Updates

IDOC Division Chief of Prisons Chad Page informed IDOC’s resident population April 30 and again on June 17, 2021 that IDOC requirements for book vendors were changing. This change has not been reflected on IDOC’s website, nor has the change made several years ago that since has allowed for hardcover books. As a result, books sent in from peer and family supporters, ministries, schools and organizations are being returned without notice to the intended resident recipients.

Please take notice of the following memo if you’re looking to support our residents with books.

[A personal note to Princeton Professor M.– No need to worry, I’ve arranged for your books. It was a wonderful surprise. Thank you very much!]

MESSAGE REPOST MEMO 4/30/21 FROM CHAD PAGE, CHIEF OF PRISIONS – APPROVED VENDORS FOR BOOKS

April 30, 2021, Offender Population
Chad Page, Chief of Prisons, Approved Vendors for Books.

Due to places such as Amazon Marketplace, Bargain Books Store, and Barnes and Noble allowing 3rd parties to have access to incoming books, we have seen a large increase in contraband.

Starting June 1, 2021, all books and magazines must come from one of the approved vendors listed below, or directly from the publisher.

This notice will allow you 30 days (April 30th through May 31st) to notify your family of these changes. After May 31st, all incoming books from outside these vendors, and books that arrive without a receipt or invoice, will be returned to sender in accordance with SOP 402.02.01.001 Mail Handling in Correctional Facilities, Section 18.

Edward R Hamilton
Discover Books [Update 7/31/2024 – Discover Books appears to be out of business]
More than Words
Prison Book Program
Books to Prisoners

Vendors added on 7/15/2022:

Books a Million
Books N Things
Sure Shot Books

Vendors removed on 7/15/2022:
ThriftBooks

As of 2024, hardback books are no longer allowed.

If you have books sent in through a religious ministry, the ministry must be listed as the publisher on the book.

Educational textbooks — facility Education departments will assist residents with the purchasing of necessary textbooks for course work.

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, July ’21 (Si Kahn Tribute Issue)

WELCOME to the August 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 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 interested in networking concerns are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact them at idahoinmate@gmail.com.
…

EDITOR’S NOTE

Our compliments to the staff who’ve decided to stick around. Those who perform their daily duties without passing down their stress don’t go unnoticed. We appreciate it much.

This month we touch on the announcement that our facilities are understaffed and offer a few factors that were overlooked by local news. We also report on an incident used by the Department as a reason to continue ignoring Restricted Housing Unit (RHU) policies; and–when a reasonable query into resident donations meets an odd resistance, a mystery unfolds. (Likely into a series that starts with this issue. I’m still trying to process–we’ll see how it goes.) Among some other tidbits, the summary of a grievance that takes issue with staff’s discretion to censor incoming case law and outgoing descriptions of incidents and issues residents have been involved in.

Your audience is appreciated.

Let’s First Amend This!
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FACILITIES UNDERSTAFFED: EPIPHANIES NEED NOT APPLY

One day after July’s Board of Correction meeting, where it was announced by Human Resources Manager Mike Evans that our correctional facilities are severely lacking staff, the Idaho Maximum Security Institution foreshadowed the future on lockdown.

Or perhaps we should say it operated in consistency with the lockdowns we’ve dealt with for much of the past; as we expect it every Saturday, scheduled in advance–lockdowns resulting from facility understaffing have been affecting my unit for I don’t know how long. Acknowledged as an issue before COVID became a problem, in Grievance IM 200000280, understaffing was used as the reason for withholding out-of-cell time mandated by policy since 2018 (per policies 319 and 319.02.01.003).

Employee burnout compounded by quality-of-life factors were offered as a few reasons our facilities are missing one-fourth of their workforce. But left unmentioned was the disconnect between our staff and management. We often hear from personnel that their experience is not valued, and that much of the danger that stresses their job comes from decisions made behind desks. There is also a sentiment shared among our new recruits: Given the impression our facilities are a place to make a difference, they find themselves uncomfortable enforcing dysfunctional policies at the risk of their own safety and general well-being.

Our case managers, too, are among the extremely stressed. Unable to offer everyone restorative opportunities, they waste their education and training selling bureaucratic “waste plans”.

We feel that in addition to fiscal incentives, our personnel need a workplace more receptive to their professional concerns and suggestions. One that encourages them, when seeking solutions, to problem solve creatively and implement responsibly. In essence, a system that runs diametrically opposite to that which we use for our insentient residents…

EXHIBIT A

To Deputy Warden Wessels:

Because this prison is unable to offer therapeutic/educational opportunities to everyone, I’ve spent several months organizing materials that could benefit others…Some have come from IDOC’s community partners and other outside interests like the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group… But the library has informed me not all donations reach their shelves. Surely they could replace 1 of the 6 copies they have of The Hunger Games [with a book] on addiction and boundaries, etc. These are books my network is already promoting. Can you help us make sure, from now on, they find a shelf in the library?

From Deputy Warden Wessels: You grieved this issue.
—

To Deputy Warden Wessels:

Re: Request to create space for therapeutic materials donated from the community. Of the two issues grieved previously, one was your banning me from self-help materials; the other was Robertson not answering where book donations go. Neither grievance asked you to find it in your heart to create a little space for the materials coming in from the book drive I’ve been holding for the last six months in our IDOC newsletter…

From Deputy Warden Wessels: It is a space issue.
—

To Deputy Warden Wessels:

If you truly believe our massive desert constructions only have enough space for warehousing thousands of humans, then you’ll never have room for the growth of your residents and staff–just plenty for reasons why people won’t work here.

–Resident Alien Irving

Ref: “Idaho Department of Correction Faces Critical Staff Shortage,” Rachel Cohen. “Idaho Prisons Scrambling for Staff as Exhausted Correctional Officers Resign,” Katie Terhune.
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WHERE HAVE ALL OUR DONATIONS BEEN GOING?

It’s not uncommon for residents to donate their property. At least, no more so than it is to have their property confiscated for taking too much space or being flagged as “altered.”

Whether it’s a clip that’s come loose from a low-quality lamp ($15), a shoelace used to keep a speaker attached to old headphones ($32), or a chip on the face of an unfortunate TV ($268), many are forced to relinquish the property they’ve purchased with funds from their family or penny-paid labor. And though they’re not always offered a choice when it comes to disposing the taken property, there are usually three options from which they can choose: They can either mail it out; donate it to charity; or sign off for staff to place it in the trash.

While sending it out seems like a reasonable option, this reporter once paid $15 to send a $12 book, and our most expensive property can be procured from pawn shops for about the same price we pay for packing and postage. Which means it’s often more appealing to donate our loss and receive the satisfaction of knowing it’s going to charity.

Books are especially easy to relinquish. “Donate to library,” we’re told to write on the inside, where each manuscript is stamped with its benefactor’s name. Under the impression it will be added to our facility’s library, we’re left with the feeling of building a better community by expanding the bank of knowledge we so desperately need.

It’s the same feeling responsible for our FAT! book drive, which ended in disappointment upon the shocking realization that many of our donations are rebuked by the Master of Libraries. He has them carted from the library, off with our property, either to unknown recipients or to be placed in the trash. He says it’s a matter of limited space–that a great deal of people have died in our prisons after decades of donating their time-filling reads, and we simply can’t expect to store the knowledge they’ve amassed just so it can be shared with survivors still breathing.

Which leaves us here at FAT! Headquarters wondering exactly where it all goes: the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of resident property that’s been taken by force and sold off in good favor.

When pressed by this reporter, IMSI’s Robertson said it’s none of our business. “[4]5 days after books are donated or confiscated, they are no longer the concern of the individual to whom they once belonged.”

The response was to a grievance that was lodged to break his silence (IM 210000276), and his position–as an educator–arouses great concern. For even IDOC librarians and educators aren’t immune to corruption or sex crimes, and to combat an interest in civic engagement opposes the very society and its institutes that privilege his career. And were a similar answer to be served to constituents not in prison, any politician, preacher or public official would be without a job by noon and marked for life by two.

Which is why it’s been decided of Robertson he meant to say this: “Beautiful question, sir. I could’ve been ripping you off all this time to fuel my affinity for crack cocaine and Thai boys. I recommend you submit a public records request to audit said donations and see where they go.”

So, in addition to the list of charities and the criteria by which they’re chosen, we also requested at least one receipt showing how our charitable transactions are tracked by the Department.

Our request was returned with “No Records Found.”

An estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of resident property and no system in place to say where it goes.

Years of prisoner contributions, allegedly donated to charity, and not one piece of evidence produced by the state to certify the claim or satisfy a probe. No guarantee they’re not going home with workers. Nothing to say they’re not offed in some alley. Not one receipt, not one listed charity, not one person buying this.

Where does it go?
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THE DIRTY TRICKS THAT DID AWAY WITH OUR AD-SEG REFORM

One would get fired and arrested for alleged sexual misconduct with an inmate. The other, who knows? Nobody wants to say. But prior to their departure from Idaho Maximum Security Institution, two correctional officers quite possibly manufactured an incident that would prevent an increase in Ad-Seg staff’s duties.

The incident was reported as taking place in early 2020, when the two were tasked with testing a table enclosure designed to bring IMSI into compliance with Restricted Housing Unit policies. Since 2018, policies 319 and 319.02.01.003 have required RHU residents to spend at least three hours out of their cells daily. Also referred to as indoor rec modules, the table enclosures were to accommodate half of that time, with the other half to be spent in outdoor modules, already offered for one hour daily.

When the two assigned officers were ordered to test the indoor modules–four caged compartments conjoined around one table, built with an opening on the tabletop for hands to play out cards–they were said to have sought a test group that was destined to fail. According to a source who witnessed the event, they picked four people from adversarial walks (a walk is a small assigned social group of inmates): two from Hard walks and two from Soft walks, though never allowed at any other time to mingle, were picked as participants to provide a demonstration of the enclosures.

But all four of those chosen declined to play a part. Suspicious of the way they were pitted against opponents, they felt as though a plan was in place to set them up.

Of the second group approached to test the table enclosures, all four had allegedly already been reprimanded for throwing bodily fluids on each other and trying to flood each other out with a plumbing hack from their own cells. Said to be four of the most psychologically disturbed on the unit, “It was obvious to everyone what was about to happen.” Given notice in advance of who would be sharing the table, all four were said to have arrived with containers of bodily fluids, and immediately engaged in their preferred method of warfare.

The incident was logged, the experiment concluded, and further construction of the indoor modules was halted. Without an adequate representation of residents used to test the modules, they were branded “too dangerous,” and used not once thereafter.

“It’s frustrating,” says our source. “They know who gets along and they know who throws piss on each other. They keep it all logged right there on their computers. They just don’t want to spend the time it takes to put us in cuffs, walk us out to the dayroom and lock us in cages.”

It’s a hypothesis hard to dispute. For one thing, such info does exist in IDOC computers. It’s seen referenced often in reports from Investigations. For another, in Grievance IM 200000280, mentioned earlier in this issue, understaffing was used as the reason to ignore IDOC policies. Which means it could be tempting for staff who are already stressed to manufacture an incident that would eliminate more duties. And finally, the outdoor modules, used almost daily, are still not being used to the extent required by policy. This despite the fact that no extra staff would be needed and the extra half hour per group poses no immediate risk.

When asked last year why the extra half hour outside has yet to be implemented, IMSI’s Warden Tyrell Davis wrote this: “[It] will become effective after physical plant modifications are completed and staffing levels are addressed.”

As for all questions regarding the crude testing of the indoor modules, it’s the rule of Corrections not to revisit a method once you have achieved the results that will lighten your workload.
…

IDOC PROPOSES NEW PRISON AND IMPROVEMENTS TO OLD INFRASTRUCTURE

The Board of Correction voted in July to move forward with their proposal for a new women’s prison and an addition to the Idaho State Correctional Institution.

The proposal would add an additional 848 beds for women and roughly 200 beds for men.

First presented in February to the Board of Correction, the initial projected cost of approximately $130M has since been adjusted to roughly $170M, to include a 35% inflation rate of construction costs over the last five months.

It’s unclear how many months it will take to present the proposal to the governor’s office, Division of Financial Management, Idaho Legislature and other stake holders. It’s also unclear how many more tens of millions of dollars the proposal will be have to be adjusted for inflation by the time they’re done presenting.

Ref: Betsy Z. Russell, “New Women’s Prison Proposed South of Boise, Plus More Beds for Male Inmates,” Idahopress.com.
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EXPECT PRISON VENDORS TO REPORT RECORD PROFITS

Prison vendors can expect to see record profits well into 2022.

As stimulus funds continue to funnel in to our country’s incarcerated, prison providers like Keefe find themselves unable to keep items in stock. From $0.32 squeeze cheeses to TV’s that cost upwards of $300, inmates are reporting months-long outages of multiple items. The shortages, due to an increase in demand, include items like hygiene, underwear, T-shirts and shoes.

With the “expected back in stock date” of many staples constantly changing, even substitutes are being purchased in a frenzy. Customers, less sensitive now to overpriced items, have found themselves ordering novelty goods, plus clothing comforts and appliances like hotpants and sweatpots 😉

Commissary services aren’t the only ones benefitting. Media services, phone and messaging providers, pen pal sites and other inmate services are expected to see spikes in revenue as well.

Those looking to gamble on trends may wish to place money on the notion that prison vendors will soon be seen lobbying for stimulus payments to the incarcerated on a regular basis.
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COVID NEWS

While approximately 38,700 tests have been administered to IDOC residents in three states, those housed in Arizona have not been tested since they were transferred from GEO’s Eagle Pass Correctional Facility with a sizeable number of infected among them. Of those tested in other facilities, more than 4,450 have identified positive. A total of six deaths have been reported as COVID-related.

In early July the Department reported a staff vaccination rate of 45%, compared 73% among residents. And though the majority of staff are still wearing face coverings, they’re not being enforced to the extent they were before.

Fully vaccinated residents and staff with no known or suspected exposure to COVID are now considered excused from mass testing.

In late June a doctor accompanying the Idaho National Guard said vaccinations would be offered in five weeks to those who first refused them. Those at IMSI have not seen this happen. And with the spread of new variants and pending approval for Pfizer, a wave of residents have reported that they want them.

IDOC has initiated a formal demobilization plan to assess the risk of returning to normalized operations.

Visiting trials have begun in some facilities. Masks are required and visitation times are very limited.

Those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are reporting scores 7-9 points higher on their GED exams and a dramatic increase in demand for their seed.

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

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1987
Boise, ID 83701

View IDOC’s COVID numbers here.
…

EXHAUSTED GRIEVANCE IN SUMMARY

Category: Policy or SOP
Date: 6/07/2021
Location: IMSI
Grievance Number: IM 210000239
Responders: Southwick, Susan Wessels, Tyrell Davis

This grievance addresses mail policy 402.02.01.001, section 3, bullet 9 — which prohibits residents from mailing case information involving codefendants and classes, and is worded in a way that allows legal resources and references to be censored also.

This grievance follows Grievance IM 210000152, which was lodged when a communication was censored for describing an incident the sender was involved in while relaying a request to family to inform and retain counsel. That grievance is available by request.

Ref: This grievance has been logged as Grievance 21 in “Exhausted Grievances In Summary (for legal and investigative purpose).”
…

SLANGIN’ KUDOS

Deputy Warden of Virtual Prisons Stephen Grills caught the attention of Idaho inmate families with loved ones in Arizona. They say they appreciate him ensuring compliance with the CoreCivic contract.

IMSI Grievance Coordinator T. Young has been making sure this reporter’s public records requests are being delivered to the records custodian. She doesn’t have to do it (it goes beyond her job description). By saving us both some grievances, she’s earned a sack of kudos.

IMSI’s entire B Unit staff, forever working overtime and interfacing with myriad stressors, remain professional and consistent with us animals in the back. For this reason we slang them some acknowledgement.

IMSI Property Officer Rodriguez has proven consistent and reliable since taking Property duties over. Either he’s got an amazing memory, or he’s actually taking some time to write our needs down. Whatever the case may be, thanks for getting it done.

Good job, everybody. Let’s hope it rubs off!
…

RENICK ON THE RADIO

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

This month Ken Rogers and Norma Jager spoke on the event Poetry for Recovery, scheduled during Recovery Month in September. Ken also shared some reading and announced he’ll be holding an online poetry class for those interested until September.

Former Governor of Connecticut and current acting Director of Prison Fellowship John G. Rowland dropped in for some incredibly enlightening conversation. His understanding of politics and experience as a prisoner offered perspective unlikely to be found elsewhere.

Program Manager Rebecca White of the Hope and Recovery Center shared her involvement with Idaho prisons and outreach. Those interested in applying their experience to the field of professional counseling following a conviction will want to listen in.

Michael Richardson, the executive director of Idaho Prison Arts Collective, introduced the program he’s pioneering to bring more arts into Idaho prisons. His mission: to present the many experiences of the corrections community and inform the public through art how its been impacted collectively. Those interested are asked to write to:

IdahoPrisonArts.org
PO Box 1995
Boise, ID 83701

Off-air, Mark works with a reentry effort under an advocacy arm of St. Vincent de Paul. Learn more @ svdpid.org and imsihopecommunityphaseii.com.
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INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

7-31-21

Dear Sir,

Thank you for responding to my letter. I would indeed be interested in questionnaires and info pertaining to recovery. Not only is there an incredible lack of literature here at my facility, but classes are only offered to those with dates for parole, and we’ve no anonymous meetings to participate in either. Add to that the fact that both the deputy warden and warden have upheld a ban on my access to self-help materials for 90 days, and even a pamphlet on abstinence right now would be appreciated.

While I value your idea of holding groups by Zoom, our case managers have neither the pull nor the ability to make something so sensible happen. That would likely require submitting a proposal to IDOC admin. And though I’d never dissuade you from presenting to just them, I would certainly stress to you the following point: If you truly have an interest in reaching our incarcerated, you may wish utilize your Idaho representatives. They’re well aware we’re in need of solutions, and have proven quite helpful at times.

I’m actually compiling a list of the legislators my network’s found receptive. I’d be happy to share it and coordinate future efforts.

Once again, I appreciate your thoughtful response. I hope we’re able to keep the conversation going.

Respectfully,
Patrick Irving 82431
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SUGGESTION BOX

We suggest our prison admin read this newsletter and check this box from time to time.
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THIS ISSUE WAS PRODUCED IN LOVING MEMORY OF “Happy” CHARISSE SHUMATE

A great big congratulations to the California Coalition for Women Prisoners on their 25th anniversary of publishing The Fire Inside!

We salute you, www.womenprisoners.org.

“The Kids Aren’t Alright”
— The Offspring

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

IDOC NOW HIRING

Boots of all kind. No experience handling swine necessary. Public relations skills a bonus! Must be indifferent to all aspects of compassion and logic, willing to actively campaign against therapeutic and educational opportunities, and be complicit in coverups ranging from federal rights violations to hate crimes committed using state-purchased weaponry.

Be the change you want to see in the world!

Apply to:

Idaho Department of Correction
1299 N. Orchard St., Ste. 110
Boise, ID 83706

ref: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter July ’21

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, June 2021

WELCOME to the July 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 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 interested in networking concerns are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact them at idahoinmate@gmail.com.

Know of a resource not listed on this site? Leave the info in the comments and we’ll add it to our directory.
…

EDITOR’S NOTE

This editor, you may notice, is a little thrown off. Because after months of organizing donations to diversify our library, the library has rewarded me with a 90-day suspension. The reason, they say, is that a book I returned cannot be accounted for. Which makes it the librarian’s responsibility to punish this denizen already rotting in an unreformed Ad-Seg.

It doesn’t appear to matter that, in Ad-Seg, we can only return books through our food slots when opened by staff to pass us our meals; apparently, we’re to be punished for things that staff misplace, as well as for any clericals errors made by the library.

As just one example of a counterproductive discipline, this perhaps is the one that best helps understand why some residents, when placed into Ad-Seg, literally occupy their time by painting the walls with shit.

Needless to say, I find myself affected, and not from the absence of materials to read. (I’m fortunate in that I just invested in books on prisons and programs, addictions and boundaries, etc. They’re my personal donations to the book drive I’ve been holding in an effort to improve our petulant library.) What affects me is the thought that a policy can be used to actively accelerate one’s mental deterioration.

I’m also bothered by the way that these little things add up, making it impossible to build relationships of trust with those who wish to assist, coexist, or change. Because why in the world would you ever offer your trust when all that you’ve been offered is indifference and hardship?

It’s a legitimate question. And that its various elements combined can foster radical behavior does not in anyway stretch a person’s imagination. Or, as a prison doctor cited in C. Weinstein’s “Even Dogs Confined to Cages for Long Periods of Time Go Berserk” puts it:

“…it’s kind of like kicking and beating a dog and keeping it in a cage until it gets as crazy and vicious and wild as it can possibly get, and then one day you take it out into the middle of the streets of San Francisco or Boston and you open the cage and you run away.” (pg. 121).

And on that note, this month, I’m feeling a little off. So what I’ve done here is find peace with a mosaic, one I put together by mashing new updates in with a few of my most charming articles. I’m calling it my tribute to the intrepid Si Kahn, author of “Organizing: A Guide for Grassroots Leaders” — a book I consider well worth being punished for, cruel-and-unusual-like, from those phonies at the library.

Let’s First Amend This!
…

JETZT EINSTELLAN

Idaho Department of Correction
1299 N. Orchard, Suite 110
Boise, ID 83706
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IDOC CONDUCTS DAMAGE CONTROL BY CENSORING LOCAL NEWS COVERAGE–LEAVING INMATES TO WONDER, IS DIRECTOR JOSH TEWALT THE ANGEL OF DEATH?!

The IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION IS CONDUCTING DAMAGE CONTROL in response to recent news coverage. Specifically, the March 5th Tommy Simmons article, “Idaho Faces Another Lawsuit Over Lethal Injection Secrecy” at idahopress.com — which spotlighted Director Josh Tewalt’s questionable purchase of lethal injection drugs in 2012 — and Rebecca Boone’s March 2nd article, “Organizations Ask Idaho High Court To Open Execution Records,” syndicated by the Associated Press.

First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter received notice March 10th from IDOC’s JPay e-mail system that the Simmons article “cannot be delivered.” Boone, who is a member of the Idaho Press Club, has been covering the story since 2018. Her initial coverage in the Spokesman Review, “U of I Professor Sues Idaho for Execution Records,” was also “returned to sender” on JPay.

Both articles were requested following a brief mention of Tommy Simmons article during a Friday Roundtable on Idaho Matters, a radio show hosted by Gemma Gaudette, on BSU’s public radio station 91.5 FM. A small portion of the article, read over-the-air, described now-IDOC-Director Josh Tewalt’s purchase of lethal injection drugs in 2012 “…in a Tacoma, Washington, Walmart parking lot, with a briefcase full of cash.”

In addition to censoring the realm of public knowledge from their inmates, IDOC has refused to abide by Idaho’s public record laws, following a suit brought by University of Idaho’s Professor Aliza Cover. Aliza is represented by the ACLU and supported in friend-of-the-court briefs by the American Bar Association, the Idaho Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Idaho Press Club, the Associated Press, the Idaho Statesman, and KTVB News.

Local news agencies aren’t alone in their struggle of having Departmental information withheld. In 2018 Contract Monitor Monte Hansen required a public records request from our Idaho inmates in Texas who wanted to understand the grievance policy that the Department was implementing on the Mexican border — a basic necessity for bringing claims forth in court. While the policy is meant to be made available free to inmates at the time of request, it took months for them to receive an actual copy. And only then did it come from the ACLU.

More recently, back here at home, IDOC Long-Term Restrictive Housing policy 319.02.01.003 was discovered not to exist, despite a hard-copy update stating it was effective in 2018.

[Adapted for FAT! from Patrick Irving’s March 11th article, “IDOC Conducts Damage Control by Censoring Local News Coverage — Leaving Inmates to Wonder, Is Director Josh Tewalt the Angel of Death?“]

[This article appeared originally appeared in the “Special Alert: Coronavirus Emergency” issue.]
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JUNETEENTH EVE CELEBRATED WITH MEAL SERVICE DOWNGRADE

Finger steaks, mashed potatoes and gravy, a side of corn, and a pretty decent brownie–that’s what’s usually on the menu for Week 2, Friday. But, in preparation for the very first Juneteenth to be federally recognized as a national holiday, these cold-hearted bastards swapped all that for a potato.

Full disclosure: there was also a button of cornbread and an aborted piece of cake (1.5″ x 1.5″ each). Remnants of onion with scrapes of tomato were also found in the vicinity of the edible starchy tuber. Same for a tablespoon of chili and fingernail of dried cheese.

According to a source close to the kitchen, “There couldn’t have been a better time to debut the Woke Potato.”

Note: While some employees were noticeably missing the last weekday before Juneteenth, it’s being reported that the holiday was in no other way given presence by the department throughout its facilities–which we presume to be a matter of pandering to demographics.

We presume this because Idaho is a critical-race-theory-is-a-conspiracy state, and because it’s our director’s responsibility to cater to our governor’s political ambitions. And our governor right now is publicly beefing with our Lt. governor, the ringleader for our anti-critical-race-theory circus (she’s actually running against him). Making it extremely likely that our director was given a good talking-to about “all this Juneteenth nonsense,” and what it would mean to make Governor Little look bad leading up to his run against Lt. Governor McGeachin.

And knowing that, now, you can see it all makes sense–why we’d “celebrate” the eve with a broke-ass Woke Potato.

This publication reported on the absence of Juneteenth in our July ’20 issue. It was mentioned again in Feb. ’21.
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GOVERNOR LITTLE FINGERS INMATE’S VAGINA FOR SUPREME COURT VOYEURS

Idaho’s Governor Brad Little regards inmate’s request to be medically treated for gender dysphoria as having one too many holes for the state.

Currently unfolded, in a very hairy situation, IDOC’s failed attempt to postpone the court-ordered medical procedures initially recommended by doctors who know best.

As Governor Little struggles to powerbottom a precedent, he’s assumed the positioned to sustain quite a pounding: The State’s recent arguments to halt all procedures of the surgical sort — prior to the Supreme Court deciding whether they can pull back the curtains of confusion and find a slot for the case — were strategically resisted in a struggle to exhaust state appeals.

After being wrestled into submission on the floor of state courts, Governor Little requested a rematch be viewed in front of a federal audience, where he suspects the gears of justice will be lubed in his flavor, to assist the pull-out of Edmo’s infamous wiener transition, in what so far has been an exhibition spectacular and, according to inmates, like too many others.

Our legal analyst suspects the Governor’s insistence of holding on to the wiener in question is verging the realm of romantic. Whether or not he’ll release it from clench upon Supreme Court ruling has been the subject of rumors and concerns in circulation.

Offenders polled express general favor towards the incurring of any substantial correctional expense — especially, when done by an inmate represented in the courts. However, in general consensus, the same offender poles can’t imagine getting behind this vagina in particular.

[This article originally appeared in our June ’20 issue]
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JPAY HARDWARE UPDATE

JPay is reporting new delays with the JP6 devices that were suppose to ship in June. According to JPay, shipments are now pushed back until August 2021.

Whether the new devices will function any longer than the old ones is uncertain at this time, but it’s sincerely recommended that you not get your hopes up.
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IDOC/KEEFE/JPAY EXTORTION RACKET TARGETS IDAHO INMATES. GOOD WHOLESOME CHRISTIANS PAY THE PRICE.

Five dollars nowadays is what is a single serving of Dolly Madison zingers costs families supporting their loved ones held under the jurisdiction of the Idaho Department of Correction. The zingers recently replaced the Dolly Madison cupcakes that were selling for two dollars — which were offered themselves as a substitute for a superior brand in 2017, at the same time being doubled in price.

The zingers were recently introduced following the visitor ban implemented at all IDOC facilities — where the same serving size of zingers costs a fraction of that price when purchased through the vending machines in Visiting.

This comes only months after IDOC vendor JPAY sparked public outrage by charging inmates for public domain literary works made available by Project Gutenberg. (Project Gutenberg states with every eBook they make available that they’re “for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.”)

After their public shaming, JPay sent IDOC offenders an email stating that their heart bleeds for us, and such is our luck, they will no longer charge for what never belonged to them in the first place.

However, their bleeding heart apparently found a plug, because in a more recent message, JPay notified IDOC offenders that their correspondees will no longer benefit from the stamp prices given to offender families in Washington. That the price of a JPAY stamp in Washington is roughly 1/5 of Idaho’s price raises questions regarding IDOC’s Contract Management negotiation abilities, along with their persistent attempts to empty the coffers of inmate families.

Fortunately for IDOC inmates at GEO Group’s Eagle Pass Correctional Facility in Texas, many of the same Keefe commissary items purchased in Idaho can be ordered there for one-half to two-thirds the price. Which is curious because IDOC has historically blamed scheduled price increases on Keefe, making it more likely than not that someone needs thrown under the bus.

This reporter relied upon the zingers image provided by Keefe to assess the actual serving size. He would have bought a package to further confirm did it not have a price of FIVE FUCKING DOLLARS!

[This article first appeared in our June ’20 issue. The $5 Zingers have since been removed.]
…

A REMINDER FROM CHIEF PAGE

All books and magazines must now come from one of the approved vendors listed below, or directly from the publisher. Books from outside of these vendors and books that do not contain a receipt or invoice will be returned to sender in accordance with SOP 402.02.01.001 Mail Handling in Correctional Facilities, Section 18.

Edward R Hamilton
Thrift Books
Discover Books
More Than Words
Prison Book Program
Books to Prisoners

Books sent in through religious ministries must have the ministry listed as the publisher on the book.
…

IDAHO SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON THE PUBLIC’S ACCESS TO EXECUTION RECORDS

SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 — The ACLU’s Ritchie Eppink squared up with deputy attorney general Jessica Kuehn in front of the Idaho Supreme Court to battle over University of Idaho professor Aliza Cover’s 2017 public records request for documents related to how offenders are put to death by the State.

Cover’s lawsuit is a product of IDOC’s refusal to turn over the supplier of lethal injection drugs used in Idaho’s most recent executions.

In 2019 a state judge ruled in favor of Professor Cover and the ACLU’s request for information. To which IDOC appealed, concerned that identifying “their guy” would label them narcs forever, making it extremely difficult to score anything in the future.

In September’s video hearing, Mr. Eppink informed the court that IDOC has continuously missed public records request deadlines and refused to provide hundreds of pages of documents. The ACLU argues that this conflicts with their public obligation to behave like “good dudes.” He also illustrated how IDOC does not follow their own rules, as the board has never formalized the policy which allows them to hide public documents.

Apparently, IDOC is concerned it will become harder to dispatch residents if they’re required to detail how they do it, though, to date, the Department of Correction and the Board of Correction have been unable to provide any evidence at all to support their claim that pharmaceutical death brokers actually care if such information is made available: All executions thus far have taken place on a schedule and the Department’s lethal injection drug dealers have never cut them off before.

To paraphrase the attorney for the state, Jessica Kuen: Up until now, our Legislature has allowed the Board of Correction to call their own shots in terms of coverups and bucking public records. So what’s the big fuckin’ deal, man? Just because they’re called public records doesn’t mean our asshole taxpayers deserve actual access to them.

Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Burdick says the court will issue their ruling in the future.

It’s worth mentioning that local media coverage related to this story was censored from reaching our editor in March, and we too have been able to document the Department’s inability to follow their own procedures. (See: IDOC Conducts Damage Control, Regarding Disciplinary.)

[Source: Rebecca Boone, “Idaho Supreme Court Considers Lethal Injections Records Case.” 9-24-20.]

[This article first appeared in our Oct. ’20 issue.]
…

COVID NEWS

Approximately 37,000 tests have been administered to IDOC residents in three states. More than 4,400 have identified positive and a total of six deaths have been reported as COVID-related.

Among residents, over 5,440 vaccinations have been fully completed, and at least 234 have received their first shot.

On June 22, the Idaho National Guard concluded IDOC’s vaccination effort by distributing the Janssen vaccine to IMSI’s Ad-Seg population. According to a doctor that accompanied the 8-member Guard unit, residents who’ve declined to be vaccinated will be given another opportunity in approximately one month. With the exception of IDOC’s newest arrivals, said a member of the Guard, all vaccination requests are now considered filled.

According to IMSI staff, visitation will be tested with Community Reentry Centers before consideration is given to other facilities.

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

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1987
Boise, ID 83701

View IDOC’s COVID numbers here.
…

ALGORITHMIC ADDICTION COUNSELOR TO PALM READ RECOVERIES

IDOC has been chosen as one of 33 trial agencies to provide telehealth services in conjunction with The Addiction Forum. Using the Connections App, which touts an ability to predict and reduce relapse, substance abusers will have another form of technological redundancy when it comes time to access their counselors and peers. The tracking app, eager to schedule its abusers’ sobriety, can also, if needed, help Google available resources.

Over one thousand of our nation’s offenders will be volunteered to the program, which is funded by the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE).

Whether FORE’s algorithm is sophisticated enough to graph and monitor the entirety of Idaho’s Fourth Amendment Forfeits’ communication network, we just don’t know. But as soon as Probation and Parole sees fit to order the inoculation of all offender devices (and that should be soon), we can patch in our own Symbiont Groom™, and go full-throttle from there. We’re talking key phrases, texting activity, GPS hotspots, sporadic behavioral conduct, synchronized travel activity, proximity intimations (distance from other at-risk individuals) and, of course, familial biometrics. Once activated, suspicious configurations will be flagged and forwarded to the FORE 501(c)3 Reclamation Machine [Limited Edition!] — expected in March. Also skilled in the art of salvation and newspeak, we trust it to publicly justify attacking targeted networks.

So long as it equates “proportionate response” to “dispatch drone, corral suspected infidels and commence with whatever terroristic treatment has been fashioned for the day,” it’ll continue offering evidence that relapse was preempted, and our citizens can rest knowing all will be well.

Yes…

All. Will be. Orwell.

Source: Clinical Supervisor Gail Baker, idoc.Idaho.gov.

[This article first appeared in our Jan. ’21 issue.]
…

FAT! BOOK DRIVE

The library has informed us not all donations are placed on their shelves. And when asked what they do with the donations that don’t find a shelf, the library didn’t respond. Which means, regrettably, that until we finish investigating IMSI’s librarian for embezzlement, the FAT! book drive will be treated as a crime scene.

Please stay tuned.

Thanks to everyone who contributed in June:

Black Hole Blues and Other Songs From Outer Space by Janna Levin
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
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.
…

RENICK ON THE RADIO

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

This month we met Scott Jennings. Familiar with incarceration and the struggles of reentry, Scott is the acting director of Inmates to Entrepreneurs. He discussed the classes his organization offers and how television has played a role in the way they’re gaining traction.

Senator Melissa Wintrow discussed how important it is for justice-affected families communicate their experiences to state representatives–because they do take notice and appreciate all calls.

Crystal Gocken, formerly incarcerated, shared her story and a concept called Baby House. It’s Crystal’s goal to create a resource for expecting mothers soon to be incarcerated, one that would also assist them as they work through reentry. Crystal is working to prevent children from being swallowed by the foster care system as a horrible byproduct of what we’ve deemed justice.

Wayne Shaddock, with the St. Maximilian Colby Reentry Conference, is opening reentry services in the P&P building in District 3. His faith and experience were discussed on the show.

Mark works with a reentry effort under an advocacy arm of St. Vincent de Paul. Learn more @ svdpid.org and imsihopecommunityphaseii.com.
…

INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

9-27-19

Dear Chad Page (Chief of Prisons):

Morning reflections, pen in hand: I thought I’d drop you a line.

We are in receipt of your memo at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution — the one about the brewing. All have agreed: the alcohol situation is out of control. We were moved that you would acknowledge this by limiting our sugar purchases. Some have gone so far as to say you’ve provided a beacon of hope.

I am speaking personally now, as an inmate having recently succumbed to his own demons — dirty rotten tricksters, they are. I come forward, stepping beyond accepting responsibility for the possession of alcohol, with a request to use my new qualifications in helping you tackle this problem head-on.

A little about myself: Patrick, Alcoholic. I never struggled with alcoholism before. This is all new to me. It is heavy with burden that I acknowledge a djinn has attached itself to my most intimate vulnerabilities. I’m here today because I’ve heard rumours among us: A treatment does exist!

The whispers describe a system that requires the helping of others to help yourself. True, it sounds of magic. But it comes of grace, not of demons.

Allow me to demonstrate by summonsing an alternate future before your very eyes: Behold! I have arrived, willing and able to actively participate in recovery. Here I am, and here I will be. Know that mine isn’t enough, I must cast the spell on you as well.

That’s it, Chief. That’s all it takes.

I happen to know this because we’ve been squirreling bits and pieces of contraband materials describing some “12 Steps,” in hopes that we can honour both our victims and our families in our making a reasonable attempt to seek rehabilitation.

I have taken the liberty of presenting you with options of costly efficiency (not a typo, we’re talking taxpayer money), issue them at your behest.

It pains me to note that upon receiving my disciplinary notification for alcohol problems, my requests that I be provided information related to alcoholism were not tolerated by my Case Manager or your Medical Provider. The Medical Provider was completely unresponsive to my needing treatment information for this behavioural disorder — the same one that is commonly referred to as a disease. I wasn’t even scheduled an appointment to assess if there was an actual medical need. It was the Case Manager that informed me I don’t qualify by Idaho Department Of Correction standards to receive the benefits of alcohol-related therapeutic treatment at IMSI. Clearly, there is a lot going on here — choose your own adventure!

Not to be discouraged, I performed my own research. I discovered a volunteer-ran group that only requires a meeting room, some free literature and a minimal of two alcoholics. Because they are clandestine in nature, it is likely you are not aware they have already infiltrated all of your facilities. Any member of this Anonymous organization will volunteer to step out of the shadows and go on the record in stating: In addition to restricting the inmates’ sugar intake, providing a meeting of the Anonymous variety may offer a healthy supplement to those actively suffering from substance abuse issues.

I know what you’re thinking: “Mr. Irving, Esq., you have ten years left until Board. Your behaviourals are likely to cure themselves in said amount of time. Should they not, tackling them six months prior your release shall have to suffice.”

To which I offer: Not treating my behaviourals during my incarceration’s entirety does nothing to establish a pattern of resistance against a lifelong history of poor decision-making. It also doesn’t assist in Correctionsing behaviors the Board expects me to discontinue before they’ll even consider me for parole.

I find there are obvious advantages in helping inmates learn about good decisions when they first arrive in prison, not moments before you release them back into the wild.

Let us now break from the radical for a brief discussion of issues Constitutional.

My friend and I watch every week as our unit neighbors are picked up from their cells to be scrubbed free of sin on Sundays. We are left on the sad side of our windows, chosen by your staff to remain in eternal damnation.

My mother talks to God every weekend, she says there is plenty of room in Heaven and Jesus intended to offer the Lord’s grace to everyone, not just the Soft Walks at our facility. You’re right in that they need forgiveness for all their despicabilities much, much more than we do. But you can only polish a turd so much, and we’d really like to chop it up with Yahweh at least once this year.

I’m not asking much, just for you to kindly address these issues. I’d prefer to direct my focus towards items more pressing.

In friendship and incarceration,
Patrick Irving 82431

[This correspondence originally appeared as “IDOC Now Hiring: Alchemist Wizards Wanted” @ bookofirving82431.com]
…

SUGGESTION BOX

I suggest you fill a box full of books–you can use our donations so it doesn’t cost you anything– and then place that box of books in Ad-Seg, to be used like the box that holds books for Detention. This way, everyone in Ad-Seg can have a book at all times, regardless of whether mistakes have been made.
…

Shout out to Fritzi with the Compassion Prison Project in Los Angeles!

See you next month.

“We Can’t Play Like Django”
— Alex Radus featuring Dave Cahill

6-1-21

James,

Thanks for the issue of The Old Kinetescope and the subscription you mentioned of something called The Connection. Though I’m unsure of your confusion, I suppose I can make it clear: That $10 I sent was a friendly donation–more or less, James, I was trying to pay it forward.

Now, from what I’m able to decipher of your handwriting, you find mine equally despicable. So I’ve enclosed a few printouts of materials from the blog you had troubles with in hopes the larger font offers a better chance. My materials, you’ll find, are still available for free–of course I say that now knowing sharing’s probably not your thing. I’ll make no attempt here to interpret your awkward mention of games, for you’ve helped me realize the benefit of indifference when dealing with people who think that they help.

Well, then–super busy myself. So I guess I’ll just say, What an absolute pleasure it was getting shit on by libertarians for trying to donate $10 to their vegan support group.

Brilliant model, James. Best of luck with that.

Patrick

encl: First Amend This! (Special Corrector’s Edition), First Amend This! (May 2020), How To Get Evicted From Prison, No. 11

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, May 2021

WELCOME to the June 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, 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 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 interested in networking concerns are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact them at idahoinmate@gmail.com.

Know of a resource not listed on this site? Leave the info in the comments and we’ll add it to our directory.
…

EDITOR’S NOTE

Last month it was announced we’d have a scheduled execution, the first to take place in almost ten years. Predictably, our residents heard it from the news and not from the department in charge of their care — and were it not for an arduous battle in the courts, the medicinal executioner and its source would still be rooted in mystery.

For those reasons we feel this issue should contain a detailed rehash and a “Where We Are Now.” But due to the restrictive nature in which we’re allowed to use JPay, we’ve decided only to report the execution has been halted, and to verify that vicariously experiencing a scheduled execution creates ripples through the psyche with residual effect.

Consider the following:

While all of our TVs were blasting the details, family communications discussing the state-ordered death were being censored en masse in accordance with policy. Per policy, staff are to censor messages containing information that could conceivably be used to identify others in custody. (Two policies* actually require staff to censor transmissions with ANY information of ANY person’s crime, including information unrelated to Idaho. Worded to include news of child trafficking charges in Czechoslovakia, they’re nothing less than totalitarian provisions that make our Corrections appear as a regime.) They say it’s a matter of protecting the people in their care, including those whose deaths they’ve been tasked with engineering.

Meanwhile, for residents who struggle to process the complexities of a state-ordered death (and it would be absurd to say there are few), no communication is made to ensure their well-being, no information is offered to assist as they process, and conversations dissecting what’s reported on the news are prohibited between residents and their networks of emotional support.

These few variables are just those that we can mention. Not included are those that affect our friendly staff: like observing monstrosities while wearing state muzzles, or having to justify their actions as a paycheck and a job.

Keeping in mind there’s always more to consider, we start with an article that illustrates how suppression is boss.

Let’s First Amend This!

*Policies 503.02.01.001(Telephones and Electronic Communications) and 402.02.01.001 (Mail Handling In Correctional Facilities).
…

QUESTIONABLE CENSORSHIP: WHO’S PROTECTING WHO?

The following incidents were logged by one resident over a period of just eighteen months. Unfortunately, many residents don’t trust the grievance process, leaving myriad incidents to go unlogged despite the severity and repetition of offense.

Date: 3-27-19

Staff implicated in a claim of retaliation investigate themselves before dismissing the claim. (Grievance: II 190000285.)

Date: 4-22-19

Following the suspicious transfer of an Idaho inmate filing complaints from a Texas facility, Texas agency responses aren’t forwarded as required, leaving inmate unable to issue a timely response. (Grievance: CF 190000104.)

Date: 5-13-2019

Staff refuse to mail parcels addressed to media, legislators and advocates. (Grievance: IM 190000181.)

Date: 6-24-2019

Staff facing allegations of misconduct investigate themselves, and then refuse to forward their investigation to IDOC’s Special Investigations Unit per policy. (Grievance: II 190000578.)

Date: 10-04-2019

Idaho inmate organizing group complaints in Texas is denied access to Texas court materials following an alleged retaliatory transfer. (Grievance: IM 190000387.)

Date: 12-04-2019

Two copies of one tort claim, placed in Legal Mail, correctly addressed to two separate recipients, are both returned twice to the claimant, for a total of four times gone undelivered. One parcel sits in-facility three weeks before it’s returned. Despite both parcels sitting in claimant’s possession, staff maintain they were mailed to the authorities. (Grievance: IM 190000484.)

Date: 01-30-20

Limitations imposed on mailing materials are imposed on the claimant and nobody else. This following another barrage of correspondence with media, lawmakers and advocates. (Grievance: IM 200000050.)

Date: 03/18/2020

Local news articles reporting IDOC public records lawsuit are censored over JPay. (Grievance: IM 200000155.)

Date: 3/26/2020

An attempt to grieve staff retaliation is obstructed. (Grievance: IM 200000170.)

Date: 7/30/2020

A communiqué reporting staff-on-inmate violence is censored over JPay. (Grievance: IM 200000377.)

Date: 8/14/2020

A communiqué reporting sexual misconduct of staff is censored over JPay. (Grievance: IM 200000403.)

Date: 8/18/2020

A communiqué reporting staff-on-inmate violence is censored over JPay. (Grievance: IM 200000411.)

Date: 9/17/2020

News article reporting COVID-related violence is censored over JPay. (Grievance: IM 200000456.)

That question again is: Who’s protecting who?

Source: bookofirving82431.com, “Exhausted Grievances In Summary (for legal and investigative purpose).”
…

$283,100,000 ISN’T ENOUGH TO BUY EVERYONE A WORKBOOK

Knowing a minimum of $27,134 was spent last year to house me in corrections, I set out to discover whether any portion of this year’s budget would be used to assist me in serving my sentence constructively.

My investigation begins six and a half years into my fifteen- to thirty-nine-year sentence, imposed by the State for two counts of arson. Having committed my crime in a drug-induced psychosis — after chemically medicating to cope with some grief — I presumed that the Department possessed the utility to assist me in addressing my addictions, afflictions and deconstructive tendencies.

What I found instead was that despite $283.1M pulled from state coffers this year to fund our Corrections, case managers are still unable to accommodate everyone.

To some extent, the situation is understandable: we lack the staff and instructors to make the most of our classrooms. And classrooms, it’s said, is where the magic happens.

But classes for me were never an option. And not just because I’m Ad-Segged during a pandemic, but because the Idaho Maximum Security Institution only offers treatment and church to select groups of inmates. (See: Grievance IM 190000344.)

Thus I’m found in my cell, prepared to go it alone, but hoping nonetheless for an IDOC workbook.

Workbooks: Often prescribed with a regimen of classes, they’re used to treat everything from sexual deviance to a spectrum of violent tendencies. Workbooks are considered a staple in correctional therapies. So much so that, without completing workbooks, one is unlikely to be granted parole.*

Unfortunately, as most case managers will tell you: “There are only enough chairs in each class for the parole-eligible to participate, and only enough workbooks available to go with each chair.”

My case manager provided no exception. Regretfully, she informed me, her stock of supplies were shy of nonexistent. The only therapeutic materials she had to offer me were skeletal printouts available online.

Sympathetic to the limits imposed on her abilities, I asked if something was available for processing grief and for something, if they had it, along the lines of future-thinking.

At my window arrives, a few days later, one mental health clinician, excited to be of service.

And as seven fresh printouts were passed through the seams of my steel door, I credited he and my case manager for the sheets and their warmth.

Fresh cup of coffee, it was time to start my treatment.

Complicated Grief: Sometimes, the symptoms of acute grief never seem to go away. They can last for years. The loss of a loved one continues to feel unreal and unmanageable. You might constantly yearn for the deceased, or experience guilt about the idea of “moving on” and accepting the loss.

Of the five paragraphs found on page one, that diagnosis best suited my condition.

Tasks of Mourning: 1) accept the reality of the loss, 2) process the pain of grief, 3) adjust to a world without the deceased and, 4) find a way to remember the deceased while moving forward in life.

Twenty-three sentences later, page two complete, I remedially realized I had let go of a monster: The recommended internal, external and spiritual adjustments were taking. Only two more pages and I’d transform my whole being.

My Stages of Grief: Describe in a few short lines how the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance have affected you.

Page three? Shit — I murdered that f*ckin’ page, and wasted no time filling out the Goodbye on page four.

To: Dominic, You Dead Sonofabitch
CC: Terry, Don, Jolene, Melissa, Sue, Heath

I am saying goodbye because……………….it’s been almost a decade.
Saying goodbye makes me feel……………like feelings are intruders.
I remember a time when we…………………………pleaded many Fifths.
You taught me……………………………………….righteousness is awesome.
Something I want you to know is……I’m still performing numbers.
I will always remember………………that we’re the kind to not forget.

From: Therapist Pat

At this point, I would be remiss not to acknowledge that I was gifted a miracle. It was like I had been touched by the compassion, grace, and sensitive understanding one only expects from a weird distant uncle.

That horrible chapter closed, I was ready to tackle cognition.

Socratic Questions: Thoughts are like a running dialogue in your brain. They come and go fast. So fast, in fact, that we rarely have the time to question them. Because our thoughts determine how we feel, and how we act, it’s important to challenge any thought that causes us harm.

Interesting, how all one needs to checkmate their thoughts is two greasy elbows and four stupid questions.

Decatastrophizing: Cognitive distortions are irrational thoughts that have the power to influence how you feel. Everyone has some cognitive distortions–they’re a normal part of being human. However, when cognitive distortions are too plentiful or extreme, they can be harmful.

Page two’s questions came at me a little rougher. Fortunately for me, I was already rushing from huffing humanity’s finest.

Naked on the shitter, I continued pressing on.

1) What are you worried about?
2) How likely is it your worry will come true?
3) If your worry comes true, what’s the worst that could happen?
4) If your worry comes true, what’s most likely to happen?
5) If your worry comes true, what are the chances you’ll be okay?

Third and final page, time to slay the dragon.

Thoughts and Behaviors (Cost/Benefit Analysis): List the costs and benefits of seven thoughts or behaviors. Rate the importance of each from 1-10. After reviewing the costs and benefits of the current thought or behavior, develop a more adaptive alternative.

Tens across the board and I believe that I’ve evolved.

The feeling, unreal, is something I suspect is worth informing the others – once I’m done screaming to the fiends that are weening in the vent, asking all and any if they’ll double-check my work.

*When COVID arrived and closed all our classrooms, the Department continued issuing thousands of certificates, presumably based on workbook participation alone. These are the same certificates required to meet criteria for parole.

So even if each workbook costs north of $20 — which would be unlikely considering they’re purchased in bulk — why not distribute them to everyone willing to treat their behaviors, and give our case managers something more to work with?

[Materials from Therapistaid.com. If you enjoyed this article, we recommend viewing “IDOC Now Hiring: Alchemist Wizards Wanted.“]
…

CONFLICTING STORIES EMERGE: THE ISCC DISTURBANCE

[This story has been formatted for transmission over JPay.]

Regarding thy disturbance that thou shall not mention over JPay
Thy disturbance that hath been reported by local news
Thy disturbance that thy Department hath reported on thou’s website
But doth not allow families to forward their loved one’s
Possibly because thy Department doth not wish to be fact-checked

Of such disturbance, it hath been said,
Not by one but more and possibly all,
Unnecessary use of force by staff was thy culprit
And thy video thou holds is thy knower of truth

And we shame thy heathens that so flagrantly sin
For the pain they inflict on the people they oppress
Regarding all matters of staff-on-inmate violence
Regarding all matters of sexual misconduct on the afflicted,
The afflicted in their charge that they often do touch
Regarding all matters of obstruction to thy courts
Regarding all matters of censoring thy loved ones

God doth damn thy heathens,
Thy weasels,
Thy maggots,
Thy watchers complicit
Who know but do naught

And forever we find them
Logged in our good book
Thus no one forgets
For thousands of years

And that book’s name is
Exhausted Grievances In Summary
(for legal and investigative purpose)

Lord, let it not be a product of waste

Amen.
…

COVID NEWS

[As of May 22,] over 34,00 tests have been administered to IDOC residents in three states. More than 4,390 have identified positive and a total of six deaths have been reported as COVID-related.

Among residents, over 2270 vaccinations have been fully completed, and at least 696 have received their first shot.

Despite facility staff having early access to vaccinations, PrisonPolicyInitiative.org reported on April 21 that the percentage of IDOC’s vaccinated prison staff was only 28%.

It appears residents with Hepatitis C were not prioritized as having an underlying medical condition. Inquiring into this matter, an IMSI Hep-C resident was returned this response by Will Wingert R.N.: “[W]e already did 65+. When we get them, they will be offered to all, regardless of health conditions.”

Despite Governor Little’s promise that eligible Idahoans would be vaccinated immediately upon request, many inmate requests have gone unanswered for months.

Fact sheet for vaccines can be found at:

www.modernatx.com/covid19vaccine-eua
www.janssencovid19vaccine.com
www.cvdvaccine.com

Rumors that all three vaccines add several inches to the penis have yet to be confirmed, but the odds are pretty good.

ACLU Idaho and the law firm Shearman & Sterling are in it for the long-haul. They will remain in close contact with IDOC while monitoring all issues related to COVID. Those with concerns are invited to forward their COVID experiences to:

ACLU Idaho
PO Box 1987
Boise, ID 83701

View IDOC’s COVID numbers here.
…

FAT! BOOK DRIVE

This month we pay it forward by highlighting our book-driving friends at Rogue Liberation Library. Having massively expanded their outreach, they could use a little help covering increased mailing costs. We sent them $10, can anyone match us?

RLL
PO Box 3418
Ashland, Or 97520
rogueliberationlibrary@gmail.com
peacehouse.net/RLL/

This month’s contributions came from friends of Jesus! and the FAT! family:

The Everything American Government Book by Nick Ragone
Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard A. Thaler
The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
Miracles by C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Surprised By Joy by C.S. Lewis
Through Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel
Piercing The Darkness by Frank E. Peretti
This Present Darkness by Frank E. Peretti
God Will Use This For Good by Max Lucado
Serving Productive Time by Tom & Laura Lagana
Unlocked: Keys to Getting Out & Staying Out by Chance A. Johnmeyer
…

IDOC PREPARES TO RESUME VISITATION

The Department is preparing to resume in-person visitation on a facility-by-facility basis. The vaccination rate of residents, results of recent COVID testing, and facility locations have been offered as factors. The vaccination rate of facility staff have not.

According to IDOC’s website: “People who can show proof of vaccination may be allowed to visit their loved one with fewer restrictions, like the requirement they wear a mask, and, in some cases, be separated by a plexiglass barrier.”

For those whose visiting applications expired during COVID, now is the time to see them renewed.
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DAY ONE PROGRAM RECEIVES $250,000 FROM IDOC CARES GRANT

An IDOC CARES grant has been awarded to the PEER Wellness Center in Boise. The $250,000 grant will be used to help returning citizens “face the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to ISCI Case Manager Tony Arruberrera.

The funding will be applied towards the Center’s Day One Program, which is described in an IDOC article written by Arrburrera as “a collaborative and community-based approach to re-entry support services for individuals transitioning from an institution to our communities.”

The program helps new releases meet their immediate needs by providing transportation to community resource centers and to first-day check-ins, as required by Parole. In addition to a heavy focus on the first 48 hours — which includes obtaining the client a bus pass, cell phone, peer support, group schedules, clothing vouchers, hygiene bags, a food box and bedding (for those who are halfway-housed) — PEER Wellness volunteers also offer assistance on an individual basis for as long as one returning feels that they may need it. That assistance arrives in the form of peer support: resource referrals, check-up calls and texts, encouragement, mentoring, and various support groups.

Developed and led Mark Person, the Day One program reports multiple requests for assistance every week. As a fellow returning citizen, veteran and brethren in recovery, Person is a perfect ambassador for the service he’s established to welcome back members of the community with love and support.

The PEER Wellness Center is just one of many community partners providing Idaho Corrections a helpful assist.

Residents are hopeful that IDOC’s community-partners will start working their way through the Department’s facilities, where peer support and mentorships are direly needed.
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RENICK ON THE RADIO

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

This month Mark welcomed Evette Navedo, the programming director for GEO Group Re-entry Services. Evette shared with Mark and his audience the contractual nature of the community services that IDOC has employed GEO to provide.

Kourtney Stafford, GEO’s transitional housing manager, also joined Mark to discuss her interests and background, as well as her history with Idaho and how GEO’s tiered housing options will assist returning citizens as they make their move forward.

Off-air, Mark works with a re-entry effort under an advocacy arm of St. Vincent de Paul. He and his team are in the process of expanding their services throughout southern Idaho. Learn more @ svdpid.org and imsihopecommunityphaseii.com.
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IN THE FORUMS

It’s being reported that approximately sixty have returned from Saguaro in Arizona.

Persisting rumors with the Arizona contract imply the Saguaro population may soon be moved to a different facility.

Many are upset that IDOC disabled their comments on Facebook. The action is described as an affront to transparent communication. Choice words are also being offered for the new Facebook Q&A format — specifically, over the Department cherry-picking questions. Those who participate would like to return to the format Kempf used.

Folks still dealing with stimulus issues are encouraged to view “Missing Stimulus Payments For the Incarcerated? Questions and Answers“.
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INMATE SERVICES AT WORK

5-17-21

Dear Mayor McLean,

Greetings, Mayor! I come to you with a network of justice-involved interests I found actively orienting in civic pursuit. All of which won’t approve of this segue, but because you must be busy, I offer you my spiel:

While it’s realized that correctional matters are delegated to State, it’s members of localities that the State affects with its decisions — in the case of Corrections, the amount of local resources allotted for institutional aftercare, the training and skill sets we afford our incarcerated to be released with, and whether intervening in a crisis is worth more money than preventing one — and it’s also local communities Corrections depends on to provide returning citizens with humble opportunities.

Therefore I find it makes sense to establish local forums for law enforcement professionals, behavioral health specialists and community helpers to exchange insight and experience with justice-affected families — those with convictions and victims alike.

Having already engaged our Idaho lawmakers, I’m now intent on approaching city leaders and councils. But this has proven for me a difficult task, as their various associations are somewhat unresponsive to old-fashioned deliveries marked “Inmate Correspondence.”

Thus I find myself in your office with minimal ish, asking the following questions: Might you be willing to share pertinent information and suggestions to help me proceed with my most lawful quest? And might you also be willing to share my project among your network of aforementioned that would presumably share an interest in participatory discussion?

Included are links to materials I’m sending around. I’m told that they offer much-needed perspective.

Forever grateful for thoughtful assists,
Patrick Irving 82431
IMSI
PO Box 51
Boise, ID 83707
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SUGGESTION BOX

We suggest these additional sources of intel for our audience:

idahoprisonproject.org
idahoprisonblog.blogspot.com
jailmedicine.com
prisonpolicyinitiative.org
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Amber waves of grain, y’all! See you next month.

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

Next: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, July ’21 (Si Kahn Tribute Issue)