Book Of Irving #82431

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

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Dec. ’21

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.

Friends and families are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact them at idahoinmate@gmail.com.

Those looking to share their experience with Idaho’s justice system are asked to contact Erika Marshall with the Idaho Justice Project.
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EDITOR’S NOTE

New Year resolutions:

1) Eliminate lifetime library bans at IMSI.

2) Civilly speculate as to why a grievance requesting some form of record be kept to prevent more charitable donations from going unaccounted for is now three months overdue in its return from Central Office.

3) Continue revisiting the fact that one box of betterment books donated from Idaho communities last year couldn’t be found in all of Deputy Warden Wessels’ prison.

4) Send one newsletter a month to an Idaho legislator and ask that they consider following up on a few issues.

5) Offer the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau more reasons to fine JPay for ripping us off in the millions.

6) Maintain my boyish charm.

Let’s First Amend This!
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DEATH AT IDAHO STATE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION

It was reported last month that an ISCI resident was beaten to death overnight in his cell. With respect to Department policy, all parties involved and their families, we ask that you view this story at the links provided below.

[kivitv.com, ktvb.com, Idahostatesman.com]
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STATISTICAL ANALYSIS CENTER RELEASES REPORT ON IDAHO RECIDIVISM

In collaboration with the Idaho Department of Correction and the Idaho Supreme Court, the Idaho State Police’s Statistical Analysis Center (ISAC) recently compiled a report to illustrate Idaho’s recidivism problem.

Author Thomas Strauss, MPA, pieced the report together using data from 2017 — three years after the Idaho Legislature passed a justice reform initiative in effort to reverse the state’s increasing incarceration rate.

The 2014 JRI bill targeted at-risk individuals with various forms of programming, mandated the use of Evidence Based Practices (EBP) in community supervision, and created a Limited Supervision Unit within Probation and Parole while adjusting the way they responded to technical violations. It also required the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to report regularly on the state of IDOC programming and the needs of their clients.

Despite the efforts put forth in this bill, Strauss found that in 2017 Idaho had the highest rate of citizens under supervision in the Western United States, with 1 in 25 adult Idahoans in jail or prison or managed by the state on probation or parole. The same year, in the face of one of the lowest violent and property crime rates in the West, Idaho’s prison incarceration was found to be second in the region, behind Arizona’s.

According to Strauss’s findings, the rate of Idaho citizens under punitive supervision remains one of the highest in the western United States.

IT FIGURES…

In 2017: 1 in 148 adult Idahoans were in prison, 1 in 102 adult Idahoans were incarcerated in either jail or prison, 1 in 48 adult Idahoans were under supervision for a felony conviction, and 1 in 25 adult Idahoans were were under supervision following some form of conviction.

Regional rates of imprisonment per 100,000 residents:

Arizona — 599
Idaho — 500
Nevada — 456
Wyoming — 427
Oregon — 367
Colorado — 356
Montana — 352
New Mexico — 348
California — 331
Washington — 265
Utah — 208

Based on the results of Strauss’s report, the ISAC recommended that Idaho adopt a broader definition of recidivism to “allow researchers the flexibility to evaluate many different contexts and research questions, which will give policymakers much more detailed and complete information about patterns of reoffending in Idaho.” It was also recommended that efforts to improve data collection and data sharing be continued and prioritized, and that additional research be granted to help fill in missing data sets and determine effective interventions for those who are reoffending.

Source: Thomas Strauss, MPA, “Recidivism Rates Among the Idaho Department of Correction’s Supervised Population,” Idaho Statistical Analysis Center.
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HOUSING PROBLEMS: A MESSAGE FROM REENTRY MANAGER TIMOTHY LEIGH

Currently, housing in Idaho is in very short supply; and that includes transitional housing for people leaving prison. This means returning citizens could face delays in their release if they are planning to utilize IDOC transitional housing. While we are working hard to find solutions, we ask that safe alternatives to transitional housing be considered, such as the possibility of living with friends or family.

Below is additional information about the housing shortage in Idaho right now.

- In the most recent census (2020), the state of Idaho grew by 17.8%, making it the second fastest growing state in the country. Out of that growth, around 70% flooded the Treasure Valley area.
- The average rent in the treasure valley is up 30.8% since 2020, which equates to the average rent in Boise being around $1650.
- The current vacancy rate of rental properties in the treasure valley is less than 1%. This makes renting a very challenging and competitive process for the average adult and even harder for people coming out of prison.
- A few transitional housing providers have been forced to reduce the number of houses they had available for transitional living due to the owners of the homes choosing to sell the home instead of renting it to our provider.
- There are very few options for low-income rentals and housing, which in turn makes it hard to transition out of transitional or sober living homes.
- Returning citizens are staying in the transitional homes much longer, and in some cases have lived there upwards of 7 years. This long-standing issue has compounded over the years.

Case managers are working very hard to find their clients transitional homes, but supply is extremely limited. Again, it’s recommended by IDOC to their caseload that all options be considered and case managers be kept aware
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CASE MANAGERS AND PRE-HEARING INVESTIGATORS NO LONGER ALLOWED TO PROVIDE PAROLE HEARING INPUT

Sources from within the Department have confirmed the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole is no longer accepting parole recommendations made by correctional case managers (CCMs) and pre-hearing investigators (PHIs).

The reason, they say, is that CCMs and PHIs can be too easily manipulated into providing favorable recommendations.

It’s a decision that’s confusing for all, and any evidence it’s based on has yet to be provided: Examples where there have been recommendations being made for inappropriate reasons have not been discussed openly.

Thus, we find ourselves questioning if the decision was ill-founded, and wondering if disheartening effects have been felt among the staff who are best equipped to gauge to the potential of their caseloads.
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CLEMENCY HEARING FOR DEATH ROW RESIDENT

In early December the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole was still deciding whether to proceed with the execution of Gerald Pizzuto.

Where the Board ended up ruling in 4-to-3 favor of allowing Pizzuto to painfully perish of natural causes, Gov. Little overruled them in favor of execution.

What comes next is currently unknown. Pizzuto, terminally ill, on hospice care and suffering from brain damage and mental disabilities, has had several court challenges filed on his behalf, including a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.

While the Supreme Court petition focuses on his abated mental capacity, federal court challenges take issue with the excessive amount of suffering he may experience should the lethal injection drugs inimically mix with his existing health conditions.

According to the Idaho Statesman, “One court challenge in Pizzuto’s case argues that the state formed its lethal injection execution protocols without the proper public input and notification.”

It isn’t the only time the public has been shielded from the means that Idaho uses to implement the ultimate penalty. Not so long ago University of Idaho Professor Aliza Cover successfully sued the Department for refusing to release information pertaining to drugs purchased for executions. Cover’s initial request was made after a separate court complaint alleged now-Director Josh Tewalt purchased lethal injection drugs with a suitcase full of cash in a Tacoma, Washington, Walmart parking lot in 2012.

In a discussion on the Idaho Matter’s Reporter’s Roundtable, it was learned that this was the second clemency review since 1977, when Idaho reinstated capital punishment.

Sources: Ktvb.com. 12-03-21 Idaho Matters broadcast. The Editorial Board, “Lack of Transparency, History of Errors Means Idaho Should Hit Pause on Executions,” Idahostatesman.com.
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HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE CENTER SUES TO PROTECT “PRISON LEGAL NEWS” FROM CENSORSHIP IN IDAHO

The Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1990, is suing Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue for censoring, among other things, Prison Legal News, a monthly legal publication that reports on prison, jail and criminal justice-related news and court rulings.

HRDC asserts through the court that Sheriff Donahue’s ongoing practice of rejecting their materials violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

In addition to publishing Prison Legal News, books about the criminal justice system, legal references and self-help books for prisoners, HRDC also leads the Stop Prison Profiteering Campaign and the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice, as well as the Prison Ecology Project and the Freedom of Information Act Project.

An avid subscriber and supporter of Prison Legal News, this journalist finds himself uncontrollably delighted every time he opens the publication to discover new actions taken (usually in the form of lawsuits) by HRDC to protect the imprisoned and their supporters from having their constitutional rights siphoned away.

Their list of wins is long and growing, with their most recent lawsuits mentioned by Newsweek: HRDC vs. Indiana Department of Corrections, Lincoln County in Wisconsin, Sherburne County in Minnesota, Johnson County in Kansas, Vermont Department of Corrections…

Those interested in learning more about HRDC efforts are encouraged to visit the following links:

www.humanrightsdefensecenter.org
www.prisonlegalnews.org
www.criminallegalnews.org
Stop Prison Profiteering Project
Prison Ecology Project

Source: Erin Brady, “Publisher of Prison Legal News Magazine Sues Idaho Jail for Allegedly Censoring Mail,” Newsweek.
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BOARD OF CORRECTIONS VICE CHAIR SPONSORS HUMAN RIGHTS CLASS
by Education Manger W. Charles Durrant

On Tuesday, November 30th, Vice Chairman and local businessman Dodds Hayden visited Idaho State Correctional Institution’s education department and Robert Janss School to participate in a weekly session of the Boise State University course, Intro to Human Rights, taught by Dr. Susan Fry.

The seven-week course, offered to fifteen residents of ISCI, was paid for by Mr. Hayden as part of a donation designed to provide educational opportunities to incarcerated citizens. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the class sessions have taken place remotely over Zoom, with Dr. Fry at her home and the students in a classroom. This was the third such BSU course at ISCI sponsored by Mr. Hayden, with the previous courses consisting of a Civil War comparison/contrast of General Robert E. Lee and Joshua Chamberlain, taught by BSU Professor Emeritus Dr. Todd Shallat(,) and Navigating Difficult Conversations, an offering of the Department of Conflict Management, taught by BSU Adjunct Instructor David Nichols.

Mr. Hayden was welcomed by the students, who were excited to meet their benefactor. He spent the next couple of hours with the students, the faculty and attending leadership. He took no part in the class discussion and later answered questions related to future courses as part of the same program. Mr. Hayden received a formal Thank You from the students and was presented with drawings and a plaque bearing each of the students’ signatures.

[This story originally appeared on the IDOC website.]
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ANOTHER JPAY CHRISTMAS: RIPPING INMATES IN THE NAME OF BABY JESUS

The media provider for Idaho prisoners has no problem ripping them off to celebrate Jesus’s birthday. Following the release of a promotion for upcoming discounts, JPay rescinded their offer after funds were already transferred from prisoner trust accounts into the JPay media system.

From the miniscule wages they make by the hour to the funds from their loved ones that keep them in contact, JPay took their consumers for a still unknown sum on the heels of being fined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to tune of $6,000,000 for consumer abuse of apostate proportions.

ACTUAL COMPLAINT TO JPAY CUSTOMER SERVICE

12-24-21

You recently sent an email to your entire consumer base encouraging them to prepare for a “humongous” 10% discount on [email] stamps.

It was for no other reason than your sending this email that myself and many others who are currently incarcerated transferred what limited funds we have to our JPay accounts to prepare for purchasing discounted stamps. Unsurprisingly, another email showed up this very morning, informing us all you will not honor this discount unless it’s redeemed by our friends and our families. Which means the money we transferred is now gone to waste. That you were recently fined over $6M dollars for abusing your consumers and managed to learn nothing suggests that your company deserves to sit where I sit: in a systemically dysfunctional, backwoods Idaho prison.

In complement to this most recent scheme of fraudulent advertising, I will soon be presenting to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau communications from your company acknowledging that prepaid replies are not being redeemed past 30 days. A caveat your consumers have never been advised of.

Make no mistake, your raping and pillaging of vulnerable populations has me sharpening my pitchfork and praying you burn in hell.

This communique has been selected for publishing in the Idaho Department of Correction monthly newsletter. [sic]
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JPAY’S RESPONSE

Hello Patrick. Thank you for contacting JPay Support. Our customer’s thoughts and suggestions are always welcomed and appreciated. Please understand that grievances are handled by staff members at your correctional facility and we encourage you to reach out [to] the proper channels at your disposal to ensure your issue receives the appropriate level of attention.

Kind Regards,
Jpay Support
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FOLLOW UP

Dear Jesus Almighty,

As if their swindling consumers on your birthday wasn’t enough, this prison profiteer is now directing those affected to seek refunds from this Department as though it were involved in their scam. I kindly ask that you consider smiting these sodomite bastards and imploding whatever reality has allowed them to so brazenly sin.

Thank you for allowing me to reach you through this channel. I trust Your Holiness will ensure this complaint receives “the appropriate level of attention” when I send 100 copies to the friends that I’ve made in the press.

Amen.

Source: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Patrick Irving, “JPay Support Ticket, Ref #CCI-IMSI342870.” Patrick Irving, “JPay Support Ticket, Ref #CCI-IMSI339627.”

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COVID NEWS

Since the start of COVID, over 52,285 tests have been administered to IDOC residents housed in-state, with over 5,100 returning some form of positive.

For over a year no testing has taken place for the hundreds of Idaho prisoners housed by CoreCivic in Eloy, Arizona. Thus we’re to believe that no symptoms — including those of seasonal colds — have presented among the prisoners housed out-of-state and -mind.

All residents who have received their initial vaccination are encouraged by the Department to sign up for a booster vaccination shot. The booster is recommended by the Center for Disease Control. Anyone who has received a Johnson and Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer vaccine can receive a booster whenever Medical gets around to it. Please submit a concern form to medical if you would like to receive the booster.

Anyone who has not yet been immunized against COVID is highly encouraged by the Department to take advantage of immunization now.

Those with COVID concerns are invited to forward their grievances to:

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1897
Boise, ID 83701

View COVID numbers here.
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ANOTHER INSIDE-OUT COMPLETION AT ICIO
by Lt. Greg Heun

Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino recently had another Inside-Out completion ceremony, an event that was met with big smiles and a sense of accomplishment.

In the beginning, ICIO teamed up with the University of Idaho to offer the fist college class ever presented inside an Idaho prison. This recent class included a University of Idaho professor, a teacher’s assistant, 6 resident students and approximately 12 U of I students. Due to COVID-19 their class was held on Zoom, where together they studied the history of justice for three sociology credits.

Inside-Out has been around some 23 years and started in Idaho in 2018. It is represented in over 40 other states and 7 different countries, and while it comes with explicit security protocols, it is very effective in creating opportunities for people to have transformative learning experiences that emphasize collaboration and dialogue.

[This story first appeared on the IDOC website.]
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EAST BOISE CRC RESIDENTS ADOPT A FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS
by Sgt. Michelle Juarez

East Boise Community Reentry Center residents are giving back to the community. With the help of Education Director Leah from Interfaith Sanctuary, EBCRC was able to participate in adopting a family for the holidays.

It was a special time getting to see the residents shop for clothes and toys and wrap gifts for their adopted Christmas family. You could just see the compassion, happiness and excitement in their faces.

Just knowing that what these ladies are dong will bring a smile to the family’s faces makes us super proud of our EBCRC residents.

[This story first appeared on the IDOC website.]
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TFCRC DONATIONS
by TFCRC Manager Pamela McCarrol

Twin Falls Community Reentry Center residents got together and donated $1265 to South Central Community Action (SCCA). SCCA will use the money donated to purchase holiday meals and assist with heating and electric bills. TFCRC residents help SCCA weekly with unloading trucks and assembling food boxes for families in need FTCRC also assists SSCA with snow removal when needed.
[This story first appeared on the IDOC website.]
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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.

This month Mark welcomed Darrell Taylor from the Urban Ministry Institute. Darrell, a former IDOC educator and religious activities coordinator, assisted last month with Cookies for Corrections and discussed upcoming seminary programs that he’s hoping to roll out in corrections in 2022.

Dr. John Greenley, author of “A Christian Approach to World Religions,” announced that he’ll soon be holding an open class that goes over the basics of world religions. The first of a twelve-week course begins January 9 @ 4:30 pm in the Ten Mile Christian Church. Those interested are asked to sign up at TenMileCC.com.

Learn more about Mark’s advocacy projects @ svdpid.org.
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RESIDENT AUDITING 101

Last month we requested information pertaining to all public records requests submitted since June 2021. Unfortunately, requests for these records only yielded invoices, as the labor required to fill the requests was more than expected by at least two hours. The Department is estimating that two hours of labor are needed to produce records requests from any given month. Because requests that exceed two hours of labor begin to get billed at an hourly rate hour, and because our requests were made by three separate auditors for two months of records apiece, we will now resubmit our requests for one month at a time to avoid being billed while continuing our audit.

A request related to food service costs has gone unfilled since November.

A grievance addressing the complete absence of records pertaining to charitable resident donations, though due back in early November, has still not been returned.

It was discovered JPay is unable to redeem prepaid messaging replies 30 days after they’re forwarded. As JPay has failed to inform their consumers of this glitch, a complaint highlighting this and other deceptive practices is scheduled to be forwarded to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in January.

A grievance has been lodged to disrupt the unwritten policy of lifetime library bans at IMSI.
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INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

12.12.21

Dear Vice Chairperson Hayden,

When’s the last time you received a fan letter from inside one of your facilities? It might not mean much but I wish to commend you for the seven-week Human Rights course you sponsored for fifteen very lucky ISCI residents, recently. This, my friend, was an extremely classy maneuver. As a journalist that is often times critical of the practices put in place within the department you chair, I hope you’ll not mind me publishing this missive as an exercise in humility and example of civil discourse.

Enclosed is the program I developed this year in Ad-Seg. It could still use a little tuning, but for the most part it’s ready to go.

I hope our efforts can meet one day. There’s so much potential still yet to be tapped.

In friendship and incarceration,
Patrick Irving 82431
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RECOMMENDED

Executive director of the Idaho Prison Arts Collective, Michael Richardson, appeared in the Idaho Statesman with a very insightful piece this month: “Painting, Writing and Ukuleles. Idaho Prison Arts Collective Seeks to Improve Lives.”

Please take the time to check it out.
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Happy New Year everybody!

And watch out for the fuzz, we’re completely out of room.

“The Outsider”
— Ben Miller Band

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

ANOTHER JPAY CHRISTMAS: RIPPING INMATES OFF IN THE NAME OF BABY JESUS

ACTUAL COMPLAINT TO JPAY CUSTOMER SERVICE

12-24-21

You recently sent an email to your entire consumer base encouraging them to prepare for a “humongous” 10% discount on [email] stamps.

Make no mistake, your raping and pillaging of vulnerable populations has me sharpening my pitchfork and praying you burn in hell.

This communique has been selected for publishing in the Idaho Department of Correction monthly newsletter. [sic]
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JPAY’S RESPONSE

Kind Regards,
Jpay Support
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FOLLOW UP

Dear Jesus Almighty,

Amen.

Source: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Patrick Irving, “JPay Support Ticket, Ref #CCI-IMSI342870.” Patrick Irving, “JPay Support Ticket, Ref #CCI-IMSI339627.”

See also:

- - New Complaints Filed Against JPay Prison Service Provider: Three Abusive Practices You Probably Ought to Know
  - Patrick Irving Sits With Employees of JPay, Showcases How the Company Sh*ts On Its Consumers (Round 1)

First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Dec. ’21

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Nov. ’21

WELCOME to the December edition of First Amend This!

Friends and families are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact them at idahoinmate@gmail.com.
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EDITOR’S NOTE

This month we celebrate our two-year anniversary with the very first issue to be presented from population.

No longer broadcasting from that ornery orifice once optioned in Ad-Seg, we’ll now be able to more easily collect the experiences of others and promote civic engagement while expanding our auditing crew–or so we’d like to think.

Not to be limited to those serving sentences, we’re hoping to offer a bit more from our staff and the families and friends that serve our time with us.

Those looking to get involved are encouraged to contact our recorders or other friendly organizers, like the Idaho Justice Project.
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CELEBRATING TWO YEARS WITH AN ANNIVERSARY RECAP

In 2007, I was one of many who participated in a private prison program under the purview of IDOC. Every day for nine months they drilled into my head that the purpose of life is to hold others accountable. The program, called Lifeline, worked better than it should; I felt myself transformed into a hybrid auditing cyborg who’d go on to commit more crimes and then come back to continue his passion.

Eleven years later, outsourced to a corporate confinement center located on the Mexican border, I found myself battling with capitalist killers in a cell that went dark after someone pulled the power. Double-dipping in the darkness that week in segregation, I fashioned a foot that was fated for ass by crafting new gospel in the form of the Book of Irving.

It was around the same time that I heard they killed Kim Taylor, that those hired to handle our medical emergencies knew not how to use their life-saving equipment and Warden Waymon Barry couldn’t care less about an autopsy. Surrounded by negligence, I took it upon myself to begin auditing from the inside and prepare some presentations for media and oversight.

But mine was a behavior that was not to be tolerated; it quickly became apparent that holding others to account was no longer an exercise then-Department heads found welcome.

Flown back from Texas on inflated punitive charges, I watched as those responsible for my retaliatory transfer investigated themselves for misconduct and then ruled in their own favor. My legal work was pilfered, my property was accosted, and I was told that I could sue if I had not yet learned of caution.

So I tried; and from that process I developed an intimate understanding: in order for a prisoner to file a claim in the courts, they must first convince their prison staff to see their claim gets mailed.

Twice I discovered that my claims had not. Still in my possession–my twice-sent claims unopened; they sat in my facility on somebody’s desk for weeks before returning to my cell in what I presume was an accident.

Hundreds of letters to lawmakers were next, with hundreds after that to media and advocates; and for over eighteen months I diligently documented the very creative ways that my freedom of speech of was annulled.

While all this was enough to really set a feller off, it wasn’t until the Office of Professional Standards refused to acknowledge the concerns later presented in our first issue that we decided to launch from an Ad-Seg cell in December 2019.

And here we are now…

Let’s First Amend This!
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DEAR DEPUTY WARDEN NICOLAS BAIRD

I have now been banned from studying self-help materials from the library for over six months. This over a book that was returned through my Ad-Seg door. (See: First Amend This!, July ’21.) I filed a grievance and was told my library privileges would return after 90 days, despite the fact that one could’ve confirmed I returned the book by searching my cell. Is it now this Department’s position that I am not to be able to better myself for up to 32 more years because either the staff or the librarian made some kind of error, or is it possible that you might be able to assist me?

Please consider.
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THE POWERS THAT BE ARE UPSETTING OUR MOTHERS

The loved ones of prisoners at IMSI have not been able to visit for two years of holidays.

For the duration of COVID-19, the Idaho Maximum Security Institution has been fortunate to report minimal cases. Likely due to the fact that those imprisoned at this facility are offered minimal time out of their cells and contact with others.

With all visits taking place behind plexiglass partitions, visiting sessions at this facility are restricted in such way that sharing oxygen isn’t possible and minimal staff are needed to supervise. And yet this desolate depression of modern convention holds the only visitation room that has yet to reopen since the start of COVID.

Frustration is felt among facility residents. For the second year in a row, Idaho’s close custody prisoners have found themselves informing their families that no effort’s been given to allow them to visit.

Facility staff, aware of this issue, aren’t excited about it either. They understand the benefits of in-person visits with families and are “hoping something will happen,” but what that something is isn’t made clear. A concern form inquiring didn’t yield a concrete answer.

As this issue is goes to press, we are also hearing that ISCC has been unable to provide visitation since September .

Those interested in seeing visits return are encouraged to contact the administration and request immediate action.
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LAWMAKERS UNDER FIRE FOR FAILING TO ADDRESS IDAHO’S PRISON PROBLEMS

The Idaho Statesman Editorial Board isn’t pulling any punches. In an editorial titled “Prison Problems Are the Latest Sign of Dereliction of Duty of the Idaho Legislature,” the majority makeup of Idaho lawmakers were roasted for cutting $400M from the Gem State’s budget while watching prison staffing shortages perpetually worsen.

In the same period which Idaho’s budget surplus ballooned from $800M to $1.5B, Idaho’s leading Republicans continued to ignore concerns of safety and burnout presented by prison employees amid multiple violent, newsworthy incidents.

In attempt to mitigate the employee shortage, along with a variety of new-hire and retention bonuses, IDOC implemented a pay increase in September to push starting wages from $16.75 to $19 an hour. The incentives, financed using federal CARES ACT funding, will require the approval of Legislature to continue into the long-term.

It’s a budget request that may face scrutiny as the pay raises and bonuses have yet to achieve their desired effect. Pointing to figures from the Idaho State Correctional Center, the Statesman confirmed that employee openings rose from 38 in April to 75 in September, with only two positions being filled by November.

Per the Statesman’s editorial board, “If the state is going to take people into custody and put them in prison, the state has a constitutional obligation to keep them safe and keep the people who work there safe… Unfortunately, the situation of the state prison is yet another indication that the Idaho Republican Legislature is falling down on the job of providing proper funding for basic government services.

Sources: Idaho Statesman Editorial Board, “Prison Problems Are the Latest Sign of Dereliction of Duty of the Idaho Legislature.”
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FORMER PRISONER SEEKING $2.8M IN LEGAL FEES

A former client of the Idaho Department of Correction is suing the State to recoup the cost of legal fees for a battle that was fought all the way to the Supreme Court.

Diagnosed in 2012 with gender dysphoria–a condition in which the dissonance between a person’s gender identity and gender assigned at birth is significant and hurtful–Adree Edmo filed suit in 2017 after being refused the means to conform to her gender identity. Her complaint asserted the State was violating her Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment by refusing to provide her with adequate medical treatment .

At Governor Little’s direction, Idaho spent $456,738.80 in legal fees attempting to avoid the $75,000 gender confirmation surgery that, covered by insurance, was of no immediate cost to the state.

In 2020, as the Department was waiting for the Supreme Court to decide if the case would receive their attention, local media covered Governor Little’s staunch opposition the idea that such surgeries should be provided to those incarcerated.

Edmo’s case is still the subject of national attention as the first surgery of the sort ordered by the court.

The Department was given until Nov. 22 to file a response to the request for legal fees. Should reimbursement be ordered in full, Idaho Conservatives will be able to boast of spending $3.25 million to set a progressive precedent for gender-related surgeries.

Sources: “Former Idaho Inmate Who Sued for Gender Surgery Seeks 2.8 Million In Legal Fees, Rebecca Boone, Associated Press. Betsy Russell, “US Supreme Court Rejects Idaho’s Appeal in Transgender Inmate Surgery Case,” Idaho Press.
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NEW INFORMATION EMERGING FROM THE APRIL 10 INCIDENT

The ISCC incident that erupted in April is again receiving attention from prominent members of Idaho media. Jacob Scholl with the Idaho Statesman shared new details this month, obtained by public records requests and interviews with staff.

In addition to the fire, the fights and the hospitalizations we heard about, we now learn that H-Block residents left the unit clear long before staff were “prompted to evacuate them.”

In effort to escape smoke from the fire, they took to the yard through a wall that belonged to a bathroom, and kinda just hung out until the corral team came and collected them.

Prison staff in Scholl’s article expressed their dismay over how a call for backup yielded one lonely straggler. This to a living area with 304 residents who, according our sources, were allegedly upset by the amount of force used to remove one of their own from the unit .

As of the publication of Scholl’s article, the Ada County Prosecutor has yet to press charges.

Source: Jacob Scholl, “Details Emerging About April Prison Disturbance,” Idaho Statesman.
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IDOC SERVINGS SIZED SMALLER FOR VAGINAS

Sunday is Starve Day at Idaho prisons. Between breakfast and dinner lunch is limited to muffins, bagged up at breakfast to munch on at noon. The men all receive two every week, which is twice the number served to the Department’s female clients.

The men also receive more of following, often with the same ratio in serving sizes: 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, peanut butter, margarine, rice, refried beans, 3-bean salad and baked fries.

When asked to speculate as to the reason, IMSI residents and staff were quick to point out that men are required to carry the massive weight of a penis and well-fed women tend to have themselves a hard time finding husbands. Their logic continues: husbands for the ladies will be required for their survival, as minimal effort is given to prepare them for the workforce and good housing is impossible to come by as a felon.

We disagree with their reasoning, but when no other food service is capable of rationing the portions of convalescing female patrons without drawing the kind of scrutiny that changes a regime, then what kind of sense can be made of this, really?

It is easy to imagine the cascade of cancelling that would occur were a school to serve the girls a little less than all the boys–or were nursing-home grandmas to be served less oatmeal than male counterparts on the advice of a professional with an interest in saving some money.

SUBTLE ASIDE: Perhaps the women would do better by switching to Common Fare meals: prepackaged meals, provided by a vendor, indiscriminate in serving sizes, they’re the costliest option.

Sources: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.0
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JPAY FINED FOR CONSUMER ABUSE

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has taken action against JPay for violating the Consumer Financial Protection act by siphoning tax-payer benefits from the formerly incarcerated.

As reported by the CFPB in October, a consent order was issued after it was concluded that JPay engaged in unfair, deceptive and abusive practices by conditioning the receipt of government benefits upon opening an account with a particular financial institution.

Within several violations outlined by the CFPB, the agency found that JPay abused its market dominance by forcing the imprisoned to submit to contractual fees in order to access their own moneys using prepaid debit cards. According to the CFPB, “Consumers could not protect their interests in the selection and use of JPay’s cards because they were denied a choice on how their own money would be given to them upon release.” This practice lead to over 1.2M release cards being issued to consumers who were unable to view their accounts or close them without accruing fees.

The CFPB also found that consumers were charged unauthorized fees when debit release cards were loaded with additional funds.

Per the consent order, JPay must eliminate the majority of fees on their prepaid release cards, refund approximately $4M to the consumers they abused and pay $2M in civil penalties to the CFPB’s Civil Penalty fund.

Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the CFPB has the authority to take action against institutions that violate federal consumer financial laws.

JPay was founded in 2002 as an electronic money transfer service company for the incarcerated and their families. Before being acquired in 2013, they reported turning a profit of more than $500M. Their parent company, Aventiv, currently profits directly off of over one million imprisoned by charging for telecommunications, money-wiring and media services in over 3,500 correctional facilities across North America.

While JPay currently contracts with IDOC to provide multiple services, it’s Access Corrections who provides the Access Freedom card to those fortunate enough to return to their communities with cash in their accounts.

According to IDOC’s website: “Access Freedom debit cards allow newly released individuals to have immediate access to their funds in real-time, at ATMs, banks, and through most point-of-sale (POS) retailers. Access Freedom cards have several free-use options, including POS transactions and cash-out options.”

But for those who search further and find the FAQs: “Account Closure Fee for a cash-out of balance of card paid out by check……..$10”

Sources: Aaron Greg, Washington Post. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Alexandra Marinez, “As the Holidays Approach, Incarcerated People in Florida Say Goodbye to Physical Mail,” Prismreports.org. www.idoc.idaho.gov.
…

COVID NEWS

Since the start of COVID, over 49,374 tests have been administered to IDOC residents housed in-state, with no testing taking place throughout 2021 for Idaho prisoners outsourced to Arizona. A majority of those housed in-state have caught COVID.

The visiting solution remains fluid. Please view the IDOC website for cancelations and closures.

All residents who have received a COVID vaccination are encouraged by the Department to sign up for a booster vaccination shot. This booster is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. Anyone who has received a Johnson and Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer vaccine can receive a booster at this time. Please submit a concern form to medical if you would like to receive the booster.

Anyone who has not yet been immunized against COVID is also highly encouraged by the Department to get the initial immunization now.

Those with COVID concerns are invited to forward their grievances to:

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1897
Boise, ID 83701

View COVID numbers here.
…

COOKIES FOR THE INCARCERATED!

Time is running out to assist Mark Renick in gifting the Kuna Idaho prisons’ population with big, welcome bags of beautiful holiday cookies. If you would like to assist the effort, please contact Mr. Renick or St. Vincent de Paul and ask how you can help.

This is the first year Mark has targeted all Kuna Idaho prisons with his notorious act of kindness, appreciated by everyone. Formerly known as Cookies For Max, the event was previously limited to IMSI.

If you wish to assist, please contact:

208-477-1006
svdpid.org
systemicchangeofid@gmail.com
…

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.

This month Mark welcomed Erica Marshall with the Idaho Justice Project. Erica forming a state-wide coalition to present our lawmakers with solutions to Idaho justice problems. She is calling out to all justice-affected families to ask that they share their stories. Visit Idahojusticeproject.org for updates and details.

Ryan Hertling and German Robies from IDOC’s One Stop Reentry Shop in District 4 appeared in a two-part episode (part 1, part 2) to discuss the services and partnerships available through their workplace, as well as some of the challenges the newly released face. There was some mention about the Department moving forward with plans to help those attempting to successfully reintegrate into their communities by putting the formerly incarcerated to work, and to have them be recognized as community assets.

Learn more about Mark’s advocacy projects @ svdpid.org.
…

RESIDENT AUDITING 101

Public records requests have been made for following: the Keefe commissary contract, meal costs, the list of all public records requests submitted within the last six months.

A grievance pursuing the absence of records pertaining to charitable donations has stalled in the appeal process without notice or explanation. To date, no records have been kept to confirm where the charitable donations we make as prisoners have been going.

A public records request asking for the number of parole-eligible who are filling our facilities has informed us that 1,872 prisoners are being held past their fixed-time.

The public records custodian is now attaching the following statement to all public records requests:

“Any release of public records (textual, audio, graphical, pictorial, digital, or otherwise) in response to a public records request is not permission from the IDOC to allow you to republish or otherwise make use of the records in violation of relevant state or federal law, including but not limited to, privacy, trademark, and/or copyright law.*

“IDOC is dedicated to transparency. If you have questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact your Record Custodian.”

*According to our understanding of federal law, IDOC is not eligible for trademark or copyright protection. Public records are considered public domain works, therefore, permission need not be asked and allowance need not be given to “republish or otherwise make use of the records.” But do your own research, of course.
…

AND NOT FOR NOTHIN’

Want to know why IDOC didn’t reclassify a significant number of those who accrued Class A disciplinary charges in Texas?

Because the Texas Commission of Jail Standards never approved the Eagle Pass Correctional Facility to hold close-custody prisoners. Were IDOC and GEO to reclassify all those who accrued severe disciplinary charges (per policy), they would’ve had to pay to bring quite a few back home. It was an intentional misdirection, one that jeopardized the safety of staff and our out-of-state residents. Had the Texas Commission of Jail Standards been aware, they would have taken action.

The reason I didn’t tell them? I had friends in Texas that didn’t want to come home to Max.

Unfortunately for those of ours housed in Arizona, Arizona is lacking in private prison oversight, leaving it nearly impossible without the courts to hold facility heads to account.
…

INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

Dear Jaime Calderon,

We spoke in September when you toured Ad-Seg to collect suggestions and feedback for possible programs. It was then that I passed you an outline for a reflective reading program I had taken the initiative to implement alone. You asked that I follow up with you in a month, which I did by way of concern form around the end of October. I’d still like to discuss my proposal’s potential. As promised, the program has already proven to attract participants from general population, whom I’ve been encouraging to consider an adaptation of their own.

While I’m happy to inform you that I’m receiving nothing but very good feedback, I’m having a hard time understanding why this effort has been ignored.

On behalf of others interested in contributing to programs, please acknowledge my effort so others know that theirs are welcome.

Regards,
Patrick Irving 82431
…

SUGGESTION BOX

It is no small violation of Idaho family values to prevent loved ones from visiting during the celebration of Jesus. We suggest IDOC put forth a little extra effort and reconsider their commitment to honoring Baby Christ.
…

Aggressively salutated merriment to the lot of you!

See you next month.

“Cien Kilos de Reyna”
— Los Originales De San Juan

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

First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Nov. ’21

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter Oct. ’21

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, cut and paste, or print and send a copy to another.
…

GET INVOLVED

IDOC will be holding monthly Townhall With Leadership Meetings all through 2021. Submit you questions to brightideas@idoc.idaho.gov using the subject line “Q’s for leadership,” and be sure to attend to keep the conversation going.

Offender friends and families are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact them at idahoinmate@gmail.com.
…

EDITOR’S NOTE

It pains me to have issues with presenting the news lately. Creating and editing is taking a week longer. I have to purge through several pages just to whittle a few paragraphs, talk myself out of the F-bombs and dial down the tone. If I could sum it up sweetly I would say this: Continuing to watch all our efforts be ignored is like a slap in the face with a splash of saliva.

And so some of you may notice this issue is different. That’s because I did what I could to paint a picture I could publish without seeding anger and going too far rogue.

With the editing process done, I think it might actually work–but I’ll thank you nonetheless for bearing with me another month while I do what I can to work out my disgruntlement.

Let’s First Amend This!
…

DEAR DEPUTY WARDEN SUSAN WESSELS,

We are all very frustrated by the lack of effort you’ve been making when it comes to reviewing grievances and policies and answering questions. Though you have asked us to pursue our issues proactively, it seems as though the only effort you are making is to see that the lot of us feel we’ve been ignored.

We have been very clear in communicating that this a problem. And yet you insist on assuming an adversarial position and reiterating inaccuracies while wielding your power.

It is almost as if you believe you’re incapable of mistakes, and able to decipher our concerns without reading them as presented.

To show you precisely the way that this frustrates: Please click on this link to Policy 319.02.01.001. Pleeeeease, Susan. For the love of Christ and all that is holy! All you have to do is click! One miniscule movement! Minimal effort, Susan! Two seconds and you will see the problem we’ve identified and attempted to present to you several times before! Pages 14-21 don’t seem to exist! The link connects to idaho.gov! The policy is dated 2018. Where the **** have you been getting all your information from!?

Susan, please stop ignoring our efforts and put aside some time to review our concerns. I am a firm believer it would do us all some good.
…

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE VRC IN OROFINO?!?

Future family mates with loved ones in Orofino have found themselves infuriated over a counseling curriculum that is allegedly being forced onto couples before they can marry.

According to IDOC Policy 311.02.01.001, “IDOC does not provide marriage counseling” and “marriage must conform [only] to the laws of the State of Idaho.”

Among the reading purportedly required by Orofino’s Religious Activities Coordinator (VRC) is a text that has many uniquely enraged.

The following review of Dr. Emerson Eggerichs’ “Love and Respect Workbook (The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs)” was forwarded from the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group.

“[T]his whole book is built around the idea that all problems in a marriage are because a woman won’t have enough sex with her husband. If a woman would just have more sex with her husband, all problems will be magically fixed… According to this book, a husband has a God-given right to rape his wife anytime he wants. According to the author, that’s what the Bible says…a wife should sexually fulfill a husband anytime he wants, but the Bible doesn’t say anything about how the wife should be sexually fulfilled, so that doesn’t matter. The author is very focused around the topic of sex, and it’s very strange… If you don’t like people suggesting your wife is the source of all problems and the fix is to rape her because God says so, then I don’t recommend this book”

According to an IDOC post titled “October is Domestic Awareness Month,” 1 in 4 women have experienced sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking during their lifetime.

Learn more about domestic awareness @ https://www.thehotline.org/resources/healthy-relationships
…

DID YOU KNOW>>>

For decades, the FBI has refused to include prison-based rapes in their crime statistics.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, roughly 200,000 prisoners are victims of sexual assault every year. But according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, only 139,380 rapes were reported to law enforcement in 2018.

Source: Paul Wright, Prison Legal News, Oct. ’21.
…

DEAR DEPUTY WARDEN NICOLAS BAIRD

Thank you for taking the time process my concerns this month, for providing constructive feedback, and for clarifying which criteria and procedures you’re using for your Ad-Seg decisions.
…

REINTRODUCING JASON HODGE

Before we’re split up for all our proclivities, I’d like to thank Jason for his recent assistance. Together we’ve shared a interest in civic engagement from the most, backwards, assumptive, disappointing example of what’s expected to suborn a human’s healthy transformation–aka administrative segregation, aka restricted housing, aka intensive management, aka solitary confinement.

Those interested in helping network his concerns are invited to reach him through snail mail or JPay.

Here’s another look at the man hard at work.

—

To: Sandi Frelly, Transparency Manager 10-13-21

I put in a public records request to the public records custodian on 10-4-21. I haven’t gotten a response back or request for an extension. The request was for information on how many inmates are currently being held in IDOC custody (to include county and out-of-state placement) that are passed their fixed time and eligible for parole. Please help me with this request. Thank you for your time and consideration.
—

To: Correctional Case Manager Hottinger 10-15-21

Ms. Hottinger, according to policy 607.26.01.014, bullet 14-9, you are to review the parole hearing officer’s recommendation and inform me of the recommendation so I can have the option to respond to the recommendation or not. I would like to respond to the recommendation.

Re: Policy needs to be updated. Pre-hearing investigarors do not give recommendations any more and have not for over a year.
—

To: Grievance/Apppeals Coordinator 10-17-21

I respectfully request a 30 day extension (or however long you deem appropriate) on my appeal deadline for Grievance #IM210000456. My current deadline is 10-21-21. Thirty days is the amount of time it will take me to ascertain where the criteria Deputy Warden Wessels used to satisfy her Level 2 response came from, as it’s currently not found in the scope of the policy cited… Thank you for your time and consideration.

Re: After confirming with the appellate authority, Warden Richardson, your request for an extension is approved.
—

To: Chief of Prisons Chad Page 10-17-21

I was informed you are in charge of SOP management and content. I have a question about the criteria and scope of published SOPs. If the criteria for an SOP is clearly outlined, like for an assessment, can for any reason criteria outside the SOP be used? Thank you for your time and consideration, sir.
—

To: Warden Richardson 10-18-21

I just received my appeal back, sir, and I find it concerning that you didn’t address the body or points within. The Violent Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) assessment and its scope of criteria is a part of policy. …The whole SOP would have to be revised and published in accordance with SOP 103.003.01.003 to see VRAG applied as it was in my case. To apply it any other way violates Idaho Administrative Code and IDOC’s policy regarding policies. Per existing policy, I do not meet the criteria for a VRAG assessment.
—

“Parole Hearing Interview Packet, Concluding Statement” 9-27-21

[I]t sets a horrible example when those in charge of our corrections can’t even abide by their own rules. The problem has gotten so bad, we are down to just one level of review for our appeals–the warden. We use to have multiple levels of review, one of which was outside the facility in the downtown, central office. Why everything is now only handled in-house and kept from the outside is no mystery…

…That day cost me visibility in my eyes. I have to wear glasses to read now, and my mental health has never been worse! This is a very tense and stressful environment–people are dealing with serious issues–that’s why it’s important for staff to stay calm and professional, and follow policy and procedure. It just happened so fast. I was caught completely off-guard. It has me seriously reevaluating my mental health. These conditions make it hard to focus on healthy transformation.

My mental health is my biggest concern right now. When I got to prison, July of 2017, I was told by IDOC medical provider Corizon that the combination of medications I was placed on at State Hospital South (SHS) isn’t available to me here. So they were discontinued, due to cost constraints–or so I was led to believe. I have to start all over now, settling for whatever the provider can afford. I am actively talking to the B-Block clinician, Mr. Baumgarter, about options for future treatment. He can’t find records or reports from SHS, or any information confirming the medications they put me on. This has me concerned because I would like the use of those medications to be reevaluated in future assessments to see if they may still be an option–or if a generic substitute can be provided–because those medications worked very well, and I just don’t see why I’d have to become a guinea pig again.

Upon release I will be working in recovery and on the board of my family’s nonprofit, Soldiers of Hope. My main focus will be on treating my dual-diagnosis. I have learned I have mental health issues and drugs aggravate my conditions, causing drug-induced psychoses–and so I wish to remain drug free and get my mental health figured out. I want to be as stable as possible, and with all my mental faculties.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
sincerely,
Jason Hodge
…

DEAR DIRECTOR JOSH TEWALT,

Our thoughts are with you and your family. Thank you for sharing your recent experience. We wish you all the best as you work towards convalescence and we hope that you’ve been able to take all the time you need.
…

IN AD-SEG NEWS

The Ad-Seg Step-Down Program, a program used to prepare long isolated residents for general population, has been terminated over an incredibly, horrific and brazen [censored per IDOC policy. If I were to say it, they’d likely censor this transmission, as that has been the case when reporting prior incidents. Though it’s never been hard to fix it in editing, maybe this way you’ll make a few calls.]

Staff have been working hard to see that B-Unit rec cancellations happen less frequently.

Without the staff needed to perform in-person quarterly hearings, case managers have resorted to using the the following questionnaire:

Notice of Hearing

Your are scheduled for an Administrative Segregation hearing this month. Due to the recent COVID-19 concerns and staffing levels, I wanted to give you an opportunity to give me your comments on paper instead of coming up to the office to have a hearing. If you choose to provide me with your comments, you will not be invited to attend the hearing. If I do not hear back from you, it will not be marked as a refusal and an officer will ask you to attend you hearing when we are able to schedule them.

What brought you to Ad-Seg?

What do you hope to happen at this hearing? Where is the best place to house you?

If you were released to general population, would others be safe from you? Would you be safe from others?

Additional comments that you would like us to know:

…

RESIDENT AUDITORS TO PUSH FOR AN OMBUDSMAN

With policies still being used to prevent families from exchanging reports following disturbances and incidents, and the Office of Professional Standards continuing to delay their response to our concerns of misconduct*, our resident auditors have decided to lobby Legislature for an ombudsman.

What they’ll be presenting in addition to the above:

— Disciplinary hearings and appeals aren’t being processed according to policy. For years, residents have been complaining that those who are required to deliberate impartially have openly stated that their practice is not to–that it’s simply not an option to rule against staff. Recorded in hearings and outlined in appeals, this dereliction of duties must come to an end.

— The Department’s ongoing refusal to file signatures of receipt for charitable donations. To file a signature that verifies a charity has been donated to, they say, amounts to an incredibly impractical and monumental task. An estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars have been made in donations, with not one signature filed to show where they went.

— Concerns with public records request. Discrepancies have been identified so frequently that our residents auditors have taken it upon themselves to review all public record requests made by other entities, and share with those entities their questionable findings. Such as this response to a request that returned from Central Office:

“At this time, all facilities have opened up their visiting departments since the Governor Order in March 2020, with the exception of St Anthony Work Camp. St. Anthony Work Camp Visiting Department has been closed since March 2020 and is only remaining closed due to construction. Temporary facility closures can occur due to a variety of health and safety reasons, but visiting has opened in all other facilities.”

What about this response is questionable? It has been confirmed many times over that IMSI has not opened visiting once since the beginning of covid. (The response was returned in such a manner that it couldn’t be sourced. Another request had to be made to identify its origins. We are still waiting for that request to be filled.)

It is also the case that the same public records request, made three different times, is capable of returning three different sets of records. And that specific documents requested have a way of being withheld without the mandatory notice that states they’ve been denied. (Requests for unimplemented versions of policy, for instance, have returned with peripheral information substituted instead.)

If you support the call for a DOC ombudsman, please click here to contact your district reps.

*Ref: Exhaustive Grievances In Summary, FAT Dec. ’19.
…

DEAR CHIEF OF PRISONS CHAD PAGE

Many of your staff go out of their way to treat us with dignity. If you could convince those that don’t to give it a shot once in a while, I’m sure we all would find ways to appreciate it.
…

COOKIES FOR THE INCARCERATED!

For several years fan favorite Mark Renick has worked with St. Vincent de Paul and Team to bring big bags of holiday cookies to those currently residing in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.

In an extremely classy maneuver, this year Mark and friends have decided to expand Cookies For Max and deliver cookies throughout all Idaho prisons!

With the logistical difficulty of this feat still unknown, we ask that you join us in supporting Mark and his team in whatever way possible.

While volunteers will likely be needed to sort, pack, and deliver bags of cookies, we suspect those unable to physically assist will still be offered the opportunity to transform loose change from their pockets into cheer for our holiday bellies!

Having taken some liberties with this promotion, I must ask that you contact Mark and crew yourself to uncover the means by which this is done. Though I am able to offer to the following contact information, you may also wish to check in with IDOC’s Central Office and ask for recommendations on how to assist this project.

Mark Renick’s Cookies for the Incarcerated (formerly Cookies for Max)

208-477-1006
svdpid.org
systemicchangeofid@gmail.com
…

COVID NEWS

Since the start of COVID, over 48,000 tests have been administered to IDOC residents housed in-state, with no testing taking place throughout 2021 for Idaho prisoners outsourced to Arizona.

Roughly 5,000 residents (a large majority) have tested positive. Some have died–the number is debatable.

Those who missed the first round of vaccinations have been offered another chance. Booster shots are now also being offered, but only for those match a criteria.

The visiting situation remains fluid. Please view the IDOC website for cancellations and closures.

Those with COVID concerns are invited to forward their grievances to:

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1897
Boise, ID 83701

View COVID numbers here.
…

A MESSAGE FROM KEEFE COMMISSARY NETWORK

We apologize for not getting property orders out to ISCI, NCRC, EBCRC, IMSI, ISCC, SCC, SAWC, NICI AND ICIO.

Like all companies, COVID-19 struck our resident labor force and we had to make the tough decision of whether property was more important than commissary. In the end, we decided that it was more important to process commissary orders than it was property items.

Thank you for your patience as we work through this pandemic together. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
…

RENICK ON THE RADIO

With almost five years of episodes available for streaming, Mark Renick hosts Victory Over Sin on Boise’s KBXL 94.1Fm, Saturdays at 12:30 pm.

This month Mark welcomed Cindi Real, a reentry advocate working out of the District 3 office with St. Vincent de Paul’s RECON team and Day One Services. Cindi is now coordinating employment opportunities with several businesses suffering from staffing shortages. Those planning on returning to District 3 in the near future are encouraged to contact her through their case managers.

St. Vincent de Paul’s Marketing and Communications Director Mareesa Rule joined Mark to discuss lasting acts of kindness and the importance of listening to people’s experience. Mareesa is looking forward to educating others with informative presentations and a wonderful team.

Learn more about Mark’s advocacy projects @ svdpid.org.
…

INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

10.31.21

Dear Representative Monks,

Trick or treat? I am among the thousands counted as constituents in your district without the right to vote, serving some time in an Idaho prison. Though I am without the ability to mark up a ballot, I happen to be resourceful enough to pursue logical solutions by organizing others within the community. It is with this talent that I appear before you now, to ask as the editor of our Idaho Department of Correction newsletter: To what extent are you interested in the concerns of our corrections community? And, given the opportunity to message our prison families and workers, what would your message be?

Your response will be appreciated.

Thank you for serving Idaho,
Patrick Irving 82431
…

SUGGESTION BOX

I suggest implementing a COVID-proof reflective reading program. One that could be launched for less than a few hundred dollars. One that allows community participation, encourages resourcefulness and rewards critical thinking. Much like the one that I recently designed.
…

Shout out to all our turkeys in Berlin and Frankfurt!

Never again!: “All the Leaves are Brown: A Thanksgiving Origin Story”

“Fortunate Son”
— Creedence Clearwater Revival

Next: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter Dec. ’21

COOKIES FOR THE INCARCERATED: MARK RENICK’S COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS EFFORT

For several years now, fan favorite Mark Renick has worked with St. Vincent de Paul and team to bring the holidays to Idaho’s maximum-security prison with big-a** bags full of beloved Christmas cookies. In an extremely classy maneuver, to be enjoyed by all involved, this year Mark and friends have decided to expand Cookies For Max and deliver cookies to all Kuna Idaho prisons!

With the logistical difficulty of this feat still unknown, we ask that you join us in supporting Mark and his team in whatever way possible.

While volunteers will likely be needed to sort, pack and deliver bags of cookies, we suspect those unable to physically assist will still be offered the opportunity to transform loose change from their pockets into cheer for our holiday bellies!

Having taken some liberties with this promotion, I must ask that you contact Mark and crew yourself to uncover the means by which this is done. Though I am able to vouch for the following contact information, you may also wish to check in with IDOC’s Central Office and ask for recommendations on how to assist this project.

Mark Renick’s “Cookies for the Incarcerated”

208-477-1006
https://svdpid.org/advocacy-systemicchangeofid/
systemicchangeofid@gmail.com
svdpid.org

Thank you for assisting this effort and sharing the link!

First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter Oct. ’21

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Sept. ’21

WELCOME to the October issue of First Amend This!

GET INVOLVED

IDOC will be holding monthly Townhall With Leadership Meetings all through 2021. Submit your questions to brightideas@idoc.idaho.gov using the subject line “Q’s for leadership,” and be sure to attend to keep the conversation going.

Offender friends and families are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact them at idahoinmate@gmail.com.
…

EDITOR’S NOTE

Director Tewalt recently published a particularly powerful, personal experience as a Director’s Update on the IDOC website. Elegantly written, it was an incredibly heart-wrenching matter, and it felt inappropriate to place it in an issue with gripes. I can’t recommend enough that you take the time to check it out. I feel it’s one worth sharing; possibly you will, too.

For those of you noticing this issue was published late, consider it a sign that I need I some time outside my cubby and away from the stick of Deputy Warden Susan Wessels.

Some of you are already familiar with the story of how, three years ago, I participated in an out-of-state, private prison protest that was used as a reason to place me in Max. With three the lucky number, I can now mention how the overwhelming majority involved in that week’s worth of incidents held onto their lower-security classifications after returning to Idaho–including several with infractions that were much worse than mine. For months, one was even able to wash my ad-seg window as an ever trusted janitor with wonderful information.

Needless to say, being singled out really rubbed my feels all wrong.

And I have an amazing memory.

Let’s First Amend This!
…

WHILE NINE FIGURES CAN BE SPENT TO ADDRESS OUR OVERCROWDING, TWO SHITS CAN’T BE GIVEN TO PREPARE US FOR PAROLE

We bring you a Department now deep in crisis, hundreds of millions of dollars are the cost of their peril, with staff-to-resident ratios rapidly rising, more beds are direly needed, and the COVID doth compound…

With $6,000,000 in efforts to mitigate recidivism, $170,000,000 asked for to build a brand new prison, and $5,500,000 withdrawn to deal with understaffing, someone has forgotten to print the goddamn packets that prepare us to be interviewed for that release valve called parole.

Per Policy 607.26.01.014 (Program Management for Inmates), correctional case managers (CCMs) are responsible for distributing Parole Hearing Interview Packets four months prior to their clients’ scheduled hearings.

But according to at least one case manager, who I heard from my cell chastising a neighbor, this particular mandate is strictly ornamental. “Trying to [hold me accountable] for not getting you your packet is like me writing you up for that cover on your lamp…”

For this case manager, the following apparently doesn’t matter: 1) The imprisoned have no influence on the remainder of your life; 2) The imprisoned aren’t paid by the state to not handknit themselves a lampshade; 3) The imprisoned never interviewed to provide their potential caseload with the papers required to reunite them with their loved ones.

What all case managers know is that parole is not a given. It requires a hearing with plenty of planning and relies on the discretion of those who make the Board. Deliberative with details, they require much information; and like other judicial hearings, it’s not to be taken lightly.

Which is why when packets for August arrived in September, several on my unit found themselves in a panic.

CCM Hottinger, I wrote Ms. Hutchins a concern form asking for an extension on…my personal history questionnaire. I woke up for breakfast on the morning of September 16 and it was lying on the floor in front of my cell door. The date it’s due is 9-27-21. That leaves me just 11 days to prepare a whole parole plan and fill out two lengthy and complex questionnaires! If I would’ve just gotten it when I was suppose to…I would’ve had two months [to work on it]. I had to push the issue to even get it at all! I feel a two week extension, all things considered, is appropriate. Don’t you?

The concern was returned with this unsurprising response:

You can take as long as you need but if the [pre-hearing investigator] schedules your hearing and it isn’t ready, that is on you. It does not take more than a few days to complete it if you have prepared for this as much as you say you have.

Though my neighbor is a man who just lost his mother–the person he relied upon to assist with his parole plan–his represents neither an isolated incident nor a special-needs example. Collecting the information required for the parole hearing interview is, in fact, an incredibly tedious process. One that entails collaborative communication between counselors, case managers, families, physicians, landlords and employers–just to name a few. And without access to the internet or reliable use of the phone, it can take several weeks to place your best forward and make the case on paper that you’re ready for parole. Eight working days is not enough time.

The IDOC Parole Hearing Interview Packet has since been transcribed and made available here. If you know of someone soon up for parole, please help prepare them for their pre-hearing interview: they’ll be asked to provide letters of reference and verification; criminal, work, treatment, scholastic and military history; histories from family and/or people they’ll be living with; and prospective employment, housing and treatment programs details–with primary and secondary plans required for all.
…

THE PERSONAL ACCOUNTS WE PURGE FROM OUR RECORDS
by Jason Hodge and Patrick Irving

IDOC records rules have changed. Not long ago the Department discontinued the centralized storage of resident concerns. Several staff were recently asked and said that the forms used to communicate issues are now held only by the person to whom they were addressed. “For no longer than a year,” per the typical response. Once that year is up, unless formally escalated and filed as a grievance–a process many opt to forego for fear of retaliation or a lack of results in the past–all concerns of safety, treatment and procedural confusion are unceremoniously purged from the public domain.

The rule change coincides with new IDOC commitments to operate transparently, as well an a addiction awareness campaign led by prominent members of Idaho media. Though they continue requesting more compassion for the addicted and mentally ill, their coverage shies away from the substandard treatment offered in our prisons.

So how about a better look at who and what we throw away?

8-25-21
To: B- Unit Clinician, Mr. Baumgartner

I would like a form to release my State Hospital South (SHS) records to you for reevaluation. Specifically, I would like to evaluate the possibility of getting back on the medication they put me on. Corizon told me when I got to [the Reception and Diagnostic Unit] they couldn’t afford some of the medication I was on, so I got off. Maybe this new provider won’t sacrifice our health and well-being to save a buck?

Re: Fill this out and just send it back to me so we have it and I will talk to the provider about it.
—

9-2-21
To: Policy Coordinator

Do policies stand as written or can information be added to them to make them fit a situation?

Reply: The answer is ‘no’. Policies are broad statements that generalize the intent of what the agency wants to accomplish. SOPs provide the details of how that intent will be carried out, but still must stay within the same scope.
—

9-8-21
To: CCM Hottinger

According to SOP 607.26.01.014, sec. 14-4, I am to be given a Commission of Pardons and Parole personal history questionnaire FOUR MONTHS BEFORE my parole hearing. I have repeatedly mentioned to you I have a parole hearing in Dec. That’s 3 months away, which exceeds the above mentioned policy. I should’ve gotten the questionnaire around the time you went beyond the scope of written policy to erroneously make a [Violent Risk Appraisal Guide] assessment on me. Could I please get the questionnaire? Thank you for your time and consideration CCM Hottinger, have a great day.
—

9-11-21
To: Clinician M. Baumgarter

Mr. Baumgartner, I did make an issue about my medications when I got to ISCI’s RDU unit in July 2017. I was still on my meds then, and it took a lot of tests and trials over the years to find the right combination that works, so I don’t know why you can’t find anything in the computer. The reason I was given why I could no longer receive “some” of my meds was cost. My family owns businesses and has money. Maybe they can make up the difference? I need to get this figured out to see what my options are. Maybe if I had better control of my mental health, I could make better decisions?

Reply: At this point our only real options are for you to have an initial assessment, send that to the provider and have you seen for med options.
—

9-15-21
To: Correctional Case Manager Hottinger

I still haven’t received an answer back on the concern form I sent you regarding my Personal History Questionnaire Packet. You said it’s not your job to pass [it out], that it’s someone else’s job and you replied back to me with their name. I still haven’t gotten your response or their name. I have an upcoming hearing and would like to prepare for it. I need that person’s name please. Thank you.

Reply: Her name is AA Hutchins. I don’t know what is wrong with the mail because the packet was put in the bag on Monday and my reply on Tues.
—

9-16-21
To: AA Hutchins

Ms. Hutchins, I woke up this morning and found a personal history questionnaire under my cell door. It said it’s due to be turned in by 9-27-21. That is just 11 days away! I am requesting an extension. According to policy 607.26.01.014…I am suppose to receive the questionnaire 4 months BEFORE my hearing. I received it 6 weeks late. Now I only have a week and a half to prepare a whole parole plan and fill out 2 lengthy and complex questionnaires. If I would’ve gotten it when I was suppose to, I would’ve had plenty of time. I need a little more time. Thank you.

Reply: This was discussed w/ CCM Hottinger. [Signed by CCM Hottinger]
—

9-16-21
To: Public Records Custodian

On August 22nd I submitted two (2) separate public records requests to your office. Your office received them on August 24th and granted my requests. The attached form said “you should receive these documents in the mail soon.” I have yet to receive any documents…and would like to know their status. I tried calling your office this morning but couldn’t get through to either number I have. Thank you for your time and consideration.
—

9-22-21
To: Jesse Winkelman, Constituent Services

I just received your response to my public records request dated 9-3-21, which you granted in part and denied in part. In your notice of action you stated you attached the documentation on programs. I never received any attachments. Can you please send me the granted information? I have been getting a lot of granted requests where the documents were to be attached or sent by mail but never showed up. I am still waiting on documents from late August. Might it be best if my family stops by your office and picks up the documents?
—

9-22-21
To: Clinician Baumgarter

Just so I am clear and straight on the issue, Mr. Baumgarter, you can’t find any reports or files (other than what I’ve given you) from State Hospital South on my treatment there, or information on the medications I was on when I entered IDOC July of 2017, nor would any such above mentioned factor in or even be considered if I was to request an initial evaluation? I just want to figure out my mental health, sir.

Reply: Outside of the information on the [pre-sentence investigation report] there is no records of meds or hospital stays. I would include such information in an assessment. However, your current approach to treatment would rely heavily on current reported and observed symptoms*
—

9-26-21
To: Jesse Winkelman, Constituent Services

I was instructed to contact you regarding my two missing public records requests from late August. I still have not received the two requests granted on Augus 24th, but [you said] that you did send them. You are an educated professional and your integrity is not in question. I’m not saying that you didn’t send them, just that I never received them. If I have to pay a charge or have my family stop by and pick them up, that’s good by me. I would just like to resolve this and get the granted documents. Thank you for your time and consideration.
—

Multiply by decades and again by several thousand and you’ll have a vague idea of who and what we throw away.

*Whatever symptoms can be observed floating by a window, three times a week at most, to verify he’s still alive.
…

AN UPDATE ON THE STAFFING SITUATION

Along with new hire and employee retention bonuses, an increase in prison wages appears to be taking effect. Over 130 new applications were reported following a job fair held in September. Though hourly starting wages have been raised from $16.75 to $19.00 for new hires, legislative action will be required to make the pay raise permanent.

Probation and Parole officers, also experiencing staffing issues, were not included in this round of incentives.

According to the Idaho Press, prison workers employed at Ontario’s Snake River Correctional Institution are still making $3.64 an hour more than they would in Idaho.

According to minutes from July’s Board of Correction meeting, the day of their release, workers who started at CS Beef while incarcerated are still making $3.00 an hour more than IDOC’s newest recruits.

Source: Ryan Suppe, Idaho Press, “After Pay Boost, Department of Corrections Sees Applicant Spike.”
…

AN UPDATE FROM DIRECTOR TEWALT

As the state continues experiencing the Delta variant, Idaho has seen COVID-19 cases increase rapidly since July. On July 1st, the state recorded 91 positive cases, and in the month of September, the state averaged over 1,000 new cases per day, with several days nearing the 2,000 mark. As a result, hospitals statewide have become overwhelmed and the state has instituted crisis standards of care.

We’re not immune to what’s happening in the community. Within IDOC, we’ve seen the number of staff testing positive increase significantly. In April, May, June and July, we saw less than 10 cases in each month, but from 8/23-9/23, we had 72 new positive cases [among staff]. That’s 10x the cases we had in July. On the resident side of the house, we saw resident cases stay under 50 for April, May and June. In July the number climbed to 56, and continued climbing to 137 in August, and 156 as of September 24.

Moving forward, you can expect weekly updates out of my office or the Incident Command Team’s. As a reminder(,) we also update the website weekly with figures on testing, positive cases, and vaccination rates.

[Originally posted 9-24-21 on the IDOC website.]
…

COVID NEWS

Since the start of COVID, over 45,000 tests have been administered to IDOC residents housed in-state, with no testing this year for those housed in Arizona.

Last month we incorrectly reported over 5,200 residents have identified positive. The number is believed to have been closer to be 4,200. View IDOC’s current COVID statistics here.

Idaho courts have placed jury trials on hold again. It’s unclear when they will resume.

The visiting situation remains extremely fluid. IDOC’s website should provide the latest news.

Staff are being surveyed to gauge their interest in a booster shot. Meanwhile, several residents who missed out on the first round of vaccinations are still waiting for the follow-up promised in July.

Those with COVID concerns are invited to forward their grievances to:

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1897
Boise, ID 83701
…

RENICK ON THE RADIO

With over five years of episodes available for streaming, Mark Renick hosts Victory Over Sin on Boise’s KBXL 94.1Fm, Saturdays at 12:30 pm.

This month Mark introduced the newest members of the RECON recovery team, Sara Hill and Carey Weber. Both have extensive experience with individualized reentry work and are excited to work as coaches and be of community service.

Activist author Aaron Kocharski from the Recovery Advocacy Project brought his advocate history and organizational skills to the show. Aaron will be working with Mark in the very near future to organize recovery efforts all throughout Idaho. Learn more about the Recovery Advocacy Project @ recoveryvoices.com.

Learn more about Mark’s reentry effort @ svdpid.org and svdpid.org/advocacy-systemicchangeofid.
…

RESIDENT AUDITING 101

Board of Correction minutes for 2021 are now available. View them online @ www.idoc.idaho.gov/content/directors_office/board_of_correction.

Following months of requests for policy outlining Ad–Seg hearing and release procedures, this response was delivered without attribution: “[The policy] is currently being reviewed and no documents are available at this time.” This is now the third year the policy has been in review.

Per a public records requests for figures pertaining to program funding: “[IDOC] does not receive Federal or State money specific to delivering programs, nor does IDOC cost the program by residents.”

A request for IMSI’s staffing levels returned figures showing 124/167 positions were filled in the month of September. According to IMSI staff, however, there have been days where staffing levels were 55%. A wide array of operational disruptions have us leaning towards the numbers provided by facility staff.

A request for reports pertaining to violent or confrontational incidents at IMSI from Jan. 1 to Aug. 15, after being granted, was lost in the mail.

Same with a request for 2021 and 2022’s fiscal budget.

Constituent Services Manager Jesse Winkelman recommends those with public records concerns contact him directly at 208-658-2134, a number that is not answered when dialed from our facilities.
…

INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

9-19-21

Dear Senator Burgoyne,

Thank you for responding to my last letter with an interest in exploring more correctional programs. Enclosed is one I designed from Administrative Segregation. It cost me practically nothing, and while I continue to shop it around, thus far IDOC has yet to acknowledge the effort or express any interest. Perhaps it would pay for the Department to include community feedback when exploring future options? Please consider the idea as you approach deliberation.

The presentation I’ve enclosed can be found at bookofirving82431.com

Respectfully,
Patrick Irving 82431
…

SUGGESTION BOX

I suggest formalizing the criteria that allows one to choose whether they themselves are to be held to policy, and then making it available for those few to further ignore.
…

Thanks for sticking with me, folks, and for ignoring the fact that I probably missed a few edits.

See you soon.

“Rude Mood”
–Stevie Ray Vaughan (amp) Double Trouble

Next: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Nov. ’21

Idaho Department of Correction Parole Hearing Interview Packet

Per IDOC Policy 602.26.01.014 (Program Management for Inmates), parole hearing interview packets are to be delivered four months prior to parole hearings.

This week I watched as several arrived late, giving my neighbors just eight working days to collect all their reference letters and letters of verification; their work, treatment, scholastic and military histories; the history of their families and/or people they’ll be living with; and their prospective employment, housing and treatment program details.

As you can imagine, eight working days is not enough time. The best they’ll be able to do is fill out what they can and inform their pre-hearing investigator they weren’t given the requisite time.

As a way to prevent the parole-eligible and their families from having to rush in the future, I’ve transcribed IDOC’s Parole Hearing Interview Packet and made it available here.

At the end of this presentation are several community resources that I recommend for consideration during the process of reentry.

Additional information and recommendations are welcome in the comments.
…

“A GUIDE TO HELP PREPARE FOR YOUR UPCOMING PAROLE HEARING INTERVIEW”

Last revised 08/21/2019

State of Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole
3056 Elder St.
Boise, ID 334-2520

Upon completion this document will be turned in to a case manager, who will then scan it to the pre-hearing investigator.
—

Pg. 1

Dear Candidate for Parole,

Congratulations on the completion of your determinate sentence and your upcoming parole hearing. Part of the Commission of Pardons and Parole process to consider inmates for release on parole is an interview by a Parole Hearing Investigator (PHI). The information obtained in this interview is included in a report that is provided to the Commissioners. The Commissioners review this report as part of their decision-making process to determine whether or not to grant you parole.

This packet of information is designed to give you information on what the Commission considers when making parole decisions, an explanation of the Parole Guidelines, what you should bring with you to your interview with a Parole Hearing Investigator, and when your pre-hearing interview and parole hearing will take place.

It is critical for you to come prepared for the interview to the best of your ability. Please take the interview process seriously, and answer all questions thoroughly, honestly and respectfully. In addition, please work with your Case Manager to prepare for a positive release experience by completing your programming and developing a safe and successful parole plan.

I hope that this information is beneficial and useful to you. I wish you luck as you participate in your hearing interview and see the Commission for parole consideration.

Best,

Ashley Dowell, Executive Director
Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole
—

Pg. 2

Parole Hearing Interview Packet

You are scheduled to have an interview with a Parole Hearing Investigator for the Commission of Pardons and Parole. Included in this packet, you will find a Personal History Questionnaire that you will need to completely fill out prior to your scheduled interview.

Preparation for parole consideration should start early, so take the time to complete and do not be afraid to ask for help where you need it.

Please write legibly and present this packet to the parole hearing investigator listed below. Your case manager will meet with you no later than seven (7) days before your scheduled parole hearing interview to review your packet.

Your parole hearing will be held on_________

Your interview will be conducted by Parole Hearing Officer _________

Hearing Session: ___________ Appear or Non-appear ___________

If you do not wish to be considered for parole it is still highly recommended that you meet the PHI as scheduled. You will be asked to fill out an Inmate Refusal to Participate in Parole Interview/Hearing Process Form. A copy of this form can be obtained from your case manager or will be given to you by the hearing investigator at your scheduled interview.
—

pg. 3

I. What does the Parole Commission consider in their decision making?

The Parole Commission has complete discretion to grant or deny parole in any individual case and there is no presumption, expectation or right that parole will be granted. The Idaho Legislature has instructed the Parole Commission to promulgate rules that establish guidelines and procedures for parole decision-making. The Parole Commission will review a general risk assessment for each offender and will give consideration to the following:

o Prior criminal history.
o Institutional behavior.
o Seriousness of the crime and aggravation or mitigation involved in the crime.
o Failure or success of past probation and parole.
o Evidence of the development of a positive social attitude and the willingness to fulfill the obligations of a good citizen.
o Information or reports regarding physical or psychological condition.
o Strength and stability of the proposed parole plan.
o Program completion.
o Any other individual factors that bear on whether a release to parole is appropriate.

II. What should I bring with me to the Parole Hearing Interview?

Completed Personal History Questionnaire — This will need to be completely filled out to the best of your ability. If you cannot remember specific dates, locations, or names, this is okay. Please be thorough and take the time to fill out each section. Your proposed parole plan and concluding statement should NOT be left blank. Be prepared to bring letters of support, verification and completion certificates to your scheduled interview.

o Support letters — A support letter verifies to the Parole Commission that your will have support in the community and can also attest to positive changes or growth over a period of time. There are no rules for support letters, so do not be afraid to ask people to write letters on your behalf! These letters can be from family, close friends, loved ones, respected members of the community, counselors, teachers, pastors, etc. There is no limit on the number of support letters you can submit. The Parole Hearing Investigator will submit these letters on your behalf. These documents must be submitted on a standard 8.5×11 sized piece of paper, preferably with with print on one sided.

o Verification Letters– Verification letters are different from support letters. Verification letters are use to confirm your residence, employment and treatment/aftercare plan. It provides proof to the Parole Commission that your proposed parole plan has been secured. The PHI will submit these letters on your behalf.

Program Completion Certificates — Certificates of completion for your recommended programming are NOT Required because the PHI has access to your core curriculum. Examples of certificates not needed include: CBI-SA, CBI-SO, CSOT, TFAC, ART, etc.
—

pg. 4

However, if you have voluntarily completed additional education or treatment programs, those certificates can be submitted. Examples of other programs include, but are not limited to: Vocational certificates, Microsoft Office Certification, Skill Stack Programs, Peer Mentoring Program, New Orientation Program, Pre-Release, any programs offered through the Idaho Correctional Industries, 12 Step Programs, the Inmate Dog Alliance Program of Idaho (IDAPI) and any work or apprenticeship experience.

o Late support/verification letters and completion certificates can be submitted to your case manager to be scanned to the PHI. However, all documents and letters that you would like to be reviewed by the Parole Commissioners MUST be submitted seven (7) days in advance of your scheduled parole hearing to ensure they will be considered. Other documents may be allowed by unanimous consent from the Commisioners present for your hearing.

o Goals — Write down and be prepared to discuss what success outside of prison means to you. For example, does this mean finding employment, developing new prosocial relationships, become a better parent? Bring ideas or a list that you can present to the PHI and how you plan to accomplish these goals.

o Please be aware that any documents given to the PHI will not be returned. If you wish to keep official certificates or documents, please bring copies with you to your interview.

What should I expect during the Parole Hearing Interview?

o When meeting with the PHI, be prepared to discuss your instant offense(s), impact on your victims (if any), supervision history, criminal history, institutional behavior, programming, overall progress in the institution and parole plan.

o During the interview, you may be asked difficult questions regarding the subjects listed above and other associated topics..

o This interview is important and the first opportunity to show you are working towards reintegrating back into society. It’s a crucial step in the parole process and should be taken seriously. For non-appear crimes, your interview with the Parole Hearing Investigator will be your opportunity to provide any necessary information to the Parole Commission.
—

pg. 5

PERSONAL HISTORY QUESTIONNAIRE

Legal Name __________ IDOC#______

Name incarcerated under ________

Other Names, AKA, Nicknames, Aliases, Maiden or Former Married Names ______________

Place of Birth __________ Citizenship __________ Legal Resident Status Y/N?

What is your primary language?

Driver’s License Status?

Other States you have had a Driver’s License?

Do you have any pending charges, either misdemeanor, felony, or federal? Y/N

If yes, please list those pending crimes and where/when they occurred:

Do you have a Detainer? If so, from what state?

Do you have any No Contact orders in place? When does it expire?

FAMILY INFORMATION

Marital status _______
Spouse Name ________
Names of previous spouse(s) and length of marriage____
—

Pg. 6

If you are not married, are you in a current relationship?

If so, what is their name and how long have you been in this relationship?

Biological Mother’s Name: _______________
Biological Father’s Name: __________________
Current stepparent’s names, if applicable: _______________

List names, ages, residence and probation or parole status of all siblings.

Have any other family members ever been arrested or on any type of supervision (including misdemeanor, felony or federal?) Who?

List your children’s names, date of birth, other parent’s name, living status.

How much past due child support do you owe, if any?

What is your monthly child support obligation?
—

pg. 7

Describe your childhood and any childhood abuse that you may have experienced.

CRIMINAL HISTORY

Describe how you committed your instant offense(s) for which you are currently incarcerated for (this does NOT include how you violated your probation or parole).
—

pg.8

List all states you have been arrested and/or incarcerated in (including Idaho), date(s) of incarceration and for what crimes. If you do not remember the exact dates, this is okay. This includes charges dismissed: Date, location, crime, misdemeanor, felony, disposition.

Probation or parole history: Dates, locations, crimes, dates discharged or revoked.

Describe your past performance on parole. If you violated, describe how.

PHYSICAL/ MENTAL HEALTH

Please list any diagnosed medical concerns or conditions you are currently receiving (or need) treatment for.

Please list any mental health conditions, including those you are currently receiving treatment for and those for which you have been treated for in the past:

What medications are you currently prescribed and for what diagnosis?
—
Pg. 9

EDUCATION, MILITARY and WORK HISTORY

What is your highest grade completed in school?

HSE or GED? Date completed and from where?

College(s) attended, degrees obtained and dates (from/to)?

Prior work experience: Date hired, exit date, job title, company name, reason for termination or leaving?

Military history: Branch, rank disciplinary, dates of entry type of discharge, combat experience, and job?
—

pg. 10

Institutional Work History: Date hired, exit date, job, institution, reason for termination or leaving?

SUBSTANCE ABUSE HISTORY

List age first used and frequency of use for each: Alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, inhalants, IV drugs, LSD, marijuana, methamphetamine, mushrooms, other, PCP, prescription drugs (what kind), spice.

Drug of choice?

Describe substance abuse history and past treatment received:

Longest period of sobriety while not incarcerated?
—
pg. 11

PROGRAMMING

List your program participation during incarceration.

INSTITUTIONAL BEHAVIOR

Describe your institutional disciplinary actions, if any.

Do you have any past or current gang affiliations? Y/N

List all current tattoos:
—

pg.12

PROPOSED PAROLE PLAN

Proposed residence, telephone number and message number?

List occupant residing at this residence by name, age, relationship and probation or parole status.

In most circumstances, firearms and alcohol are not allowed in the residence where a parolee lives. The home may be subject to search by your supervising officer. Are all other occupant willing to comply with these directives?

Will you be living near a victim of your crime?

Will you have to register as a sex offender?

If you are a sex offender, will there be children under the age of 18 living in or near your proposed residence?

If you are a sex offender, how far is your proposed residence from the nearest school, playground, park, or other area where children commonly gather?

Describe why you feel this residence is your best option.

List secondary housing plans, if available, using the same information required for your proposed residence.
—

pg. 13

Interstate Compact/Bond — This area only needs to be filled out if you plan on paroling out of state.

Due to the provisions of the Interstate Compact agreement and the rising costs of extraditing parole violators from other states, it is necessary to offset the taxpayers’ costs of extradition. The 1999 Legislature passed Senate Bill 1215 amending Section 20-223 of Idaho Code, addressing this issue.

Effective July 1, 1999 inmates paroling outside of Idaho will be required to post a $500.00 bond. If the parolee completes his/her parole successfully, the bond will be returned to him/her minus an administration fee. If the parolee violates his/her parole conditions and requires extradition to Idaho, the bond will be forfeited to offset the taxpayer’s cost

The bond may be posted using either one of the two following procedures just prior to your tentative release date:

1. Inmates may submit a $500.00 draw from their inmate account using the inmate draw forms available at their housing facility. The draw should be payable to the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole.

2. Your family, friends, or other sponsors may post the bond for you. Using the United States Postal Service CERTIFIED MAIL, send a certified check or money order for $500.00 to the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole to the address found on this questionnaire. Personal checks or hand-delivered money will not be accepted. the Commission will not accept partial or installment payments and all $500.00 is to be submitted in one certified check or money order.

In each instance, the bond money must be accompanied by the name of the inmate, IDOC number, tentative parole date and the state to which they are requesting to reside. If someone else is posting bond, it is imperative that the sender include their name, telephone number, and return address in the event the Commission staff needs to contact them or return the money.

If you are paroling out of state, who will post your bond?
—

pg. 14

PROPOSED EMPLOYMENT

Name, address and phone number of business job title, hours per week, rate of pay, duties and supervisor?

Does your proposed employer know you have been convicted of a felony?

If you are a sex offender, will you have contact with minor children?

If you are a sex offender, will you have access to the internet or a computer?

Please list any secondary employment options and include the same information asked for above.
—

pg. 15

PROPOSED TREATMENT/ PROGRAMMING PLAN

List programs and aftercare that you will participate in if released on parole. Be prepared to show letters of verification of each program or treatment provider you list.

Information requested: Type of Program, Name of Treatment Provider, Location, frequency of attendance.

What type of medical or mental health support and/or treatment will you require if released onto parole? For example, mental health medications or programming and where will these services be received.

REFERENCES

Names, relationship, phone number:
—

Pg. 16

CONCLUDING STATEMENT

Please explain why you feel you should be granted parole. This page will be attached to the report and presented to the parole commissioners during your hearing (you can attach additional pages if needed).

— End of Parole Packet —

RESOURCES FOR REENTRY TREATMENT AND ASSISTANCE

NORTH IDAHO

Riverside Recovery, LLC
3621 12th St.
Lewiston, ID 83501
208-746-4097
riversiderecovery.net

Kootenai Recovery Community Center
1621 N 3rd St., Ste. 700
Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814
kootenairecovery..org

BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN IDAHO

The ROC
106 E Park St., Ste. 227
McCall, ID 83638
theroc.center

SOUTHWEST IDAHO

St. Vincent de Paul
3217 W. Overland
Boise, ID 83705
208-629-8861
svdpid.org

and

1310 Cleveland Blvd
Caldwell, ID 83605

While SVDP offers Day One services and a recovery coach program in both Districts 3 and 4, only Day One services are offered at the Boise address above. I recommend visiting svdpid.org or following up with a case manager for more complete information.

PEER Wellness Center
7091 W Emerald St.
Boise, ID 83704
208-991-3681

Serenity Wellness
524 Cleveland Blvd., Ste. 230
Caldwell, ID 83605
208-800-0588
serenitywellnessid.com

Terry Reilly Health Services
211 16th Ave. North
P.O. Box 9
Nampa, ID 83653
trhs.org

National Alliance of Mental Illness Connection Recovery Support Group
500 W. Fort St., Building 114, Rm. 2
Boise, ID 83702
208-376-4304
namitreasurevalley.org

SOUTH-CENTRAL IDAHO

Crisis Center of South-Central Idaho
570 Shoup Ave. W
Twin Falls, ID 83301
208-539-5090
crisisidaho.com

Recovery In Motion
560 Shoup Ave
Twin Falls, ID 83301
208-712-2173
recoveryinmotionrcc.org

Embrace Life Recovery
154 1st Ave. W.
208-595-2298
Jerome, ID 83338

SOUTHEAST IDAHO

Behavioral Health Crisis Center of Southeast Idaho
1001 North 7th Ave.
Pocatello, ID 82301
208-821-0716
www.eastidahocrisis.com

Hope and Recovery Resource Center, LLC
210 E. Center St, Ste. D
Pocatello, ID 83201
208-241-7609
hopeandrecovery.net

Center for Hope
530 E. Anderson
Idaho Falls, ID 83401
208-709-0388
rhscares.com

There are many more available, feel free to search about.

First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Sept. ’21

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Aug. ’21

WELCOME to the September issue of First Amend This!

GET INVOLVED

IDOC will be holding monthly Townhall With Leadership meetings all through 2021. Submit your questions to brightideas@idoc.idaho.gov using the subject line “Q’s for leadership,” and be sure to attend to keep the conversation going.

Offender friends and families are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook, or contact them at idahoinmate@gmail.com.
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EDITOR’S NOTE

Sadly, with this month comes news of a loss. One of our IIFSG admins is no longer with us. At thirty-nine years old, with two kiddos at home and a hubby stuck in Arizona, Kelly was drafted by that all-star softball team in the sky, where she’ll have untethered access to her true crime documentaries, as well as the real-time thoughts of all you heathens who have yet to perpetrate famously.

Says of her friend, Kelly’s fellow admin, Diamond, “A few years ago, right after IDOC moved the first group to Texas, Denise and I put a townhall event together… When we asked for volunteers to help research, Kelly jumped in head first. From then on we became best friends. She lit up the room whenever she walked in. She understood my brain. I feel so lost without her.”

Please join us in extending the warmest of thoughts to Kelly’s family, her friends, and all those in our community who, through her work, she touched.

In Kelly’s name we grind–let’s First Amend This!
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UNDERSTAFFING UNDERSTATED AND UNDOUBTEDLY UNSAFE

According to email records obtained by the Idaho Statesman, Idaho’s prison workers have been imploring lawmakers to address facility understaffing for months.

With concerns ranging from inmate-to-staff ratios to falling asleep while driving home after working consecutive shifts, they’ve gone so far as to call for the National Guard.

Helping to illustrate their point that current conditions are unsafe for everyone, multiple incidents early August caught the attention of Idaho news.

At the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, the same facility reported by the Statesman to have medical clinicians manning desks meant for security, a clash between 18 residents took place when staff pushed the wrong buttons, remotely unlocking their doors. One week later, according to the Statesman, a paralegal at the Idaho State Correctional Center was hospitalized following a violent attack. The very next day, under the same roof, an incident involving 22 inmates resulted, again, from a simple push of buttons. And though staff were said to have responded immediately to that incident, according to several involved in the IMSI melee, the immediate response that they saw was all of two people–not nearly enough, even with chemical agents, to prevent the ambitious from doing serious damage to each other.

With facility lockdowns occurring more frequently, amenities such as phone calls, showers and out-of-cell time become scarce. What follows is frustration widely felt among residents. The results of which is often predictable, with no shortage of witnesses, warnings and incidents in the past.

In an effort to respond to the staffing crisis, Idaho Governor Brad Little and his Department of Correction have begun boosting hourly pay and offering a range of bonuses. The incentives submitted in the the Department’s fiscal budget on September 1st will need the approval of the Legislature to continue.

Sources: Hayat Norimine, “Female Staffer Beaten by Inmate in Idaho Department of Correction Prison South of Boise “, Idaho Statesman. Ryan Suppe, “Idaho Correctional Officers Getting Pay Bump, Bonuses,” The Spokesman Review.
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IDOC GRANTS GEO $250K TO CONDUCT EXPERIMENTS ON TRAUMA-AFFECTED CITIZENS

Last November IDOC distributed $1,826,076 in CARES Act grants to several businesses licensed in Idaho. The grants were awarded to applicants whose primary function fit one of three categories: forensic peers, crisis services, and trauma intervention. The funds were to be used over an eighteen-month period to provide services as-needed to IDOC clients. This in attempt to mitigate recidivism and ease carceral overcrowding during COVID.

Of the eight applications selected by department Director Josh Tewalt and Deputy Director Bree Derrick, six were chosen for their peer support services; the other two, selected for trauma intervention.

They are as follows: the Peer Wellness Center–Boise; the Kootenai Recovery Community Center–Coeur d’Alene; the Southeast Idaho Behavioral Crisis Center–Pocatello; the Center for Hope–Idaho Falls; Recovery In Motion–Twin Falls; GEO Reentry Services–Boise; and the Crisis Center of South Central Idaho–Twin Falls.

According to guidelines set forth in the application process, the grants were not be used for alcohol, lobbying, or services not described in the Department’s request for proposals.

Curiously, conducting experiments was not only not restricted, but encouraged to the tune of $250K. That was the amount GEO was awarded to form an experimental group of trauma-affected subjects and use them to test therapies such as Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT). According to documents obtained by this reporter, GEO’s grant proposal also outlined plans for a control group’s participation in the experiment: “[I]dentified as having trauma-related issues, [the control group] will not receive EMDR treatment and will only participate in the CBT groups provided at [GEO’s] Connection and Intervention Station (CIS).”

Why a Florida-based private prison company currently holding an IDOC contract worth $4.5M feels the need to spend a $250K grant confirming the extensive bank of EMDR findings cited in not just theirs but all IDOC-CARES trauma service proposals isn’t exactly clear. Though one might suspect that by eliminating EMDR treatment for half of their clients, GEO is much more likely to meet the quota outlined in their CIS contract, which allows them to pocket the extra $225,000 previously negotiated as a performance incentive.

One might even speculate that the actual experiment is whether GEO can get away with charging for tier-level treatment the same way they do with their new halfway housing. Their first priority, after all, is taking care of their shareholders who are unlikely to see profit profit margins for halfway treatments as their foe.
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CORIZON HEALTH IS OUT, CENTURION HEALTH IS IN

IDOC’s medical provider is said to be changing from Corizon Health to Centurion Health on October 1, 2021.

According to Centurion’s website, Centurion is a leading national provider of healthcare services to justice-involved persons across 16 states, including 12 state correctional agencies.

The change in providers comes roughly a year after Corizon Health was purchased by an investment group that specializes in procuring poorly functioning companies and making improvements to upgrade their financial performance.

In November of 2020, Corizon was reported by Prison Legal News to have accumulated 660 malpractice lawsuits in the five years prior.

Centurion, a company with approximately twice as many employees as Corizon Health, has also had its share of heinous claims and lawsuits, to include a least one from none other than Corizon. Amid claims in Tennessee that Centurion has been bid-rigging contracts by paying politicians, Corizon recently filed complaints to the courts stating that the company has been treated unfairly and making accusations of Centurion involvement in scandals.

Though not quite as traumatic as losing your limbs or your loved ones due to the deliberate indifference of doctors on duty–or giving birth to your baby on a concrete slab while the nurse that you’re screaming at writes you up for faking–Corizon’s complaint does raise a few questions. Like how is Centurion bidding so much higher than its competitors and continuing to land contracts in multiple states?

Thus far, Centurion has also replaced Corizon as a DOC medical provider in Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Arizona and Florida. And the list of politicians they’ve been contributing to is long. Reading like a “who’s who” of power players in state politics, one can’t help but wonder who they’ve offered to fund here in Idaho.

Sources: Lauren Castle, “New Prison Health-Care Provider Has History of Problems, Donations to Politicians,” azcentral.com. Rudi Keller, “Missouri Prison Healthcare Contract Won By Company Accused of Bid-Rigging in Tennessee,” tennesseelookout.com. Matt Clarke, “Investment Firm Buys Corizon,” Prison Legal News.”
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A STOCKHOLM ADVOCATE INSTALLMENT

It seems like every month now we find ourselves ignored trying to seek some resolution in the way that we’ve been directed to make the request. After weeks of citing policies and navigating processes our concerns are returned with “Yeah, but so what?” It’s a culture of administrative indifference that we find to be frustrating. And we’re not alone in our frustrations, for staff have to deal with it too.

To illustrate the absurdity of it all, this month we’ve rendered twelve-pages of policy to show how our staff are encouraged to solve their problems at work.

IDOC Policy 203: Problem Solving

Idaho Code Section 67-5315 establishes an employee problem-solving procedure for any nondisciplinary, job related matters.

Here’s how it works:

Upon becoming aware of the job-related problem-solving matter, you have ten (10) working days to hold an informal meeting with your immediate supervisor. If there is no resolution to the matter, the Problem-Solving Request Form must be filed with the appropriate appointing authority within the same ten (10) working days.

Within five (5) working days of receiving the request, the appointing authority will assign it to an appropriate Level One Supervisor. The HRS director or designee and the appointing authority will then determine the appropriate supervisory level to assign based on the issue and availability of the Level One supervisor.

Within five (5) working days, or as amended in writing, after the request for problem-solving is assigned, the appropriate Level One supervisor will hold a meeting, suggest a resolution, and attach a response to the Problem-Solving Request Form before returning it to the problem-solving manager.

If you believe the Level One supervisor’s proposed solution requires further consideration, the Problem-Solving Request Form, Step 3 must be completed within five (5) working days and forwarded to the appointing authority.

Within five (5) working days of receiving the request for Level Two review, the appointing authority will assign the request for problem-solving to the Level Two Supervisor. Within five (5) working days, or as amended in writing, after assignment of the request for Level Two problem-solving, the Level Two supervisor may consult with you and your immediate supervisor separately, and then the Level One supervisor before holding a meeting and/or providing a written response with the Final Decision of the Problem-Solving Process.

If the Level Two supervisor is below the level of the appointing authority, the appointing authority will approve or amend the problem-solving decision developed at Level Two.

The Level Two supervisor will then provide you with a written response, complete Step 3 on the Problem Solving Request Form and submit the completed form, along with the Level Two supervisor’s response and solution, to the appointing authority, who will then forward it to HRS for retention.

This completes the problem solving process.

Unless, of course, you opt for mediation.

Mediation must be pursued in writing at the time of filing (Step 1) or at the beginning of Level Two (Step 3). The written request will be forwarded to the HRS director to review and forward the request to the division chief or designee for approval or non-concurrence.

If a mediator cannot be obtained in five (5) working days, the request to mediate will be declared void and problem solving will continue to the next level.

Should you believe the Department failed to grant a right and/or benefit that Idaho Code Section 67-5316 (1) (b) entitles you to, upon completion of the problem-solving procedure you may appeal the decision to the Idaho Personnel Commission within thirty-five (35) calendar days of the date the problem-solving concluded.

Refer to IDAPA 15.04.01, Rules of the Division of Human Resources and Idaho Personnel Commission (Section 201), and Idaho Code Section 67-5316 for the Appeal Procedure.

Because problem-solving timeframes are designed to expedite the resolution, failure to comply with the timeframes mandated by this policy may result in your loss of the right to continue the problem-solving process.

I mean, c’mon. Is there no better way to inspire problem-solving at work?
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PRISON FOOD SUPPLY DISRUPTED, PREPARE TO EAT YOUR CELLIE.
by J. Tyler, Dietary Manager

As you may have heard in the news: due to pandemic shutdowns, droughts, labor shortages, shipping port congestion, and a backlog of trucking schedules, the manufacturing and delivery of goods has greatly slowed. And all these factors come at a time when stimulus money has increased consumer demand for goods, so the overall demand is greater than supply, and the U.S. is stuck playing catch up.

What this means for IDOC is that although there is enough food and other consumables available, there isn’t always the full quantity of specific items available to us, and deliveries of certain goods are being delayed.

As we work through this situation (which is expected to last at least through the end of the year), you may see “menu substitutions” at your facility. We will do our best to communicate “menu changes” in advance, but we are often not given advance notice of delivery changes. Please know that I am working daily with “our suppliers” to ensure that our menus have as much variety as possible, and I review every item change to ensure “nutrient standards” continue to be met. There is plenty of “food” to go around, it just may not always be what is on the “standard menu.”

We ask for your understanding and your patience while we serve you new Unknowns.
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POLICIES, RECORDS AND REASONABLE EXPLANATIONS–JOIN AS WE HUNT FOR THEM IN AUDITING 101.

For all of our up-and-coming auditors out there, we’ve still not been able to obtain an active policy that establishes the criteria and procedures for periodic review of inmates in long-term restrictive housing, criteria and procedures for the release of inmates from long-term restrictive housing, and the guidelines to ensure that RHU residents receive three or more hours out-of-cell time daily.

A recent request for the last available draft of Long-Term Restrictive Housing Policy 319.02.01.003 was returned with a response suggesting one doesn’t exist. We know this isn’t true, for we’ve preciously procured a physical copy of the 2018 document, and it’s referenced by number in the current version of Policy 319.02.01.001.

Another request asking specifically for the guidelines referenced by Policy 319 was returned with a 2011 version of 319.02.01.001, which residents no longer have access to. Which is curious considering how the 2018 version we’re now using is missing the criteria, guidelines and procedures in question.

Public records misdirection and outright refusals are becoming more frequent as we make requests. We’re beginning to suspect that we’re not the only ones misdirected. So, be sure to note if your requests are returned with items missing or with conflicting dates and data.

As a reminder, per Public Records Requests Policy 108.00.01.00, the day-to-day business operations of the Department are to be made available upon request. This includes the Board of Correction meeting minutes, legislation, contracts, budget information, financial records, correspondence, policies and SOPs, program information and program audits.

So if you’re among those who, say, have been refused 2021’s Board of Correction meeting minutes because they have yet to be posted, you might want to try submitting a new request for all the notes, drafts and emails composed at the time of the meeting.

Please note that grievances regarding public records refusal will not be processed, but responded to with this: “[Y]ou have the right to appeal the denial of your request by filing a petition in conformance with the provisions of Idaho Records Law, Title 74, Chapter 1, Idaho Code. The petition must be filed in the Fourth Judicial District Court of the State of Idaho within one hundred eighty (180) calendar days of the date of mailing this notice.”

Resident auditors are asked to keep copies of their findings, as well as their grievances, for future collaborations.
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COVID NEWS

Since the start of COVID, approximately 43,000 tests have been administered to IDOC residents, while zero have been administered this year to Idaho inmates housed in Arizona. More than 5,200 have identified positive and a total of six deaths have been reported as COVID-related.

Approximately 74% of IDOC residents were fully vaccinated in June. Those who refused the first round of vaccinations were told they’d be offered again in approximately one month. This has yet to happen at IMSI. Other facilities may be waiting as well.

At least 52 of the 410 residents housed at the Northern Idaho Correctional Institution tested positive this month.

It was announced early August by Director Tewalt that the Department will begin pausing demobilization activities to protect from the Delta variant, now found in our facilities. That said, we hear that SICI and ISCI are open for visiting.

ACLU Idaho and the law firm Shearman & Sterling will remain in close contact with IDOC while continuing to monitor all COVID-related issues. Those with concerns are invited to forward their grievances to:

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1987
Boise, ID 83701

View IDOC’s COVID numbers here.
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RENICK ON THE RADIO

With over 100 episodes available for streaming, Mark Renick hosts Victory Over Sin on Boise’s KBXL 94.1FM, Saturdays at 12:30 pm.

This month Chief of Prisons Chad Page discussed his path through Corrections to the post he’s at now and shared new approaches being taken by the current administration.

Best-selling author in recovery Jason Combs presented his experience, outlooks, sobriety and faith. Jason currently works with Brick House Recovery, a faith-based center that provides mid-level care for people coming out of residential treatment or incarceration–located in Boise and Idaho Falls. Contact Jason at The Recovery Movement on Facebook or info@brickhouserecovery.com.

Heidi Barker, a recovery coach for St. Vincent de Paul’s RECON program, discussed her recovery coach training, her background, and her long list of qualifications that make her perfect for the job.

Mark works with a reentry effort under an advocacy arm of St. Vincent de Paul. Learn more @ svdpid.org and systemicchangeofid.com.
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IN THE FORUMS

According to members of the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group, ISCC Warden Ramirez has announced on social media that he and ICSI Warden Christensen will soon be retiring.

It’s said that IMSI’s Warden Davis will then to be moving to ISCI, while ISCI’s deputy warden of operation will be finding a place at IMSI. Meanwhile, the deputy of security from ISCI is expected to move to SBWCC, though it’s not yet clear the position they’re assuming.

It appears we’re preparing to move some more to Arizona. With emails sent and property packed, the number awaiting transit is currently unknown.
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INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

8-17-21

To: IDOC Executive Financial Officer

I’ve been trying to track down where all our inmate donations go — the property items we “donate” following their confiscation. I recently submitted a public records request for the list of charities we’ve been donating to, the criteria by which they’re chosen, and at least one receipt showing a charitable transaction has taken place. My public records request was returned with “no records found.” Can you please help me understand this? We’ve done a great deal of “donating” for an awful lot of years, and it seems rather odd there are no records to be found.

–Patrick Irving 82431
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8-20-21: A Homework Assignment Sent in by Mail. (Thank you, Mr. Frank)

[Received by mail 8-20-21, 01:30]

8-20-21 08:00

WHAT DO I KNOW ABOUT MYSELF?

I’m a highly capable wrecking ball. I’m an extremely empathic chemical flux. I feel best about myself when I’m trying to raise up others. I feel worst about myself when my actions hurt people that weren’t the people I was trying to hurt. I work best under stress, but require emotional support. I believe that to live in a constant state of flux is to minimize entropy and escape definition. I self-medicate when I can. I have experienced freedom. I have experienced confinement. I am deeply disgruntled with the current state of affairs.

WHO AM I?

I am a product of my environment. I am Patrick Irving.

WHAT AM I LOOKING FOR OR, AM I?

I am looking to die with the simple satisfaction of knowing that I lived and left my mark behind.

WHAT HAS BROUGHT ME TO WHERE I AM?

A billion broken pieces moving a million miles an hour on a system snorting jet fuel, trying to find a home.

AM I A VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE OR MY CHOICES?

I am a dynamically coupled system that has been gifted a simple existence, and I prefer to be the aggressor any time there must a victim.

WHERE CAN I CHANGE THESE OR CAN I?

While I believe the answers I’ve given here will all remain constant, I have no problem acknowledging adaptation is essential, and I believe I’m constantly changing as a feedback response to my environment.

WHAT IS LIFE?

Relativity. Simplification. A way for the universe to interact with itself while making the most use of all its littlest bits and pieces.

WHAT DOES LIFE MEAN TO ME?

A structured metabolic system capable of molecular reproduction; a state of being, constantly struggling to achieve homeostasis, simplified and repurposed by versions of existence relative to that which its definition is derived from. A conscious state of flux. Struggle, entropy, decay, confinement, blessings, curses, wins, losses, feelings, death.

AM I LIVING OR SURVIVING?

Currently surviving, though, grateful for the opportunity.

CAN I CREATE THE LIFE I SEEK OR WANT? IF SO, WHERE DO I BEGIN?

Yes. If I eliminate all (or as many as possible) expectations, wants and basic human needs, then I will be able to exist in a state that I can tolerate daily. Which is what I want: to be able to tolerate the limits and definitions imposed upon my existence without having to accept them or impose them in any way on others.

HAVE I LEARNED ANYTHING FROM ANYONE, AND IF SO, WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?

Everything I’ve learned has rubbed off on me from somewhere, and there is too much left to learn to not try and learn from everyone.

LIFE IS UP TO ME AND HOW I CHOOSE TO LIVE IT…

Disagree, but only halfway. One must acknowledge their choices are limited to arbitrary parameters, established long before their state of consciousness materialized. A person that chooses to push past those parameters and abandon basic constructs faces certain consequence–which acts as an inhibitor. Others might say that person has chosen the consequence, but how can one choose that which they’re not aware of? And the cases where they are aware–they’ve very limited influence over what shape the consequence takes, which also suggests there’s not much choice at all. On the other hand, a person can choose, to some extent, their internal state of existence–depending upon how tumultuously their brain chemistry has decided to party–and ascribe from there positive values to all relative interactions. This allows one to choose the lens through which they view the world, thereby allowing them to choose how they view their place in it.

Thank you for the thoughtful assignment, Mr. Frank. And for the literature you sent on addiction, trauma, and healthy, emotion-focused coping skills. I hope you’ll find time to send me some more.

With reverence,
Patrick

Built to Scale: A COVID-Proof Reflective Reading Program with Peer Support Components. (Total Pilot Cost: $150)

[This is not my official proposal, but it’s enough to get one started if they want to do their own.]

This proposal requires minimal assistance and can be scaled to adjust from one single participant to the entire population of any DOC.

Some variation of this proposal will soon be submitted to the Idaho Department of Correction in effort to address and meet the following needs of their Close Custody and Restricted Housing Unit residents: 1) the need for opportunities to engage in constructive behaviors; 2) the need for positive reinforcement and encouragement from peers and unit staff; 3) the need to explore relationships with community partners and peer support networks prior to being released from prison. An emphasis must be placed on need three’s importance, as those who are released with their sentences terminated are much less likely to be referred to resources for crisis intervention than those who are released under the Department’s supervision.

Note: Among my peers this program is referred to as a project. Because the word “program,” in prison, comes with negative connotations, and because Idaho prison programs are not known to be inclusive; they tend to only accept participants that match a certain criteria.

This project aims to be open to Everyone.

The pilot was conducted for $150: $100 in books, $50 in correspondence — with book donations resulting from correspondence.

Those who are incarcerated with access to a library can pilot their own version for no cost at all.

Here’s how it works:

One reads through materials with restorative properties — therapeutic, educational, explorational, etc.– and then reflects through reports how the materials affect them. Having internalized and extrapolated in the name of convalescence, they then pass the product on to their case manager, asking them to file it as a signal that they’re being productive. Once filed it remains in their record to be referenced in the future for interviews and hearings (disciplinary, Board, Ad-Seg, worker, classification, program, etc.).

Below is an example of one of my reports.
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Patrick Irving 82431
8-13-21 08:48

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

This book was donated by idahoprisonproject.org, to assist with the reflective reading program I’m piloting from Ad-Seg.

Finding it important to absorb as much perspective as possible, I can say that I very much valued this 1963 bestseller, “written as two letters but best read as essays,”* by a Harlem-raised, civil rights warrior. His critical examinations, ranging from society to the Church to the Black Panther Party, were passionate and insightful and presented without anger. For me, this book illustrates the danger of propelling generalizations and, quite brilliantly, frames the anguish of what a spiraling nightmare it is to be the victim of rationales used to justify indignities — whether it be those who’ve survived cell B54 at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, or those who’ve found themselves drowning in a system of arbitrary constructs used to promote love with hate and waste away the human resource.

Possibly not a read one would expect from me, the way that I’ve been labeled in IDOC computers. But that’s only because the Department’s never asked whether I come from a friendly, refugee-hosting, agnostic/church family, or how far we’ve gone out of our way to welcome Vietnamese, Congolese and Rwandans into our home.

Definitely a read I’d recommend to my peers.
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Of the materials below, chosen for my trial, several were donated by a Dean’s List university student studying in Idaho to work for Probation & Parole. Others were purchased upon suggestions from behavioral health specialists and IDOC CARES grant recipients. A forum of justice-affected families and their proponents also contributed recommendations, several of which were picked for the peer support component: having been shared among their group already, the group is prepared to encourage their loved ones to read and discuss the materials they recommended. Yet more contributions came from idahoprisonproject.org, a Christian radio program that addresses incarceration and reentry, multiple prison book programs, the author’s friends and family, a South Carolina poetry review, and one Princeton University Associate Professor.

Not listed are books from my facility library, as this author was punitively restricted from accessing all library materials for a period of 90 days during the course of this trial.

The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz
Prisons and Prison Life: Costs and Consequences by Joycelyn M. Pollock
Homeward: Life in the Year After Prison by Bruce Western
Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys by Victor M. Rios
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction by Gabor Maté, MD
Where to Draw the Line: How to Set Healthy Boundaries Every Day by Anne Katherine M.A.
The Soloist by Steve Lopez
The Girl in My Wallet by Teresa Nickell
We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For: The Promise of Civic Renewal in America by Peter Levine
Civic Activism Unleashed: New Hope or False Dawn For Democracy by Richard Young
Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction by John Monaghan & Peter Just
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradbury and Jean Greaves
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
The PTSD Workbook by Mary Beth Williams Ph.D., LCSW, CTS and Soila Poijula Ph.D.
Wife After Prison: Caught in the Aftermath by Sheila Bruno
Asheville Poetry Review by Various Authors
The Everything American Government Book by Nick Ragone
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Automating Inequality by Virginia Eubanks
The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America by Naomi Murakawa
Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard Thaler

ADDITONAL NOTES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

DOCs may wish to consider incentivizing staff to become familiar with program participants and selected materials, so as to engage in brief yet thoughtful exchanges that help one reflect and further expound.

Case managers should introduce their caseload to this project with an “optional” reading list and simple set of instructions. Instructions should encourage also logging reads not on the list. Case managers should be given a shelf or a box for selected materials, so that they and not the library are responsible for meeting requests. Case managers should be encouraged to engage in brief yet thoughtful exchanges while collecting returns and delivering materials.

Discussion groups should be encouraged but not required.

Peer and staff reviews should also be encouraged but not required, so as to help expose the simplicity of the program and percolate interest among populations socially. A simple signature on a submission would suffice as a review. But it doesn’t matter who the signature belongs to, or if they actually reviewed. What matters is the interaction that takes place during the signing helps to expose and normalize the project, seeding future participation and discussion among peers.

DOCs already working closely with peer support, community networks are encouraged to solicit participation and support, suggestions and feedback.

Program participants, including staff, should be permitted to contribute materials to the program. This with the understanding that a voting, lottery or review system may need to be implemented to choose which contributions will be stored in the space allotted for their materials.

All questions, critique, and comments are welcome.

*Quotes belong to the peer that contributed the book.

“All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands”
–Sufjan Stevens