility will be used to better meet the medical and ambulatory needs of an aging prisoner population–the inevitable consequence of Idaho’s extreme sentencing structures.

The Division of Public Works is accepting applications through January 18 and expects to finalize a contract by March.

Source: Ian Max Stevenson, “Idaho Plans to Build Two New Locations for Prisoners. Where Will They Be Located?” Idaho Statesman.

SIX SIGNIFICANT STRIDES TAKEN THE LAST TWO YEARS

Over the course of the last two years, the IDOC has worked with the support of the Idaho Legislature to better address the needs of its workforce and clients.

Here are the six most noteworthy moves as viewed from a cell at IMSI:

      1.  A $4.5 million investment into Connection & Intervention Stations provided supportive services for people on supervision, presumably preventing revocation and extending time at liberty.
      2. The Idaho Legislature, the IDOC and the Behavioral Health Council made funding available for pre-prosecution diversion programs (PPD), thereby encouraging Idaho districts to work with community partners in creating alternatives to incarceration. Though public records requests for PPD grant applications and awards continue to come up empty, the funding that was made available implies that Idaho’s higher-ups are at least expressing an interest in the damage being done by our current sentencing system.
      3. Amidst an ongoing staffing crisis, the IDOC implemented pay raises, hiring and retention bonuses, and committed to providing a significant percentage of staff with career development opportunities. Later, in what was openly billed as an employee wellness program, the Department offered grants to behavioral health professionals capable of delivering staff treatment services for corrections fatigue and trauma. Though public records requests reflect an absence of applicant interest, the IDOC is being seen as proactively searching for a solution to their staffing issue.
      4. The new women’s prison is not the perfect solution, but its construction does align with Director Tewalt’s December 31, 2020 assertion that the Department is “currently assessing our practices for incarcerated women so that we can provide help and support that is more targeted to the unique needs of women.” We take it as a positive that these needs have been acknowledged and are being acted upon.
      5. This year, a collaboration between the University of Idaho, Lewis-Clark State College and the Department of Education brought postsecondary for-credit classes to select groups of residents. The Department then announced its intent to expand educational opportunities throughout all facilities. This is a significant move that will likely improve many lives.
      6. By participating in events like Recovery Out Loud, held annually in Eastern Idaho, and the Convicted Conference, premiered this year in Meridian, the IDOC projected a willingness to form stronger ties with the community. For example, at the Convicted Conference, in the interest of developing solutions and networking new resources*, the Department invited incarcerated speakers, parole and probation officers, volunteers, mentors and justice-affected families to speak with a mixture of organizations and agencies. Both events were seen to inspire hope and collaboration, ingredients necessary to the process of moving the community forward.

For more information on the Department’s strategic vision, goals, programs and initiatives please visit idoc.idaho.gov.

*Unfortunately, multiple efforts to make complementary issues of this newsletter available to attendees were dismissed by the event’s organizer without explanation. This was unfortunately seen as a contradiction to the message of the conference: that all should be included. We apologize to anyone who, as a result of our helping AccomplishED Venture’s promote the Convicted Conference, shared in our experience and found themselves excluded.

NOT FOR NOTHIN’, WE TRIED: EDITOR’S NOTE, MAY ’22

The Convicted Conference is coming in June and the following issues could still use attention. Should anyone find an opportunity to introduce these items at the conference, those of us who can’t make it would greatly appreciate it:

      1. IDOC’s current use of administrative segregation is placing unnecessary risk upon Idaho communities. Without more action taken towards ad-seg reform, the Department will continue returning their most problematic prisoners back to their communities without programming or supervision. (FAT! Apr. ’21, May ’21, Aug. ’21, Nov. ’21)
      2. 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 they request can take weeks to put together and the Parole Board tends to notice when the details are left blank. (FAT! Nov. ’21, Feb. ’22)
      3. The betterment materials being donated by prisoners belong on their prison library shelves and not sent by the Department to unknown organizations. Unknown, due to the absence of transaction records. (FAT! Aug. ’21, Mar. ’22)
      4. 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 an appropriate amount of 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 held in IDOC facilities, thank you for helping our voices be heard.

PULLED FROM THE LOG OF PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS: #R002143-071022

I am requesting all records and information relating to a JPay eMessage that I sent to resident [redacted] on 7/7/2022 3:16:13 am and that was censored on July 7th at 6:37 am.

Said records should include but not be limited to:

      1. Names/Associate #’s of all persons involved in the flagging, censoring viewing (or similar) of said eMessage.
      2. All reasons, views, opinions or similar for flagging, censoring,
        viewing (or similar) the eMessage.
      3. All actions taken by all above persons in this matter (examples–communications with other staff, documentations, notes, c-notes, information reports… etc.
      4. All measures taken in this matter to ensure the protection of my Constitutional Rights to Free Speech.

I do not need a copy of the eMessage I sent or the email notification sent to me notifying me of the censorship, as I already have this info.

SICI STAFF HOLD MOCK ELECTION, PROVIDE RESIDENTS VOTING EXPERIENCE

Last month, Education Instructor Kimberly King recruited staff and residents from the Southern Idaho Correctional Institution to celebrate Election Day with an exciting civic exercise.

Together, they transformed the education building into a voting station with American-themed ephemera and highly surveilled privacy booths.

Roughly a dozen residents assumed the position of poll workers, kindly distributing the feel of freedom through non-hackable paper ballots.

With local media summoned to witness, several participants expressed their deep appreciation for being able to partake in the time-honored tradition celebrated by Americans who are more than 3/5 human.

According to the Idaho Statesman, over 590,000 ballots were processed in Idaho this election year.

At the time of Election Day, due to their involvement with the criminal justice system, approximately 25,381 Idahoans were restricted from voting .

Idaho is one of 14 states that restore the voting rights of citizens convicted of felonies once their sentencing requirements are fulfilled. But voting restoration varies from state to state; some states reinstate a person’s voting rights once they are paroled, some revoke the right entirely, and others discriminate based on a person’s crime.

Sources: Alex Brizee, “Who Couldn’t Vote? How Idaho’s Incarcerated Learned to Participate in Mock Election,” Idaho Statesman. Emily White, ” ‘It Gives Me Goosebumps’: Idaho Correctional Residents Get to ‘Vote On Election Day’,” Idahopress.com

COVID NEWS

Since the start of COVID-19, the IDOC has administered over 80,753 tests to those of its clients it’s keeping in-state. More than 7,012 are reported as positive.

Visitation remains fluid. Please view the Department’s website for updates.

On November 10, ktvb.com reported the IDOC aims to add 73 correctional officers to its staff through a “double-training academy” to alleviate staff-based issues.

Requests for COVID boosters and flu shots have now taken months to fill. According to one IMSI nurse, a shipment of shots arrived but never made it into the refrigerator, leaving them to spoil before they could be distributed.

Residents experiencing issues related to COVID are invited to forward exhausted grievances to:

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1897
Boise, ID 83701

View IDOC’s COVID report here.

RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Ofc. Jayden Bentley and Corporal Golden Maverick were awarded employees of the month last month at IMSI.

University of Idaho graduate and Givens Hall case manager Becky Lynn was recently celebrated with a 15 Years of Service Certificate.

IMSI resident and First Amend This! author Patrick Irving published a guest essay last month in the New York Times, an accomplishment he credits to the Prison Journalism Project, a non-profit initiative that counts him as member. Click here to read “Prisoners Like Me Are Being Held Hostage to Price Hikes.”

RENICK ON THE RADIO

With 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, shares what it’s like to live incarcerated in Idaho and then come out of incarceration to live on parole.

Off-air, with St. Vincent de Paul, Mr. Renick and his team support individuals returning from prison to the greater Treasure Valley by offering day-one services, recovery and employment programs.

Those expecting to be released without a ride from the Kuna complex south of Boise can ask their case manager to contact Mark’s team for a pickup. A volunteer will arrive and provide a limited shuttle service, including trips to one of two reentry outposts where individuals may receive bus passes, clothing vouchers, food assistance, telephone service and more.

District 3
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 10am – 2pm (closed Wednesdays)
Canyon County Probation and Parole Offices
3110 Cleveland Rd.
Caldwell, ID 83605

District 4
Monday – Friday, 9am – 12pm
3217 Overland Blvd.
Boise, ID 83705

Visit svdpid.org for more information.

RESIDENT AUDITING 101

The following public records requests were submitted in November:

      1. All pre-prosecution diversion program grant applications and awards.
      2. November’s log of public records requests.
      3. All payments made from Keefe to the IDOC from 2020 to present.
      4. The market data Keefe presented, as required, to the IDOC to justify the price increases the company implemented in May.
      5. A complete list of payments made from prison service providers to the IDOC in 2022, and a complete list of activities from all financial accounts those payments were funneled through.

October’s request for the current arrangement between the IDOC, ICSolutions and JPay has yet to be filled.

INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

Re: Interview request, KTVB-TV

11.6.22

Dear Ms. Romero,

Thank you for reading my NY Times essay and for reaching out regarding an interview. While I am certainly willing to appear in your story, I’d like to clarify the scope and direction of your coverage to prepare, and possibly to ensure that I am not missing an opportunity to address other interesting topics. One area for possible focus that is closely related to my essay is the trauma to families who are caught in our juvenile justice system, which allows third-party collectors to pile on exorbitant fees. Another possible topic is the questionable nutritional guidance affecting Idaho’s female prisoners, who in many cases receive half the food portions served to men. There is also an issue with those of our IDOC residents with better-paying jobs who have some trouble saving for needed expenses during reentry.

You can contact me…

I realize that much or your focus right now is on elections. Please take your time in responding.

Sincerely,
Patrick Irving

RESOURCES FOR INCARCERATED PERSONS

The Prison Journalism Project (PJP) is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan national initiative that works to educate and empower incarcerated writers and train others impacted by incarceration in journalism. PJP counts among its membership an expansive vault of talent. In addition to sharing their stories through PJP publications, the initiative also publishes their work through collaborations with mainstream media.

Prison Journalism Project
2093 Philadelphia Pike #1054
Claymont, DE 19703

www.prisonjournalismproject.org

Click here to read: “A PJP Contributor’s First Byline in the New York Times. Here’s How the Sausage Was Made.” by Mason Bryan

SUGGESTION BOX

How about we try placing the next delivery of IMSI flu shots and COVID boosters directly into the refrigerator, where they belong, so that we might distribute them before the facility gets sick again?

And there you have it, folks. Come back and see us next year.

Shout out from Patrick to that pigeon-loving peach worm living in Berlin!

“Bang!”
–AJR

Next: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Jan. ’23

First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Nov. ’22

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Oct. ’22 (The Ad-Seg Issue)

Welcome to the November 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 are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact the group’s admins at idahoinmate@gmail.com.

Looking to help improve Idaho’s criminal justice system? We ask that you 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.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Thank you new subscribers (!) for committing to keeping tabs on Idaho’s prison news.

What you should know before we begin:

      1. This being the November issue, its coverage is limited to events that took place throughout October.
      2. This newsletter functions as a both an information resource and an outlet for this editor to get creative with his therapy. Please take this into consideration as you surf through every issue.
      3. Without some level of encouragement and support from our correctional staff, I would find it much more difficult to provide the scope of service that I now do. It’s important to me that I provide the staff with the same support and encouragement.

Let’s First Amend This!

KEEFE STRIKES AGAIN!

The Keefe Group is at it again; pilfering prisoners pockets in the kind of criminal-minded manner that even those restricted from school zones are comfortable deeming unconscionable.

On October 21st, the Keefe Commissary Network announced that several previously discontinued fan favorites were set to return again, at up to three times their original rates. Including but not limited to: macaroni and cheese, black beans, flour tortillas, popcorn, saltine crackers, hot pickles, cookies, Moon Pies and peanuts.

Those already struggling to afford holiday phone calls can now purchase pre-cooked bacon for $82.77 per pound ($11.64 for a 2.25 oz package).

Sugar-free Werthers, the sole hard candy that remains unaffected by the ongoing prohibition, implemented by the Department in effort to combat alcoholism, is now running an even race with the per-pound price of chicken: $25.14.

Though the IDOC recognizes the need to prepare its residents for eventual reintegration back into the community, it seems that by continuing to approve of Keefe’s ridiculous pricing decisions, which do little more than leech from prisoners’ hard earned coffers, that the Department is increasingly comfortable with nickel-and-diming its clients out of the finances they need to embark on a successful reentry.

Find this article interesting? Learn more: The Commissary Pricelist for Idaho Prisoners and the Revenue Sharing Arrangement that Awards Setting the Highest Prices Possible.

IDOC SERVINGS SIZED SMALLER FOR VAGINAS

Sunday is Starve Day in Idaho prisons. Lunch service consists of bland nutritional muffins, bagged up at breakfast to munch on at noon. The men who find them edible are offered two to eat, but the Department’s female clients are provided with just one.

And muffins aren’t the only food where women receive smaller portions. According to the IDOC’s female food service menus, they also receive reduced rations of the following: biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, French toast, Farina, pancakes, hash browns, breakfast hash, roast beef, bread, cornbread, vegan bread, hamburger buns, vegan buns, ketchup, peanut butter, potato chips, corn dogs, turkey, tuna salad, ham salad, margarine, rice, refried beans, 3-bean salad and baked fries.

When asked in December to speculate on the disparity found within the portion allotments, IMSI staff and residents were quick to point out that men are required to carry the massive weight of a penis and well-fed women face an uphill battle finding and keeping husbands. “And husbandless ladies’ chances of survivin’ ain’t all that good.” Especially for those, they say, who are released from captivity in Idaho, where minimal effort is given to prepare them for the workforce and felons face great difficulty finding decent housing.

Though this reporter strongly disagrees with their reasoning, he can do little but wonder: What other food service is capable of serving females half-portions and escaping the kind of scrutiny that changes a regime?

Sources: IDOC Food Service Menus 7.0: Male/Female, Mainline, Healthy Choice Ovo-lacto, Vegan

WOMEN SOON TO RECEIVE (SOME OF) THE SAME JOB TRAINING AS MEN

The Idaho Workforce Development Council has awarded the IDOC with a $25,000 grant that will be used to provide residents of the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center (PWCC) with what the Department describes as “a rigorous, competency-based, industry-recognized program that will provide women at the facility with the foundational and construction skills to be competitive in an entry level vocational or construction-career field.”

IDOC Director Josh Tewalt describes the grant as an investment in public safety. “When people are equipped with job skills while incarcerated, they are more likely to succeed as law-abiding citizens and less likely to return to prison.”

Idaho’s incarcerated female population is recognized to suffer from higher rates of mental health and substance abuse issues, and also carry more childhood trauma than those in the general public.

According to a 2021 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, Idaho incarcerates women at a rate higher than any other state within the US.

In 2020, 110 per 100,000 women in Idaho found themselves locked behind bars; a rate more than double the national average.

Earlier this year, Idaho set aside $112 million to construct a new 848-bed women’s prison, but only $2.5 million to create the pre-prosecution diversion strategies recommended by the state’s Opioid Task Force and Behavioral Health Council.

Programs similar to the one scheduled for PWCC are already available at the following men’s facilities: Idaho State Correctional Center, Idaho State Correctional Institution, North Idaho Correctional Institution, Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino.

Sources: Pocatello Women’s Prison to Offer Job Training to Residents This Fall,” Idoc.idaho.gov. Rachel Cohen, “Idaho Has the Highest Female Incarceration Rate In the Country,” Boise State Public Radio News. “Idaho Department of Correction JFAC Presentation (1-18-22)

JUDGE AWARDS ROUGHLY $2.5M IN LEGAL FEES TO FORMER PRISONER’S LEGAL TEAM

A federal judge has awarded roughly $2.5 million in fees to the legal team that represented Adree Edmo in a case of deliberate indifference.

Diagnosed in 2012 with severe gender dysphoria, a condition described as one in which the dissonance between a person’s gender identity and assigned sex at birth causes severe emotional distress and dangerous impairment of life functions, Edmo filed suit in 2017, seeking to be treated with gender confirmation surgery.

In 2018, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled in Edmo’s favor; Idaho appealed, drawing out the legal battle and delaying the surgery longer.

Though the surgery itself was covered by insurance, by October 2020, the State of Idaho, at Governor Brad Little’s direction, had already spent a minimum of $456,738 in legal fees.

Fortunately for the state, its former prison healthcare provider, Corizon Health, Inc., has agreed to pay the entire $2.5 million award.

After receiving her gender confirmation surgery in 2020, Edmo was transferred to a women’s prison, from where she was later released in 2021.

Sources: Rebecca Boone, “Transgender Inmate Who Sued Idaho to Get $2.5M in Legal Fees,” Associated Press. Mark Wilson, “Idaho Provides Nation’s Second Gender Confirmation Surgery for Transgender Prisoner,” Prison Legal News. Betsy Russell, “US Supreme Court Rejects Idaho’s Appeal In Transgender Inmate Surgery Case,” Idaho Press.

NEW TRAUMA TREATMENT PROGRAM SHOWS PROGRESS IN CORRECTIONS

“Correctional staff experience high levels of stress, burnout and other mental-health related consequences. They also experience higher rates of PTSD and suicide compared to those of the general working-age population. Stress and trauma can impact all aspects of one’s life, including relationships with family, friends, coworkers, and various hobbies and obligations.” — Idaho Department of Correction

The IDOC has launched phase one of a new pilot program that aims to provide trauma treatment and intervention services to correctional staff and their clients.

The Department is now looking to distribute a total of $500,000 in grants to providers capable of delivering holistic treatment options to staff suffering from stress, fatigue and trauma.

Residents will participate in the program’s later phases, which are expected to offer the following, and more:

      • mental health interventions
      • one-on-one incident response
      • trauma-informed yoga
      • cognitive processing therapies
      • mindfulness techniques
      • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy (EMDR)

Should all phases of the program unfold as expected, the treatments offered to residents will be seen as light years ahead of those they received for approximately the last twenty years. Once billed to the public as Therapeutic Communities (TCs), the shame-based treatment approaches deployed until 2015 did more to compound residents’ problems than they did to address root causes.

Within a lawsuit brought against the IDOC in 2013, several men filed declarations with the Court describing how, in order to maintain their place in the TC program–which the state required be completed prior to receiving parole–they were forced to participate in the following practices, dished out as punishments and referred to as “image breakers”: close-contact twerk-offs, pretending to lick a popsicle, dragging one’s buttocks across the floor like a dog that has worms, pretending to eat a burrito with the contents falling out (which participants say was designed by other prisoners to have one mimic fellatio), and playing piggly-wiggly (shaking one’s buttocks on all fours while snorting like a pig).

In a 2016 judgement, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill commented on the efficacy of the Department’s TC programs: “After reading the numerous inmate affidavits detailing the indignities inmates suffered under the guise of ‘treatment,’ the Court is not surprised by the increased recidivism rate.”

Professionals interested in applying to participate in the new trauma treatment programs are asked to send their questions to grants@idoc.idaho.gov.

Sources: Idoc.idaho.gov. Cynthia Sewell, “Kempf Ushers In New Era for Idaho Department of Correction“, Idaho Statesman. Case 1:13-cv-00332-BLW, Custodio v. Idaho State Board of Correction.

IDJC AWARDS GRANTS TO BUILD TROUBLED YOUTH ASSESSMENT CENTERS

Using funds set aside in Idaho’s 2022 legislative session, the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections (IDJC) has awarded eight grants to be used for the construction of troubled youth assessment centers throughout the seven judicial districts within the State of Idaho.

KHQ Local News reports that the centers will used to screen and assess youth referred by law enforcement. After screening, the youth will be assigned to community provider services, where they will receive a case manager who will implement the (likely algorithmic) recommended level of care.

The National Assessment Center Association (NACA) is working closely with the state and the IDJC to establish the guidelines by which the centers will operate, and also to provide ongoing technical assistance.

According to Boise’s KTVB news anchor Morgan Romero, who reported on the center soon to open in Ada County, “NACA’s best practices show these centers save law enforcement time, improve coordination between agencies working with kids and get kids and their families help faster before either hit a crisis point.”

All eight centers are expected to become operational by June 30, 2023, but it is yet to be reported how they plan to stay funded and how families will be charged for the level of care received.

Earlier this year, during a sit-down with Boise State Public Radio host George Prentice, Idaho Justice Project Director Erika Marshall, along with Kendra Knighten, an associate with the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy and Idaho Voices for Children, discussed how families entangled in Idaho’s juvenile justice system are critically impacted by the system’s many fees.

Citing info available at the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy website, Prentice shared how one family that was forced to pay for public defender representation, mental health assessments, collection fees, cost of confinement and more, reported a crippling negative balance of $27,950, including added-on collection fees of up to 33 percent.

In 2021, more than 5,600 families of young men and women were assessed “cost of care” fees while the youth were in custody of the IDJC.

In the same year, Idaho identified roughly 198,000 cases of outstanding cost-of-care fees.

To learn more of the impacts these fees have on Idaho families, please visit: https://idahofiscal.org/removing-barriers-to-yourth-and-family-success-the-role-of-state-juvenile-cost-of-care-fees/

Sources: Morgan Romero, “New Youth Assessment Center Coming to Ada County,” KTVB.com. Noah Corrin, “Idaho to Create Assessment Centers to Divert Kids from Criminal Justice and Child Welfare Systems,” KHQ Local News. George Prentice, “As Thousands of Idaho Juvenile Offenders Remain in the Same System, Families are Shackled to Cost,” Boise State Pubic Radio.

FIRST AMEND THIS! INDUCTED INTO THE AMERICAN PRISON NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES

On March 24, 1800, “Forlorn Hope” became the first American newspaper to be published by an incarcerated person. Since then, over 500 periodicals have been published by U.S. prisoners, providing the public with a look at what goes on behind our nation’s prison walls.

Thanks to an amazing collaboration facilitated by Reveal Digital, many of these publications can now be accessed through the academic database JSTOR. The database implements a free digital library that provides access to over 12 million academic journal articles, books, images, contributed collections and primary sources.

The collection was made fully open-access in July, 2021, and is fittingly titled “American Prison Newspapers 1800 – 2020: Voices from the Inside.”

First Amend This! is proud to announce that this publication is now licensed under the CC-BY license, which will allow it to be repurposed and added to the collection.

As JSTOR provides an offline version of its database to prisons and jails across the nation, it is expected that our own newsletter archive will soon be accessible in facilities using the database.

COVID NEWS

Since the start of COVID-19, the IDOC has administered over 80,256 tests to its in-state clients. More than 6,954 are reported as positive.

Visitation remains disrupted at one or more facilities. Please view the Department’s website for the most current updates:

Those who have received their initial COVID vaccination are encouraged by the Department to follow up with booster shots.

Multiple residents report requesting covid boosters and flu shots, but have yet to receive word as to when they can be expected.

Residents experiencing issues related to COVID are invited to forward exhausted grievances to:

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1897
Boise, ID 83701

View IDOC’s COVID report here.

AN IDOC ANNOUNCEMENT: THANKSGIVING MENU 2022

As you may have heard, the US is currently experiencing one of the worst bird flu epidemics on record. Nearly 50 million birds have already died from the disease, with 8 million of those being turkeys. The outbreak has greatly affected the supply of eggs and poultry. Although we’ve tried to avoid/delay menu changes as much as possible, our first meal to take a ‘hit’ will be Thanksgiving. Despite attempting to order turkeys early to be at the front of the line, our orders were denied by poultry producers. There simply isn’t enough to go around, and the retail (grocery store) markets get first priority.

As such, IDOC has purchased fresh pork loin roasts for the upcoming holiday meals. The Thanksgiving menu will include this freshly roasted pork, along with the usual trimmings (mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, vegetables, pie).

If you’re a die-hard turkey fan, I apologize that we aren’t able to provide it at this time. Some things are simply out of our control. It is still the goal of food service staff, however, to ensure a nice holiday meal, and I’m confident that although the Thanksgiving meal will look a little different this year, it will still be tasty and filling!

LIEUTENANT GREG HEUN IN THE CLEARWATER TRIBUNE

ICI-O Lieutenant Greg Heun has taken his talent for writing to the Clearwater Tribune, where he proudly presents kudos to his coworkers and provides the general public with a look behind the scenes.

Linked below are a few of Lieutenant Heun’s articles that we strongly encourage you take the time read.

RENICK ON THE RADIO

With 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, shares what it’s like to live incarcerated in Idaho and then come out of incarceration to live on parole.

Last month, Mark welcomed to the show Gigi Crist with the Rock Harbor Church in Meridian. Since April, Gigi’s church has been running the Regeneration Program, which is described as a Christian 12-step discipleship and recovery program that encourages self-examination. The two discussed the program’s setting and how to get involved.

Mark also featured Shawn Rucker on the show. As a 59-year-old returning citizen turned advocate, Shawn relayed the importance of preparing for reentry the day one enters prison. His experience exemplifies how one’s willingness to change must outweigh their pride before they’re able to fully utilize all available resources.

Visit svdpid.org for reentry resources and programs available in Southern Idaho.

RESIDENT AUDITING 101

A public records request for all Pre-Prosecution Diversion Program grant applications and awards was returned in October with “no records found.”

A request has been submitted for all Keefe sales volume reports and revenue payments made from April to present, as well as all notes, minutes and documents from commissary review committee meetings that took place in the same period.

A request has been submitted for the log of public records requested in October.

A grievance has been filed in an attempt to expedite April’s requests for:

      • Keefe sales volume reports for the weeks of 7-15-21 and 1-21-22
      • Notes, minutes and documents from the two commissary review committee meetings prior to 4-19-22, as well as all written requests submitted to the contract manager prior to these meetings
      • Revenue payments made from Keefe to IDOC from March ’21 to March ’22

CORRECTION!

Where it was implied in the August issue that CentuyLink is currently contracted to provide the IDOC with communication services, it has since been brought to our attention that company’s contract has expired. A public records request for current arrangements between the IDOC and its communication service providers has been submitted.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES FOR INCARCERATED PERSONS

Thanks go out to Charlotte West with the College Inside newsletter for introducing us to “The Sentences That Create Us.” This book, which features the work of more than fifty writers, is filled with advice, inspiration and prison writer resources.

PEN America is now distributing 75,000 free copies to incarcerated individuals, prison libraries, and higher education/creative writing programs that are currently working with justice-involved comunities.
A copy can be requested online at https://t.co/ST7zHTQawK, or by writing to:

Prison Writing Program
c/o PEN America
588 Broadway, Ste. 303
New York, NY 10012

College Inside, a newsletter about prison education, is produced by Open Campus, a national nonprofit newsroom that covers college-in-prison programs, Pell Grants for incarcerated students, career and technical education, and education in juvenile justice facilities.

Sign up at https://www.opencampusmedia.org/college-inside/

INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

The Carden [Consulting] Group
P.O. Box 693
Jefferson City, MO 65102

10.13.22

Dear Carden Group,

To help better morale and perception in the case of the IDOC, I suggest you work with the Department to promote its current strategic goals to those of its clients it’s keeping in-custody. Though parts of their plan periodically shine through, the only means by which most of us have to come apprised in full is by submitting and sorting through public records requests. With nothing less than the morale of tens of thousands at stake–including extended networks through which our gripes all filter–I believe it would pay to share all goals through prison unit message boards, where they might not only be appreciated, but also help inspire.

Thank you for considering.

In friendship and incarceration,
Patrick Irving 82431

SUGGESTION BOX

I suggest that Centurion Health pick up the pace with boosters and flu shots. And while they’re at it, maybe also try returning once in a while to read our tuberculosis test results. With tuberculosis classified as a deadly, infectious disease, the company is continuing to place our staff and residents at risk.

Bam! Thanks to everyone who joined us for yet another monthly session.

Shout out to Mason, Yukari and the entire PJP family!

“B.O.B.”
— Outkast

Next: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Dec. ’22