Updates

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Jan. 2020

WELCOME to the February issue of First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter that addresses Idaho Corrections concerns.

Brought to you by The Captive Perspective and made available by bookofirving82431.com.

This publication provides an insider’s look at issues affecting our Idaho Department of Correction’s community. If you wish to assist this effort, share the link, cut and paste, or print and send a copy to another.
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Our Mission: To better develop our current state of Corrections.

The Idaho Legislature shares our mission and welcomes your comments! Feel free to send them your thoughts, attached to a copy of this publication.
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FROM THE EDITOR

A lot happened in January. We had the Governor’s State of the State Address. Our Legislature started a new session. Some news coverage reminded people that we continue to live — but only as a reflection of modern society’s shortcomings (just kidding, it’s all our fault). And then there was the announcement of more out-of-state moves.

Did I mention the Office of Performance Evaluations’ report suggesting it’s cheaper already to hurry up and build a new prison?

With an estimated housing cost of $78-a-day per inmate, a new facility…wait…does that number only work when ALL the beds are filled? [Because then we need to include the real- and human-cost of pulling people off the street to fill those beds.]

When contrasted with the governor’s new plan to reduce our current prison population by preventing recidivism…hold on…did they really say it was curious how parole violations haven’t increased, yet revocations are rapidly inclining — during their pitch to build a new prison?

Really?

…After the Governor’s speech?

Huh.

Sentencing reform, good-time credits, more programming opportunities, AND feasible probation and parole pathways…how about that, instead?

It’s seems a bit more…sane.

I suppose with my immunity to rhetoric — built by intentions — it’s best I just focus responsibly on my usurped position, and freeball an issue that benefits these walls!

[You’ll find some useful information spread throughout this edition, and whatever other info I can verify will be provided when I get it.]

While I can’t offer shimmering hope to lure and catfish, I sure would appreciate it if you bought into this:

Should you note my disappearance or any disruption in my activities, know the universe favors both peaceful responses AND diligent inquiries: The best weapons are the questions that come with phonecalls. Unleash them in every direction if and when the time comes.

Now then, let’s First Amend This!
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Within the next four months, roughly 500 of us in Idaho facilities will join those from GEO Group’s Eagle Pass Correction Facility in being moved to CoreCivic’s Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, Colorado.

This means rumors from staff and inmates are now circling, some people are volunteering for transfer, others are frantically trying to anchor themselves to their families, and everything known is uncertain for sure.

While some of us, having been to kit Carson from 2012 to 2016, might be able to offer some insider knowledge, I recommend you do your best to avoid speculation.

That said, I feel compelled to share what I can as a fellow interstate transplant.

When selected for the move to Texas, we were all invited to express our transfer concerns directly to this contact:

Ammie Mabe
208-658-2234
amabe@Idoc.Idaho.gov

But when we were given her info and told we had up to two weeks to dispute our transfer, we were actually scheduled to be gone in one business day. Moral of the story: if you don’t want to leave the state, start making phonecalls now. (Ammie may or may not still be the contact.)

Monte Hansen and Tim Higgins are IDOC’s Contract Facility monitors — despite all their adverse reactions to logic, reason, and extensive documentation. If you can’t get ahold of them, try their boss, Pat Donaldson, Chief of Management Services.

Making an educated guess, using first initials and last names, their emails, respectively, are:

mhansen@idoc.idaho.gov
thiggins.idoc.idaho. gov
pdonaldson@idoc.Idaho.gov

Also, the Board’s phone number is 208-658-2000: When considered with Ammie’s, I imagine an unverified string of extensions in the 2000’s awaits your concerns.

If none of those folks are able to get back to you, I’d try Chief of Prisons Chad Page, and after that, Director Josh Tewalt.
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DID YOU KNOW

Audiences exist beyond the chain of command, and they can be helpful when attempting to seek resolution.

You don’t have to become a lawyer just to spend several years and $400 to have the court order a reluctant “I’m sorry” (although I’ll never dissuade you from doing so). There are other ways available to present any issue: I’ve got something I want you to see.

Disclaimer: I personally feel that apologies are overrated and long-term resolution requires useless Correctors to leave the profession, completely.

That’s why I raise public awareness by depositing their ridiculousness straight into the Public Trust: mating the observer effect with the laws of equilibrium.

Who knew science could be so sexy?

Establishing a pattern of negligence is handy, and it isn’t as hard as one might think.

Presenting issues through the chain of command allows you to document your concerns and their knowledge thereof. (As you never know what you may need to reference later, try to make a practice of logging everything.)

The more diligent you document and the more rational you present, the better you can illustrate the collective effort spent to ignore you.

For those of you with a family assist, know that their phone calls are considered most powerful. But where those can be made while emoting unstable, anything on paper must look as reasonable as possible — like you’re divested emotionally, with a calm, psychotic detachment. [If you as the plaintiff look like an asshole while trying to frame the defendant as such, you automatically lose by default.]

If you have no luck navigating your way through the corrections department, know that you’re more than welcome to try all the others.

EXAMPLE

In Texas, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards oversees the state’s private prison contracts, meaning they hold authority over GEO Group and IDOC. [Other states may use their Department of Corrections, Board of Prison Inspectors, Jail Oversight Board, etc.] So when I had a problem with our inmate population’s inability to sanitize our dining utensils for five months, and lodging formal complaints with ACLU-ID, ACLU-TX, Eagle Pass Public Health Department, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Inspector General of Health and Human Services didn’t work, I let the TCJS know, too. (All were presented copies of staff communications and my exhaustion of the grievance process.)

Guess what? I got the dish soap.

And then I alerted state and federal oversight of all the agencies that failed to act on our concerns, because…well, why not?

Wanting to continue utilizing the TCJS, I needed to know what standards they were holding IDOC and GEO to. That meant writing them to find out.

When they offered to charge me $40 to send their rulebook, my dad went ahead and downloaded it for free.

It was upon receiving their standards that I became aware of several additional noncompliance issues.

When the TCJS was formally presented with those concerns, a copy of that presentation was also sent to our IDOC Director — ensuring his awareness to GEO’s noncompliance (and eliminating plausible deniability for any potential future litigation).

By this time, GEO had identified the benefits of flying me back to Idaho.

So does it work? Yeah, but that’s only what I do. Feel free to take my thing and make it your own.

Here’s what you need to get started:

The Colorado Department of Corrections oversees private prison contracts in Colorado.

Colorado Department of Corrections
1250 Academy Park Loop
Colorado Springs, CO 80910

Constituent Services Coordinator — Lisa Wiley
Prison Operations Director — Travis Trani
Inspector General — Sherrie Daigle

719-226-4569

Please have ready offender’s DOC# or DOB, facility info, and contact info for return response to be expedited.

Kit Carson Correctional Center
49777 County Road V
Burlington, CO 80807
(Located 170 miles E of Denver)

CoreCivic
10 Burton Hills Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37215

Idaho Department of Correction
1299 N. Orchard St, Ste. 110
Boise, ID 83706
208-658-2000

Chief of Prisons — Chad Page
Director of IDOC — Josh Ewalt
Contract Monitors — tim higgins, monte hansen

Governor Brad Little
Office of the Governor
State Capitol Building
PO Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720

Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Special Litigation Section
950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530

Eventually, the actual contract with CoreCivic should come available through IDOC’s website. I’ll share that link, too, and we’ll discuss it when it’s up.

Because while IDOC is publicly stating assurances have made been to see to some very specific accommodations, there were assurances in the GEO contract, too. But those required IDOC to hold GEO accountable, and to the best of my knowledge, IDOC never enforced the daily fines that the GEO contract stipulated for every assurance not being met. (I personally had a conversation with monte hansen encouraging her to exercise this option. She was uninterested.)

In fact, many aspects of that contract were ignored for months, despite us all being very vocal about them. And if you saw December’s issue of First Amend This!, then you have an idea that IDOC still doesn’t understand the requirements they said they were holding GEO to. (And for important stuff, too, like processing disciplinaries.)

That means it’s up to you, friend, don’t take any unnecessary shit.

Your criminal behavior is no excuse for theirs.
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ATTABOYS

These are the people whose efforts we appreciate this month:

The paralegal at Idaho Maximum Security Institution has been top notch, lately. Friendly, efficient, and complete with the service — the likes of which never before have seen! Your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. Thank you IMSI paralegal. We hope you stick around awhile.

Chief of Prisons Chad Page was seen in our Ad-Seg bubble last month. We don’t know why you came, but it was nice you see you making rounds. Get out of the office a little more, big guy, you deserve it!

Warden Yordy put a smiley-face emoji on the #BlackfootChallenge — to which I alerted him via concern form — making it hard to be mad that day. Yordy’s tender act of kindness will now be remembered. And for anyone who knows me, that’s money in the bank!

IDOC Director Josh Tewalt looked good in his Sunday morning Viewpoint interview. It was nice to hear him publicly acknowledge a new approach is needed for offender maintenance. Good job, Josh. Get us the hell out of your prisons!

Governor Little appears to be proactive in taking steps to make sure Josh has funding to work with for keeping our free-world offenders free and away from prison. I’m starting to feel a real team atmosphere.

Keep up the good work, everybody!

NUMBERS

IDOC Inmates:
9,450 — Total
7,342 — In IDOC facilities
892 — In county jails
651 — In Texas
???? — Someone should look into the rest

1,488 — Beds in the Kit Carson Facility.
1,200 — Number of inmates needed there for $4 savings (per head, per day).

Up to 200 — Close Custody beds in Colorado.

$22,000 — IDOC’s average yearly housing cost per inmate.

207% — Prison budget increase over last 25 years. (I think that’s right.)

94% and 34% — Lower and higher education budget increases in the same timeframe (respectively).

17,000+ On felony supervision

3/4 of new-term commitments failed on probation or retained jurisdiction.

$6,000,000 budgeted for connection stations to ease high-risk case management.

$277,000,000 — IDOC’s 2020 budget.
$311,000,000 — IDOC’s request for 2021
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THIS JUST IN

Following up on last month’s discussion of much-needed programs in Ad-Seg, we’ve just been informed they don’t know when they’re going to start or what they’re going to look like.

A grievance has been filed over the nonexistent Long-Term Housing Policy.
Solution Requested: “Release a memo acknowledging this issue and provide in it suggestions as to how to address policy concerns for a policy that doesn’t yet exist. Also, create the policy and make it available.”

CoreCivic was the only prison contractor willing to negotiate with Idaho for an out-of-state facility.
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IN OTHER NEWS

Director Josh Tewalt says:

— He’s been tasked to lead the National Committee on Recidivism.
— Failures of the community are a precursor to crime.
— Re-entry center to be built in Twin Falls.

— IDOC has learned from past decisions: needs to build infrastructure, reduce incarceration demand, and invest in programming and rehab.

— Inmates being moved to Colorado will be prioritized based on proximity to release, medical needs, behavior, medium-custody levels.

— He has a high degree of confidence in contract assurances that IDOC will receive what they want from CoreCivic.

— Kit Carson will provide: meaningful opportunities for employment, education, programming treatment, computer and horticulture classes.

— Not all 1,200 inmates need to be from Idaho to redeem contract discount.

— Eagle Pass inmates will be last to move to Kit Carson.
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THANK YOUs

Let’s recognize some folks that responded to February’s issue.

Letters received from Idaho’s Senator Grant Burgoyne, Representative Melissa Wintrow, and our local ACLU were sincerely appreciated.

We thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to thoughtfully reflect on our efforts. Every bit of feedback helps.

Also, thank you, Mom — for seeing a few issues from your printer out the door. We appreciate the assist.
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SPONSORS

This week’s Arts and Entertainment section is brought to you by Shipwreck Presents.

Shipwreck Presents: Just the same old Shippy you’ve always known.
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ENTERTAINMENT

Now Showing At West Wing Theaters:

Consent With a Firearm	5:15 PM
The Tolerant Jew	7:25 PM
Benjamin’s Button	9:30 PM
Predator Vs. Chris Hansen	9:30 PM

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ARTiSTiC RENDiTiON

“Encounters”

I know you didn’t realize it, but that was my fabric softener:
The least I could do was make a push for your affection.
Your tidal eyes rolled with the waves of my Charmin’,
Caught in the line of an Albertsons, State.

Me: Small stain, dottin’ my cotton.
She: Never should have been in 20 Items or Less.
If: I wasn’t off duty, I’d’ve put her away.
Social problems: Sadist. Spastic bowel. Libra.

Jealousy. Incompetence. Impotence. Rage.

i blew you a kiss
to tender the moment.
your pretty smile
couldn’t get enough.
she caught the beef
the jury found her guilty.
you catchin’ my drift?
no harm, no foul.

I couldn’t help but notice, her invading your space.
If it wasn’t for your halo, I’d’ve tasered her taint.

She got the spray
you secondaried
that’s called
collateral.

I blame that on him — and his mysterious ways.

An aged biddy’s expense
the cost of your crush.
However did this catch
slip through your hands?

I didn’t shit myself…but I could’ve if I wanted to.

We should Zack and Cody: Let me give you the sweet life.

Wouldn’t it be funny
If I saw you in traffic
And we were destined by fate
For me to tail you again?

Also
the uniform
not currently active

I was
let go
for tasering taints

Life’s kind of an asshole. Let’s touch ours together.

Myspace.com/CHILLAXIN!!!,
The One That Got Away
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Well, that marks another poop break with 82431.

We should stop meeting like this.

Share us with another and I’ll see you next month!

“Broken Bones”
— Kaleo

Next: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Mar. 2020

The Prison Library Project
915-C W. Foothill Blvd., PMB 128
Claremont, CA 91711-3356

1-20-20

Dear PLP:

The English/Spanish Dictionary of Health Related Terms was useful for understanding the concerns of others during my project. And I also pulled from it while writing The Congener Interludes, Op.1: Sonatina of Intrigue, No. 2. So thank you!

You’re invited to share my materials in any format and with edits. Just sharing the link is also encouraged.

Regards,
Patrick Irving 82431
IMSI
PO Box 51
Boise, ID 83707
Book of Irving 82431

IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION
Inmate Concern Form

Inmate: Irving 82431
Date: 1-21-20
To: Chief of Prisons Chad Page
Cc: Mike — Keefe

As you may or may not know, I’ve been doing communication with Idaho’s press and legislature, lately. But exercising my civic responsibilities the way that I do, well, that requires you to stop enforcing nonexistent limits on the 6×9 envelopes I use to air grievances and request legal assistance. There are no limits on non-stamped envelopes. I’m requesting your assistance in addressing this issue. Your intervention is recommended.

1-18-20

Dear State Hospital South,

It’s been a little over five years since I’ve cycled through your facility. Only thirty-four more and I shed the amalgam I wore when we met.

Lately I’ve enjoyed writing people letters: Authors, advocates, legislators, the occasional stranger that wants to say hi. While I’m in a much better state than when I was in your care, I still find myself susceptible to words of encouragement and light rays of sunshine that float in on thoughtful hellos. For that reason, I wish to pass these small pleasures to my mental brethren in your facility’s hold. How about if together we build a working model?: I’m applying for a permit to send smiles to your peeps.

I understand there are privacy concerns, and I too consider yours a vulnerable population. So if it works best the communication is one way, I’d still enjoy you sharing my letters. What can we do to work this thing out?

Also, while I have your audience, let me say your staff’s kindness will never be forgotten. They treated me human, and the others the same. However, I was disappointed with one of your intake questions — regarding if I felt I possessed any special talents — and how my answering in the affirmative was used to confirm a psychosis with delusions of grandeur.

I’m not upset so much as I am curious: Is it possible you’re overlooking individual talents and the opportunity to nurture that comes with their encouragement?

If I could direct your attention to the site listed below, you might be surprised what one lunatic can do from solitary confinement.

Please consider my offer to volunteer as a cheerleader.

Looking forward to creative ambitions,
Patrick Irving 82431
IMSI
PO Box 51
Boise, ID 83707
bookofirving82431.com

Poets & Writers
90 Broad Street, Suite 2100
New York, NY 10004
PW.org

1-11-20

Dear Poets & Writers,

I can’t be certain if I’ve said thanks already, so we risk the potential for redundance in letters. You gifted me a copy of Nov/Dec, which exposed me to network of active Creatives. I wrote everyone whose address was listed, and on the downside of the rush, I remembered — subscribe. You have me looking forward to all future issues. You’re kind and you’re sweet and you won’t be forgotten.

Friendsies,
Patrick Irving 82431
IMSI
PO Box 51
Boise, ID 83707
Book of Irving 82431

Mr. Lawrence Bartley
News Inside c/o
The Marshall Project
156 West 56th Street, Suite 701
New York, NY 10019
themarshallproject.org

1-11-20

Dear Mr. Bartley,

Eli Hager’s article in Issue 2 of News Inside, about assuming civic responsibilities, inspired me. I’ve requested you view my materials, previously, but this one I think you’ll really enjoy. Please take a gander at the January issue of First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter @bookofirving82431.com. It was released to state media and legislators in time for our State of the State address and legislative session, where our Corrections has been spotlighted.

I appreciate your gifting me your publication, and I’ve enjoyed passing it around. If you like what I’ve done, please share mine as well.

In fandom,
Patrick Irving 82431
IMSI
PO Box 51
Boise, ID 83707
Messaging via JPay
Book of Irving 82431

Previous: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Dec. 2020

WELCOME to the January issue of First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter that addresses Idaho Corrections concerns.

Brought to you by The Captive Perspective and presented in alliance with the Book of Irving Project. Available at bookofirving82431.com — for your rightfully disgruntled loved one’s reference!

This publication provides an insider’s look at issues affecting our Idaho Department of Correction’s community. Because the editor’s an asshole, he enjoys the right to censor as needed. If you wish to assist this effort, share our link, cut and paste, or print and send this copy to another.
…

Our Mission: To better develop our current state of Corrections.

The Idaho legislature shares our mission and welcomes your comments! Feel free to send them your thoughts, attached to a copy of this publication.
…

EDITOR’S NOTE

Guess who didn’t get a black-bag midnight session after our last newsbrief? That’s right: Good ol’ 82431. Which either means we’re flying under the radar, or the powers-that-be agree it’s in our offenders’ best interest to network their concerns and petition directly for public involvement. Hmm.

In the interest of science, I vote we continue the effort to discover an answer. But before we move along, please remember this:

Should you note my disappearance or any disruption in my activities, know the universe favors both peaceful responses AND diligent inquiries: The best weapons are the questions that come with phone calls. Unleash them in every direction if and when the time comes.

Also know that I owe you, Society, and this is how I’ve decided to pay: as an apolitical self-educator that voices concern for others. So while the Constitution still protects my civic duties, let us enjoy another issue of First Amend This!
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THE VIEW INTO the day room from window B54 at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution hasn’t changed much in the last two years. The same eight desks have been sitting empty in front of a television, with shackles attached, to remind us that while they are fully capable of safely seating inmates for programming opportunities, such luxuries may inadvertently include social interaction, and therefore will not be tolerated.

Or maybe the shackles are for political show.

Several times throughout the year a facility wash notifies us in Administrative Segregation of an upcoming tour group. And when the foreseeable crowd of visitors amasses in the guard bubble (an elevated window of vantage), at least one finger per group inevitably points to the empty desks with a question our inmates welcome: “What are those used for?” The guide’s typical, animated, lengthy response always exceeds “We don’t use those” — the honest, four-syllable answer.

For some time now our Restricted Housing Units have heard of plans to utilize what taxpayers have already provided: the materials needed for offering programs to offenders, prior to their reintegration into neighboring communities. And for the same amount of time, we’ve wondered what stories IDOC is feeding these tour groups.

Have they been told that people from our unit are being released from prison directly out of a 23-hour, daily lockdown — with no correctional programming or tools learned for transition? Or how the lack of these opportunities restricts our ability to meet parole-eligibility requirements? Meaning: IDOC’s highest-risk population may one day return to the community with no form of parole oversight to keep tabs on their activities.

We suspect not. And for that reason I’m happy to call Bullshit.

The estimate is two years. That’s the time it’s been since our RHU inmates haven’t had programs.

Instead they’re allowed one hour a day to stand outside, in a weathered rec cage, barring the commonly occurring staff shortages that repeatedly shut down the facility.

The “rec modules” — made of concrete slabs — have only recently received a steel-grated cutout that allows inmates to view one another. A neighbor in my vent describes them: “The dividers are new. You use to have to yell through the cracks to talk to the person next to you. It was weird, finally being able to look them in their eyes while speaking to them. It took a while to adjust.”

It’s on a cold, drizzly afternoon that I join the others in standing outside, to be locked tight in a concrete cage. The rain invites itself in, but not before mixing with rust from the overhead enclosure, ensuring more spots on the nicely-stained jacket that finds itself shared between 95 others.

A speculative conversation is taking place about how the decision was made to install the new dividers. “It had to have been the tour — they never brought [the tours] out to the cages before that. We saw them come out that once, and the next thing we knew, they were putting dividers in for us. Someone must have asked them to explain themselves: They freak out whenever people ask questions.”

Remembering how my neighbor had to “adjust” to the sight of another inmate, it’s easy to wonder what difficulty can be expected from disposing one directly into the community — following their years of deprivation in Restrictive Housing. And it’s equally easy to imagine that even the slightest consideration has the potential to prevent the largest catastrophe.

But with the conversation for Ad-Seg reform legitimizing a level of nationwide concern, some states have been slower than others to take action.

IDOC recently limited disciplinary punishments to 15 days in RHU, a cut in half from what it was before. But IDOC’s use of Ad-Seg classification typically results in a stay from somewhere between one and two years — with no set limits on the actual duration. “Five years isn’t out of the question,” says a source who will soon qualify for a minimal-security institution, but expects to receive his annual classification override.

According to IDOC Standard Operating Procedure 303.02.01.001 (Classification: Inmate), while any facility administrator can authorize a classification override for one level of security — up or down — the Prisons Division Chief must authorize a move from minimum to max. An authorization apparently made with a minimal amount of scrutiny.

A cell shared in Max introduced me to an offender whose security level allowed him to work in the community. As he spent every day in a potato plant before returning to a work center, he was shocked one evening to learn he had received a two-level override. Preparing for parole with no disciplinary issues made it hard to understand the sudden reclassification. When his family moved to investigate the matter, they were met by a response typical of IDOC: “He knows what he did.”

The Division Chief of Prisons’ approving a move without a reason on paper certainly raises the question of intent. And with disciplinary infractions being IDOC’s primary method of recording offender behavior, that they’re not needed to administer punishment as reclassification calls for additional forms of oversight.

Further along this line of concern, we have minimum-custody inmates placed in RHU who attempt to dispute their placement, only to be told that Ad-Seg isn’t a classification, and can’t be disputed as such. Which seems counter-intuitive, considering they’ve been relocated to a dark abyss when they’re eligible to work in the community.

For those who receive a Restrictive Housing Order, periodic hearings with multiple individuals are required to keep it active. These individuals are expected to possess the qualifications necessary to assess an offender’s level of risk to the facility’s general population. But with the hearings held privately, it’s not uncommon to hear questions of where the requisite staff were hiding.

Perhaps most frustrating is having to speculate on RHU requirements, because in July of 2018, IDOC revised the 2011 Restrictive Housing Policy (319.02.01.001) to reflect only short-term arrangements. Conveniently noted in the updated policy’s Revision Summary is this mysterious tidbit: “This is a new document. Information regarding other forms of specialized housing was placed in separate standard operating procedures.”

The separate procedure they are alleging to use for Long-term Restrictive Housing is SOP 319.02.01.003, and this is the eighteenth month it will have been unavailable for anyone wishing to reference it.

A recent request I made to be provided with this policy was denied on account of staff’s inability to access it themselves. Which suggests that since July of 2018, RHU staff have been operating blindly. (I.e. a large population of our prison employees are unaware of the commitments IDOC made on their behalf when reporting this 2018 policy as active, but only if the Disclosure of Idaho Department of Correction Records Under The Idaho Public Records Act was followed. If IDOC didn’t report the policy active, then the short-term policy is falsely listing it as such.)

This opens the long, redundant and boring conversation of whether or not IDOC is exhibiting criminal behavior, which I will here sum up for you: Yes.

According to Idaho Code Sections 18-3201 and 18-3202, it is a felony to steal, mutilate or falsify a public record, and we can confirm multiple examples of falsification taking place.

One of these examples is how our entire Ad-Seg population currently possesses RHO’s listing them as active participants in a Long Term Restrictive Housing Step-Up Program. With no such program existing — and the empty desks to prove it — if, say, there’s funding involved for those statused as mentioned, then that may qualify as fraud. (That IDOC had programs in the past to prepare Ad-Seg offenders for facility reintegration doesn’t go unmentioned. Nor does the fact that those programs — meant to place offenders back in population within six months — took up to a year to get enrolled in. And during that year, those wait-listed were publicly enrolled as active participants.)

In another example, inmates whose RHO’s have them listed as “Transit” are being held for months at a time in the same 23-hour-lockdown Ad-Seg. This despite the revised, available version of policy 319 requiring Transit offenders to see 3 hours out of their cells, daily. (While it’s purported that ALL Ad-Seg inmates are to be allotted this same daily increment, it can’t be confirmed without the revised 2018 policy made available.)

With the lack of administrative attention, some inmates have been moved to make efforts for others in RHU themselves.

The residents of IMSI’s Unit B2 recently petitioned to hold a hygiene drive for their unit. They suggested donations be collected anonymously among their unit and redistributed accordingly. The effort was stated “in the interest that [their] small, segregated community be able to help provide [their] neighbors with the mental health benefits that accompany using quality hygiene products.” Warden Yordy denied the request based on the need to direct his focus towards institutional matters more pressing.

Among matters more pressing: replacing three working cameras with more expensive versions to supervise the same unit, whose population can’t be seen unless you view them through their cell door’s window.

If IDOC wasn’t so intent on watching inmates sit idle, they could have spent that money helping our offenders enrich their human capacity.

Which brings the mention of how Ad-Seg inmates aren’t the only ones being denied programming opportunities. Many in our facility at one time had tentative parole dates, reliant upon the completion of programs that IDOC has a history of not offering in Max.

If it seems counter-intuitive not to offer the programming required to release inmates while we’re still housing a large offender population out-of-state, consider that prison lobbyists need to frame an argument for their $500,000,000 request to build a new facility.

And when the new facility fills with people pulled from their community work assignments — with classifications adjusted — they’ll be able present another threat greater on paper than what truly exists. Which should be good for at least another $500,000,000.

Because as any dummy will tell you: Humans don’t just traffic themselves.
…

DID YOU KNOW

The GEO Group’s Eagle Pass Correctional Facility is required by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to have an RHU capable of holding 10% of the inmate population. They currently only meet half that requirement.

Perhaps that’s why EPCF failed to provide our inmates the day room requirements stipulated by Texas Minimum Jail Standards §271.1(12).

When the issue of noncompliance was presented to Assistant Warden Martinez and his staff, the response was “Texas Commission Guidelines [§285.1] states each inmate shall be allowed one hour of supervised physical recreation at least three days per week,” which they were meeting.

But the concern wasn’t §285.1, it was §271.1(12). Or as the appeal put it: “[Day room] is in addition to [rec], not instead of it. You must comply with both.”

When Deputy Warden of Virtual Prisons Tim Higgins was asked to address the issue, he stated: “Texas Jail Standards allows for the facility to follow state policy for state sentenced inmates. The facility is required to follow IDOC policy. Administrative Segregation inmates are allowed 3 days of outside recreation and two days of day room recreation each week meeting IDOC policy requirements. (See: Idaho Department of Correction, Inmate 82431 Concern Form, 2-27-19)

Tim’s not completely wrong here, just mostly. Because everyone knows that TMJS §297.14(f) required IDOC and GEO Group to present the policies outlined in their Agreement Number A18-002 before populating the Texas facility. And if the policies were presented to the Commission for approval, then they weren’t provided to inmates, as required by TMJS §283.2: “A copy of the [facility’s] institutional rules and regulations shall be made available to each inmate…The rules and regulations, as provided to the inmate, shall be submitted to the Commission for approval.”

Because the EPCF Inmate Handbook fails to reflect the policies IDOC outlined in their GEO Group agreement, we can be certain one or both of the aforementioned standards were violated.

Additionally, the policy Timmy claims to have presented to the TCJS is 319.02.01.001, which — as we’ve already discussed — doesn’t apply to Long-term Restricted Housing anymore. What he should have lied about was presenting policy 319.02.01.003.

A result of failing to operate by the policies provided to ALL inmates in Texas is that Federal Disciplinary Due Process violations may now proceed as class. There is also class potential for anyone denied a grievance for using the instructions in the handbook. As filing limits take their time to expire, the extent of the damage is anyone’s guess.

(The TCJS investigation of EPCF is presumed to be ongoing. Ref. IDOC Grievance Number CF 190000071, Violations of Texas Minimum Jail Standards, Book of Irving 82431.)

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This month’s Just for Fun has been sponsored by Glenn “Hightop” Zamboni.

Zamboni Insurance is proud to now cover suspicious farts: “We repair your drawers AND your social standing.”
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JUST FOR FUN

Contract Monitor Monte Hansen acknowledged IDOC was unable to maintain adequate records of inmate concerns from Texas, due to their being outsourced to The GEO Group. I’m happy to quote his direct response to a question I asked of whether or not IDOC knew they weren’t meeting The Idaho Public Records Act requirement: “Yeah, we’re still not really sure how that works.”

For some reason, Monte, no one’s surprised.
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IN ENTERTAINMENT NEWS, there will be a one-man theatrical rendition of The Human Centipede on IMSI’s C-Block this month.

The musical score, an acappella, is to be provided through the vents by the Civil Commits. You may remember them from the Turtle-Suit Tour, where they debuted their hit single, “Batteries Aren’t for Eating (Everyone Knows They Go In Your Butt).”
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COMMENTARY

With the winter solstice comes an annual appearance from the always-lovable Medieval Patrick. And due to a long-standing arrangement, whenever he’s even remotely-behaved throughout the year, he’s allowed to exercise one choice commentary in any Book of Irving production. For this year, he’s chosen to play First Amend This! into the new decade.

Love him or not, he’s going nowhere soon. Without further ado, here’s Medieval Patrick:

WE’LL BE OKAY in Ad-Seg. It’s not lost upon us that we have each other. I spend The Patrick’s 40th birthday here, enjoying a multi-cultural experience, welcoming the ever-changing tide.

To the gravitating forces that catalyze our Here and Now, we will become better at evolving our means. That is simply the way of Survival. But is it with or without you that we become better? When we finish our race, will we remember you at our hurdles, or will you have been the hurdles themselves? And what do you expect our numbers to one day be? — the same numbers your hard work is taxed to maintain.

This is a race whose finish has no clear winner, a race where we finish together — in a phrase — nonetheless. If we’re not for a cause then we’re against it. Our cause is betterment. What would be yours?

Let it never be said you fought an enemy unknown.

“Uprising” by Muse
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Thanks for reading. Please share us with another.

See you soon!

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AFTER THIS ISSUE WENT TO PRESS:

Idaho Maximum Security Institution
MEMORANDUM

Date: December 31, 2019
To: IMSI Ad-Seg Population
From: Warden Keith Yordy
RE: Step-Up Program 2020

Many of you are asking about a step-up program that is slated for early 2020. Here’s the plan we want to roll out.

First and foremost, all inmates in Administrative Segregation will be afforded three-hours out of cell time a day. This will be accomplished by offering 1 1/2 hours outside recreation and 1 1/2 hours inside structured activities in soon to be built indoor enclosures. The inside enclosures will be similar to our kiosks but bigger (5′ x 7′ with a shelf and stool). They will be big enough for up to four inmates to sit at a table and play cards, board game or study.

Everyone placed in Ad-Seg will be in the step-up program (Level 1 through 4). At initial placement, each inmate will be given a pathway or plan how to get out of Ad-Seg. They will be assigned specific cognitive-behavioral treatment curriculum to address the issue(s) that led them into Ad-Seg. Drug and Alcohol, Socialization, Relapse Prevention and Criminal (amp) Addictive Thinking.

Level 1 — In cell programming only, complete the first workbook specified to them. With successful completion and at 60-90 days, move to the next level.

Level 2 — In cell programming only, complete the second workbook specified to them. With successful completion and at 60-90 days at this level, move to next level.

Level 3 — In and out of cell programming, secured in programming chairs. This will be with “your level group” and may entail both hard and soft walks and multiple STG groups mixed together. With successful completion and at 60-90 days at this level, move to Level 4(asterisk)

Level 4 — Out of cell programming, unsecured and living in two-man cells. Groups will be very much like close custody. Hard and soft walks separated, attention paid to rival groups, etc. With successful completion and at 60-90 days at this level, moved back to general population based on current classification.

Frequently asked questions…

There is no de-briefing. Inmates will not be asked to come out and speak with Investigations. Our only expectation is that the offender changes the behavior that put them in segregation, not to drop out, debrief or anything that looks like that.

What’s the asterisk for above level 3? Our expectation is that most inmates placed in Ad-Seg would be moving to Level 4 at the 6 to 9-month mark and eventually back to general population in the area of a year. However, there are no guarantees an offender will be released from Administrative Segregation. If they are a repeat Ad-Seg offender or the act was so egregious, we may decide not to move them beyond level 3. This will be a subjective decision on the agency and based on the risk factors we believe an offender poses if released back to general population.

Next: First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Feb. 2020