Pulled from a memo posted around the Idaho State Correctional Institution Nov. 15, 2024.
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF IDAHO
__________________________________________
Reuben Cortes, Pete Kimball Roberts, et al.,
Plaintiffs
v. Josh Tewalt, et al.,
Defendants
__________________________________________
Case No. 1:18-CV-00001-BLW
Notice of Petition for Payment of Attorney Fees and Court’s Intent to Grant Payment with Modifications
__________________________________________
To: All current and future inmates in IDOC custody
This is a Court-ordered Notice directed to members of the Class affected by the [Hepatitis C] lawsuit. The purpose of this notice is to inform Class members of Class Counsel’s Petition for Attorney Fees and Costs and the Court’s Order and Notice of Intent to Grant Class Counsel’s Motion for Payment of Attorney Fees with Modification. Class members may file an objection to the attorney fee and cost application within 21 days after the posting of this Notice. Objections must be made in writing and addressed to the Court below:
Clerk of the Court
United States District Court
Re: Cortes v. Tewalt Case No. 1:18-CV-00001-BLW
550 W. Fort Street, No. 400
Boise, ID 83724
All objections will be filed in the Court’s public docket and automatically provided to each of the attorneys of record. Written objections will not be confidential. Please do not call the Federal District Court regarding the attorney fee payment or this case.
A copy of the petition for attorney fees and Court’s order are available for review in the facility Resource Center. Please Submit an Access to Courts Request form if you are unable to visit the Resource Center due to housing restrictions.
Date Posed: November 15, 2024
Objection Deadline December 6, 2024.
NOTICE OF MOTION FOR PAYMENT FEES AND COURT’S INTENT TO GRANT PAYMENT WITH MODIFICATION – 1
Welcome to the October edition of First Amend This!
This publication provides an insider look at issues affecting the Idaho Department of Correction community. If you wish to assist this effort, share the link, copy and paste, or print and send this issue to another.
Looking to help improve Idaho’s criminal justice system? We ask that you contact Erica Marshall with the Idaho Justice Project. The Idaho Justice Project works to bring the voices of people impacted by the criminal justice system to the legislative table to work on solutions.
***
IN THIS ISSUE
Creech’s post-execution-attempt appeal for post-conviction relief falls short; Idaho death chamber upgrade underway; IDOC officer mistakenly shot by Boise PD files claim for $500,000; court orders Idaho prisons to temporarily continue providing hormone therapy to Idaho prisoners diagnosed with gender dysphoria; Idaho state relieves its counties of their obligations to indigent criminal defendants; and NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young goes deep at ISCC.
Let’s First Amend This!
***
JUDGE CLEARS CREECH FOR SECOND EXECUTION ATTEMPT
Idaho’s Fourth Judicial District Judge Jason Scott last month dismissed a post-conviction relief claim submitted by attorneys representing condemned prisoner Thomas Creech, who survived a lethal injection attempt in February.
Creech’s attorneys argued that another attempt to execute him by lethal injection would violate his Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy–a term used to describe twice prosecuting and punishing a person for the same crime–and his Eighth Amendment right to remain free from cruel and unusual punishment.
Scott rejected both claims, finding that Creech has yet to die, so his original sentence is not yet completed, and the U.S. Constitution doesn’t prevent executioners who practice proper kill etiquette from taking mulligans.
Scott also noted that Creech’s attorneys failed to attack the validity of his conviction or sentence, the two prongs on which all post-conviction claims must stand.
The state served Creech a death warrant on Oct. 16, setting his date of execution Nov. 13.
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
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2 each — Cinnamon Rolls
2 oz — Breakfast Sausage
2 oz — Bran Flakes
16 oz — Milk 1%
8 oz — Vitamin Beverage
2 pkt — Sugar
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Idaho is one step closer to becoming the second state in the last 50 years to perform an execution by firing squad.
Idaho Reports and KTVB News last month obtained building permits showing that the IDOC has implemented the footprint necessary to legally execute prisoners using high-powered projectiles before a live, splash-guarded audience.
IDOC spokesperson Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic wrote in an email to Idaho Reports and KTV, “Phase one of the F Block retrofit included making modifications to the existing configurations and is nearing completion. We are currently in phase two of the retrofit, evaluating design and layout options for accommodating the firing squad.”
Firing squad executions are currently legal in five states: Idaho, Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina. But only Utah has applied the method (three times in total) since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
[Fruit and whole grain bread may be substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
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1 each — Fresh Fruit/Orange
2 oz — Peanut Butter
1 oz — Jelly
2 oz — Whole grain Bread
3 oz — Fresh Vegetable
1 oz — Potato Chips
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IDOC OFFICER MISTAKENLY SHOT BY BPD DURING PRISONER ESCAPE SEEKS DAMAGES
When the Boise Police Department (BPD) earlier this year responded to an assisted prisoner escape from Boise’s St. Alphonsus Hospital, BPD Officer Wayne Anderson mistook IDOC transport officer Corporal Christopher Wilske for an active shooter.
Wilske, whose eye was injured either by shrapnel or bullet, has filed a $500,000 claim against the BPD, according to Idaho Statesman journalist Alex Brizee.
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
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1 cup — Beef Lo Mein
1-1/2 cup — Pasta (All Shapes)
10 gm — Margarine
2 oz — Whole Grain Bread
1 pc — Cream Pie
8 oz Vitamin Beverage
______________________________
GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE SAFE FROM IDAHO PRISONS, FOR NOW
Individuals incarcerated in IDOC facilities who have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and are prescribed hormone therapy will continue receiving medication while the legal challenge against Idaho House Bill 668 plays out in federal court.
The bill passed earlier this year by state legislators made it illegal for state agencies and employees to apply state resources toward therapies used to treat gender dysphoria. Government employees who violate the law face punishment of up to 14 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Two transgender individuals, previously reported as three, incarcerated in Idaho prisons and represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho sued state and prison officials and Centurion Health, the medical provider for Idaho prisons, to prevent the bill from taking effect. Plaintiffs Katie Heredia (legal last name Robinson) and Rose Mills claim that halting their hormone therapy would be a form of cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of their Eighth Amendment rights.
Presiding federal judge David Nye last month issued a preliminary injunction preventing HB 668 from applying to all incarcerated individuals. “Nye said the plaintiffs raise serious questions going to the merits of their case, and they have shown they would experience irreparable harm from enforcement of the law,” Idaho Capital Sun reporter Mia Maldonado writes.
Nye also granted the case class action status, extending protections to all IDOC residents who have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and are receiving hormonal therapy.
According to court documents reviewed by the Idaho Capital Sun, Centurion reported that 60 to 70 people in IDOC facilities were diagnosed with gender dysphoria when HB 668 became active. But only 54 were being treated with hormones.
Nye’s order applies only to individuals in IDOC facilities.
The state of Idaho last month relieved its counties of their public defense obligations to indigent criminal defendants.
The sweeping change to Idaho’s public defender system comes in response to Tucker v. State of Idaho, a lawsuit filed in 2015 by the ACLU of Idaho, in partnership with National ACLU and the global law firm Hogan Lovells. The suit, filed on behalf of tens of thousands of individuals involved with Idaho’s criminal justice system, addressed what ACLU-Idaho communications director Rebecca De Léon described as an “under-resourced approach to public defense that violate the Sixth Amendment and state constitutional rights to an attorney.”
While the system overhaul may appear as forward motion, De Léon earlier this year wrote in a news release, it fails to remedy certain issues and makes some problems worse.
According to Ruth Brown with Idaho Reports, some attorneys who will make less money under the new state-run, public defender system have already begun filing motions to withdraw from their clients’ cases.
The Idaho State Bar has weighed on when it is ethical for attorneys to do so: only when the new pay structure will impact their ability to provide adequate material support to their clients.
Presiding judges are given broad discretion in determining whether to grant such motions. Elmore County attorney Terry Ratliff told Brown that his office has filed around 200 motions to withdraw, and that judges have granted most of them. Exceptions, he says, are cases where the defendant has yet to exhaust their 42-day timeframe to appeal.
A MESSAGE FROM IDAHO STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER OFFICES
[Delivered to Idaho’s prison population over JPay Sept. 24.]
The contact information for Idaho State Public Defenders in 14 counties has recently changed. Please see the below changes:
Ada County Main Office: 200 W. Front St., Boise, ID, 83702. Phone # (208) 605-4800. Fax # (208) 917-4879.
Bannock County Main Office: 353 N. 4thAve., Pocatello, ID, 83201. Phone # (208) 701-7355. Fax # (208) 840-7641.
Blaine County Main Office: 206 1stAve., Hailey, ID 83333. Phone # (208) 806-7700. Fax # (208) 913-3736.
Bonner County Main Office: 212 S. 1stAve., Sandpoint, ID 83864. Phone # (208) 920-6530. Fax # (208) 920-5100.(Scheduled to be active Sept. 25)
Bonneville County Main Office: 510 D. St., Idaho Falls, ID 83402. Phone # (208) 701-7300. Fax # (208) 534-6474.
Canyon County Main Office: 111 Albany St., Caldwell, ID 83605. Phone # (208) 605-4920. Fax # (208) 795-1371.
Gooding County Main Office: 145 7thAve., Gooding, ID 83330. Phone # (208) 644-7145. Fax # (208) 944-6300.
Jefferson County Main Office: 200 Courthouse Way, Rigby, ID 83442. Phone # (208) 701-7345. Fax # (208) 754-2461.
Kootenai County Main Office: 1450 Northwest Blvd., Suite 301, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814. Phone # (208) 415-3800. Fax # (208) 626-4199.
Minidoka/Cassia Counties Main Office: 1521 Overland Ave., Burley, ID 83318. Phone # (208) 647-7500. Fax # (208) 808-2354.
Power/Oneida Counties Main Office: 543 Bannock Ave., American Falls, ID 83211. Phone # (208) 701-7335. Fax # (208) 534-6132.
Twin Falls County Main Office: 233 Gooding St., Twin Falls, ID 83301. Phone # (208) 644-7111. Fax # (208) 944-6900.
***
NFL LEGEND STEVE YOUNG SCORES WITH SPEECH AT ISCC
Former 49ers quarterback, Hall of Famer and author Steve Young last month visited the Idaho State Correctional Center (ISCC) to speak to a hand-selected group of men incarcerated at the facility.
Young spoke about how his success in the NFL, business, philanthropy and life all trace back to lessons of love, according KTVB reporters Brady Frederick and Zack Armstrong.
The IDOC wrote on its Facebook page that those in attendance appreciated his message.
“As I told them, I didn’t come to speak to them because they’re in prison,” Young told KTVB. “I came to speak to them because they’re journeying with me and we’re on this path together.”
Young also visited patients at a local hospital and spoke at a pair of community events while in the Boise area.
With over seven years of episodes available for streaming, Mark Renick host Victory Over Sin on Boise’s KBXL 94.1 FM, Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. The program, funded by the Southwest Idaho advocacy arm of St. Vincent de Paul, shares what it’s like to live incarcerated in Idaho and then to come out of incarceration and live on parole.
9.7.24. Oxford House outreach manager Michael Reininger shares the democratically run, long-term sober-living model that his organization offers men and women in Eastern Idaho and the Treasure Valley. Visit Oxfordvacancies.com and oxfordhouse.org for more.
9.21.24. Digital creator and businessman Eddie Nicholoson did six years in prison, seven on parole. He attributes his success and happiness to a now-defunct, experimental faith-based prison program and the opportunities that he created following his incarceration.
9.28.24. East Boise Community Reentry Center volunteer Heidi Barker discusses her return to St. Vincent de Paul as a recovery coach and reentry specialist, pulling from own her wealth of knowledge and experience with addiction to help others.
The newly graduated class of probation and parole officers: Richard Vasquez, Top of Class Award; Mark Young, Tactical Edge Award; Nikolas Hansen, Top Shot Award; Austin Anderson, Most Improved on Target; Bethany Fitch, Top Instructor.
Clinical Supervisor Bryan Gimmeson for 15 years with the IDOC. Lt. Dixie Hoyt for an extensive list of positive attributes and her overall value to the department. Cpl. Daniel Burton as ISCC Employee of the Quarter. Ofc. Kaitlyn Murray as IMSI Employee of the Quarter. District 5 Presentence Investigator Jaime Staples for contagious positivity and five years with the IDOC.
District 4 probation and parole officers for working with the Boise Rescue Mission to take kids staying at the mission shopping for school supplies.
My public records request for the names, date of death and autopsy status of all IDOC residents who have died at Saguaro Correctional Center has been filled and denied in part. The department cited “ongoing investigation” as its reason for denying all information on the second of two deaths.
After being led for many months to believe that they were awaiting pay raises, resident workers at Idaho State Correctional Institution (ISCI) are now reporting dramatic decreases in pay rates and working hours.
***
RESOURCES FOR INCARCERATED PERSONS
Level is an organization dedicated to providing people incarcerated in U.S. prisons with free printed educational, job training and personal development guides. Its mailing address has recently changed to:
[From a recent batch of letters sent to university criminologists.]
9.8.24
Greetings!
My name is Patrick Irving. I was told that you and your students may have an interest in the makeshift prison project that I run with the help of my father at bookofirving82431.com. Enclosed is the monthly newsletter that I have published to the site for nearly five years. Online subscriptions are free. I hope you find this helpful and consider me a resource in the future.
Cheers,
Patrick Irving
ISCI Unit 14B
PO Box 14
Boise, ID 83707
***
SUGGESTION BOX
I suggest better suggestions from all of you.
***
Shout out to Wingnut! Thanks for donating a bag of coffee to help me offset the cost of producing this newsletter!
Also–if you’ve found your way to this page as a supporter of Kashawn or Cesar, please pass on to them my love and appreciation for their contributions to our amazing prison journalism community.
Welcome to the September issue of First Amend This!
This publication provides an insider look at issues affecting the Idaho Department of Correction community. If you wish to assist this effort, share the link, copy and paste, or print and send this issue to another.
Looking to help improve Idaho’s criminal justice system? We ask that you contact Erica Marshall with the Idaho Justice Project. The Idaho Justice Project works to bring the voices of people impacted by the criminal justice system to the legislative table to work on solutions.
***
EDITOR’S NOTE
In this issue:
Feds to investigate whether mother of Idaho’s anti-human trafficking task force used trafficking victims to perpetuate fraud; Idaho parole officer alleges civil rights violations in lawsuit against Nampa police and Canyon County prosecutors; two of this year’s most significant events at IMSI explained; prison employees gone postal at ISCC; criminal charges filed in Milo Warnock’s death; former PWCC resident settles prison employee rape lawsuit; ACLU-Hawaii calls for federal investigation into IDOC contract facility; CoreCivic’s profits increase as communities incarcerate more; and SBWCC switches gears with Boise Bicycle Project.
Let’s First Amend This!
***
IDAHO LAW ENFORCEMENT MAY HAVE FUNNELED HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS INTO FRAUD SCHEME
The federal investigation was prompted by a series of articles published by the independent, nonprofit news organization InvestigateWest.
Paula Barthelmess, the director of COBS, since at least 2020 has partnered with law enforcement to identify human trafficking victims and corral them into her safe houses. Some are ordered into her care by their probation officers and judges under the threat of incarceration; others may have been influenced by a county public defender who was found listed as a COBS board member. Once sequestered in COBS safe houses, victims are enrolled into case management services through ACTS, owned by Tylar Bell, Barthelmess’ son.
InvestigateWest spoke to whistleblower attorneys, federal investigators, multiple experts and several dozen people who are closely affiliated with the two entities. InvestigateWest journalists Kelsey Turner and Wilson Criscione write that their researchers also “reviewed formal complaints and inspection records, Medicaid billing records, government contracts and transactions with COBS, court records and social media accounts.”
Their findings:
“As COBS gained influence in Idaho, former COBS employees and residents say the program recruited women into the safe houses and kept them there using manipulative tactics mirroring those of traffickers. The residents were then drawn into a self-dealing scheme in which a for-profit counseling company–owned by Barthelmess’ son–tapped into clients’ Medicaid insurance and billed for services residents say the never received.”
COBS residents say they were pressured to provide unpaid labor: shoveling manure at an animal farm, attending gymnastics meets at a Ball-owned business, publicly promoting their traumas to help fund COBS–they could either get with the program or get back with their traffickers and jailors.
Former COBS employees say it wasn’t enough to isolate residents and strip them of their resources and autonomy, that Barthelmess also weaponized notes taken during their private ACTS therapy sessions to elicit their compliance.
InvestigateWest found that because Idaho’s halfway house market has long operated without oversight and regulations, complaints filed against COBS were neither taken seriously nor thoroughly investigated.
According to Criscione and Turner, Barthelmess and Bell have since refuted InvestigateWest’s reporting. But without specifying which claims are false or providing evidence to the contrary.
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
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1 pc — Frittata
2 lg — Pancakes
1 cup — Oatmeal
10 mg — Margarine
1-1/2 oz — Maple Syrup
2 pkt — Sugar
8 oz. — Vitamin beverage
8 oz. — Milk 1%
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IDOC PAROLE OFFICER SUES NAMPA POLICE AND CANYON COUNTY PROSECUTORS
Idaho Department of Correction parole officer Cliff Ohler has filed a lawsuit against the Nampa Police Department (NPD) and Canyon County prosecutors.
Ohler, who is also a task force officer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Violent Crime Task Force, claims that members of NPD coordinated with local prosecutors to unlawfully search his property, complicate his work and defame his character. Actions that he alleges came as retaliation for refusing to perform a questionable interrogation and warrantless search on a man on his caseload suspected of murder.
Idaho Press reporter Haadiya Tariq writes that an affidavit filed by Ohler “names NPD Chief Joe Huff, Deputy Chief Curtis Shankel, Sgt. Shane Huston and Detective Curtis Carper as defendants, as well as Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Taylor and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Eleonora Somoza.”
The Canyon County Prosecutors Office denies any wrongdoing and an NPD spokesperson says the department doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation.
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
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1/2 cup — Turkey Salad
2 oz — Whole grain Bread
10 mg — Margarine
1-1/2 oz — Tortilla Chips
1 each — Fresh Fruit/Apple
1 each — Cookie #1 ( Blondie Bar)
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Source: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.1
***
TWO OF THIS YEAR’S MOST SIGNIFICANT INCIDENTS AT IMSI EXPLAINED
Idaho Statesman reporter Alex Brizee last month unpacked two of the most significant incidents to take place this year at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution (IMSI): February’s tactical show of force by facility staff against residents and May’s six-day hunger strike that attracted participants from the Idaho State Correctional Center (ISCC).
When, in late February, a father whose son is housed at IMSI sought my interpretation of the tactical response, I felt it best to speak through several presentations that I pieced together during my years at the facility.
2) “First Amend This!, Oct. 2022 (The Ad-Seg Issue).” Illustrates how the extended use of adseg negatively impacts the spirit and mind, and how prison employees’ failure to abide by policies translates in terms of public safety.
3) “Request for Accord: From IMSI Residents to IMSI Leadership.” IMSI residents in July 2023 proposed “a meeting between IMSI leadership and representatives selected from the general population, to discuss the ongoing absence of parole-required programming, religious services and behavioral incentives,” only to have their peacefully organized, articulate effort go ignored.
According to the Statesman, IMSI management made minor improvements to the facility following the food strike. They also acknowledged the importance of communication between staff and residents.
Moving forward, it is not yet clear at what point the department’s close custody population will be included in its plans to improve their environment and behaviors.
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
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3 oz — Chicken Filet
1/2 oz — Cheese
1/2 cup — Tomato Sauce
1-1/2 cup — Pasta (All Shapes)
1 cup — Garden Salad #2
1 oz — Ranch Dressing
2 pc — Garlic Bread
1 pc — Cake #6 (Marble)
8 oz — Vitamin Beverage
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Corrections Officer Scott Amos explains in emails obtained by Idaho News 6 why ISCC residents should follow up on all unanswered communications sent within the last four years:
“I found [residents’] incoming and outgoing mail, concern forms, diet slips, job applications, and many other personal documents discarded in the shred bins, drawers, and closets instead of being delivered to their intended recipients.”
According to Idaho News 6 reporter Riley Shoemaker, upon learning that Amos alerted residents to the fact, one ISCC supervisor responded, “Even if that was the case, informing offenders of this could have led to a serious incident. Could you please explain why you did this?”
Internal memos and complaints obtained by Idaho News 6 suggest that mail handling practices at the facility have been an issue since as far back as 2020.
To these, the IDOC responded:
“IDOC takes these allegations very seriously. We are committed to conducting a comprehensive investigation to uncover any wrongdoing and to appropriately hold staff accountable. It is equally important to us to thoroughly investigate these types of allegations to ensure staff who are wrongfully accused are exonerated. We are in the early stages of the investigation and have to be very mindful of not compromising the investigation by sharing information prematurely. As such, we have nothing to disclose at this time.”
Well, here’s something that I can disclose: documents showing how in 2019 and 2020, staff at Eagle Pass Correctional Facility, Southern Idaho Correctional Institution, IMSI and Keefe Commissary obstructed my letters to and from oversight bodies, legislators, media and advocates. Like other grievances mentioned in this newsletter, these too can be viewed in the presentation “Exhausted Grievances in Summary” (Grievances 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 10), and also in my Sept. ’20 newsletter article “Editor Loses Gracefully.”
A grand jury on Aug. 27 indicted James M. Johnson on charges of first-degree murder and the destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence in the brutal death of Milo Warnock.
Warnock was killed Dec. 10, 2023 at ISCC, where the two men shared a close-custody cell.
Warnock’s sister, Hallie Johnson, writes on behalf of her family in an email to the Lewiston Tribune, “[W]e’ve agonized over the lack of information about Milo’s death as well as what has felt like a very slow investigation. It is a relief that the indictment has occurred, but we know it’s the beginning of more waiting as the judicial process plays out. It’s impossible not to be reminded of the senselessness of Milo’s death. I hope that these painful reminders for our family are reminders to the public that there are issues with the criminal justice system.”
FORMER PWCC RESIDENT RAPED BY FSO RECEIVES $62,500 COURT SETTLEMENT
The state of Idaho has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who was allegedly raped by a Food Service Officer (FSO) while incarcerated at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center in 2021.
Idaho Statesman reporter Alex Brizee writes, “The Idaho Department of Administration’s Risk Management Program told the Idaho Statesman in an email that it paid $62,500 to settle the woman’s claims against Idaho and the state’s prison system.”
The woman, who remained anonymous in her lawsuit, was 37 years old when she says FSO Derek Stettler cornered her in a prison kitchen bathroom and forced her to perform oral sex on him. She filed the lawsuit in 2023, after Stettler was charged for crimes that Idaho State Police says he admitted to during an interview, and then committed suicide. Stettler’s estate and several corrections employees were listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
“The settlement, which was reached in the spring,” Brizee writes, “didn’t include any of the claims against Stettler, and was settled only with state agencies and a corrections officer who was accused of failing to report allegations, court records showed.”
The victim’s attorney, Susan Mimura, has since filed an amended complaint against Stettler’s estate. But after neglecting to serve it in accordance with legal guidelines, the court was forced to dismiss it, according to court records reviewed by the Statesman.
ACLU OF HAWAII CALLS FOR FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO IDAHO CONTRACT FACILITY
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii is calling for a federal inquiry into Saguaro Correctional Center (SCC), and attorney Miles Breiner wants his client, Daniel Kosi, transferred from SCC back to Hawaii before he’s found dead.
SCC is a private, Arizona prison that is operated for a profit by the company CoreCivic. It currently houses prison overflow for Idaho, Hawaii and Montana.
***
CORECIVIC PROFITS INCREASE
Trading View reports that CoreCivic has released its second quarter financial report for 2024 and is showing positive gains over the same quarter last year.
Compared to the same period last year, CoreCivic saw a 6% increase in total revenue, reaching $491 million, and a rise in occupancy rates, from 70.3% to 74.3%.
With federal, state and local bodies boosting their rates of incarceration, CoreCivic projects that its 2024 adjusted net income will climb between $65.6 million and $73.6 million.
BOISE BICYCLE PROJECT BRINGS SKILLS TRAINING TO WOMEN’S PRISON
Idaho Press reporter Laura Guido last month spotlighted how the Boise Bicycle Project (BBP), through its program Switching gears, is teaching women incarcerated at the South Boise Women’s Correctional Center basic bike mechanic skills.
BBP volunteer Chris O’Brien visits the prison once a week to work with the program’s twelve participants. Those who fix 15 bicycles are considered to graduate the program and gifted a bike in recognition.
In addition to performing repairs, participants also help train youth to ride safely at BBP community events.
With over seven years of episodes available for streaming, Mark Renick hosts Victory Over Sin on Boise’s KBXL 94.1 FM, Saturdays at 12:30 pm. The program, funded by the Southwest Idaho advocacy arm of https://www.svdpid.org, shares what it’s like to live incarcerated in Idaho and then to come out of incarceration and live on parole.
8.10.24. Reentry advocate and halfway house operator Keri Raby is now collaborating with others to expand the support services available women returning from incarceration and rehabilitation. https://soberhomesunlimited.com.
8.17.24. Saenz House founder Treena Stephens-Saenz has successfully operated businesses employing justice-involved individuals. Now a halfway housing provider, she is looking to better support people who are navigating reentry and recovery.
8.24.24. Mario Hernandez, the legend who dramatically improved Idaho’s prison education programs while incarcerated, introduces his new nonprofit called Learning How To Live, Inc.
8.31.24. Launee Wolverton, the founder of Purses With A Purpose, a nonprofit organization that fills purses with hygiene products for women and teens in need, discusses working with different communities and donors to help others maintain their dignity.
IDOC employees Nicole Case and Jay Lau for 25 years of service; Chad Page, Nancy Volle and Laura Kelly for 20 years of service; Charlie Martinez for 15 years of service; Addy Matamoros, Melody Creech and Graye Wolfe for 10 years of service; Annue Munoz, Eric Murray and Bree Derrick for five years of service.
PWCC instructor Carlee Dille with the 2024 Career Guidance Award for Region 5.
Idaho State Correctional Institution (ISCI) Warden Ty Davis confirmed during an August Town Hall meeting that the IDOC will begin equipping select ISCI residents with ankles monitors.
Those housed in intake units and mental health units will not be required to wear them. Part of the reason for this, Davis said, is because it’s too expensive to equip everyone.
Citing security exemptions that apply to the general public, the IDOC denied my public records request for all legal agreements, statements of work and internal PowerPoint presentations involving the IDOC and service providers of wearable prison monitoring technologies.
***
RESOURCES FOR THE INCARCERATED
The cross-disability organization HEARD is the only organization in the U.S. that focuses on incarcerated advocacy, reentry support and community education for deaf and disabled people. The group is now asking for help to place its yearly survey in the hands of justice-involved individuals who are also deaf and disabled.
I am including my email to ACLU-Hawaii, which I am also sending to ACLU-Idaho and ACLU-Montana.
Take care,
Patrick Irving
__
To: ACLU-Hawaii
Subject: DOJ Investigation into Saguaro Correctional Center
[This message forwarded from a resident of the Idaho State Correctional Institution.]
9.3.24
Hello,
My name is Patrick Irving. I write the prison newsletter First Amend This! from Idaho. I understand that ACLU of Hawaii is calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona, and I have recently made available information that may support your call. You’ll find it in the article titled “Conflicting Accounts of Clark Cleveland’s Death” in my August newsletter at bookofirving82431.com.
You’ll note in my article that I submitted a public records request to the Idaho Department of Correction in an effort to confirm that it was Clark Cleveland who died on the Idaho side of SCC, and also to confirm the date and cause of death. The department denied my request in full after the article was published, citing “ongoing investigation” as its reason.
I hope this information is helpful to you.
Best,
Patrick Irving
***
SUGGESTION BOX
The medical situation at IMSI: I suggest that someone fix it.
Aww Snap! News is a Prison Dude production, paid for with a meager monthly allowance from The Prison Dude’s mom and dad.
Our mission is to strengthen the information networks used by criminal justice researchers and writers–emphasis on those who work from incarceration–to better inform decisions surrounding public safety policies.
You, too, can help. Getting started is as easy as sharing any of the below articles or summaries on your preferred platform and following our broadcasts on TikTok @ThePrisonDude.
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What’ s up? I’m Patrick Irving. This is Aww Snap! News.
“Idaho’s first anti-human trafficking task force may have been fueled by fraud.”
Community Outreach Behavioral Services of Idaho bills itself as a saving grace for victims of human trafficking. But according to InvestigateWest, the organization whose clients come at the direction of police, county jails, judges, prosecutors and probation officers appears to be using trafficking victims to arrange for the billing of much, much more. For extreme conflicts of interest at best and government-supported fraud at worst, view:
“Colorado prisons ignore state mandate to abolish slavery.”
In 2018, Colorado voters amended the state’s constitution to free incarcerated people from slavery and indentured servitude. But, as Daniel Ducassi with Law 360 reports, two men in Colorado prisons are now claiming in a lawsuit that the state’s DOC is refusing to abide by the mandate. The men are now seeking to expand their lawsuit to include up to 14,000 plaintiffs.
“San Diego County jails killing at an alarming rate.”
More than $75,000,000 in lawsuits have been paid out by San Diego County for preventable jail deaths and injuries since 2019. Two egregious examples recently detailed by the San Diego Union-Tribune include a 24-year-old pregnant woman who sheriffs deputies left to die after watching collapse, and a developmentally disabled woman found to have withered away for weeks.
“Los Angeles County juvenile services to pay for long history of child sex abuse.”
In Los Angeles County, after California’s 2019 Child Victims Act loosened the criminal and civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse, more than 5,000 plaintiffs filed claims over allegations that took place in foster homes, shelters and juvenile probation and detention facilities. According to reporting by The Imprint, the county’s juvenile probation and detention services has been targeted by more than 2,300 lawsuits in the last three years alone.
“Washington sets aside $99,000,000 to make amends with stoners.”
Prison Legal News contributor David M. Reutter reports that nearly 400,000 people with marijuana convictions in Washington state are now eligible to have their convictions vacated and be refunded for money spent during the legal process. A total of $99,000,000 has been set aside by the state to ensure refunds for those convicted prior to Feb 21, 2021. Those impacted can apply for refunds at https://refund.courts.wa.gov.
“Christopher Dunn freed after wrongfully imprisoned for 34 years.”
Missouri’s Christopher Dunn has been released from prison after spending 34 years incarcerated for a murder he didn’t commit. Dunn’s exoneration was secured with the help of the Midwest Innocence Project, one of several such projects in the U.S. made possible by grants and support from donors.
“Former Inmate Services Corporation employees sentenced for raping shackled transportees.”
The private prisoner transport company Inmate Services Corporation, once based out of Arkansas, has finally been put to sleep. This after two of its employees were sent to prison for raping multiple female transportees and others who worked for the company were accused and convicted of sexual assaults.
Good news for tourists and citizens of Baton Rouge, Louisiana! According to Jurist News, The Advocate and the city’s WAFB.com, U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick has ruled that the Baton Rouge Police Department’s decades-long practice of conducting severe beatings, strip-searches and flashlight body cavity searches on people seen as behaving suspicious is no longer cool.
“Elected Pennsylvania constable who bragged about being a pimp faces criminal charges.”
Pennsylvania State Constable Timothy “Timbo” Raye Heefner is a self-described pimp who is accused of recruiting sex workers from the Franklin County lockup. Heefner is now facing charges for up to 704 criminal offenses, many of which are supported by evidence procured through his prolific Facebook messaging and recorded phone calls to detainees at the local jail.
“Shots Fired! FCC takes aim at prison telecom providers.”
The Federal Communications Commission in recent months took aim at several abusive practices by prison telecom providers and their downright dirty methods of scoring jail and prison contracts. Visit Prison Policy Initiative at prisonpolicy.org for Wanda Bertam’s report on the how the new FCC regulations will cap the costs of jail and prison phone and video services, and otherwise impact the families and the loved ones of people incarcerated.
“TV’s Green Power Ranger sought by police after scuffle over handicap parking space with 62-year-old man using walker.”
When earlier this summer confronted for taking a handicapped parking space, actor Hector David Rivera Jr., AKA the Green Power Ranger, allegedly pushed down a man using a walker, and then went on the run. David at the time was scheduled to appear at the Magic Valley Comic-Con, an Idaho event whose website had him featured on its home page.
Patrick Irving is currently incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Institution. He is a Prison Journalism Project contributor, a member of PEN America’s forthcoming Incarcerated Writers Bureau and the author of the First Amend This! newsletter. His work has been published by The New York Times, The Harbinger, Idaho Law Review, Solitary Watch, Prison Journalism Project and JSTOR.
I am currently benefitting from an Idaho Prison Arts Collective poetry workshop led by Michael Richardson at the Idaho State Correctional Institution on Thursday mornings. I very much enjoy the workshop but have been struggling to set aside time for the homework. My assignment this week was to bring in three rough drafts for feedback. It’s now nearing bedtime on Tuesday evening and I, thinking it’s Wednesday, just rushed to finish the assignment:
1)
A breath
as fresh as the depths
I travel
atop the shoulders
of giants
a bridge
broken by life
unraveled
and sunk by urges
defiant
I’ve carried the former while crossing the latter
–and climbing cold cascades of stone
I’ve darkened the skies with long-range decries
–crafted from heartstring and skull
I’ve stood ground were currents cripple
–and praised the waves for trying
And I’ve scraped knuckles in jackets back-buckled
–carefree while cornering tyrants
2)
I
feel less
like writing
a poem
than I do
like writing
a song
five words in this line
four in the next
and BOOM!
my
homework
is done
By now you have likely seen me mention that I am experimenting with ways to strengthen the information networks used by criminal justice researchers and writers, with an emphasis on those who work from incarceration.
With support for this project currently limited to that coming in from my creative partner and family, tackling this task from prison requires a little extra innovation. One approach we are now trying uses my prison telecom provider and a popular online platform to hype the work of others through what we’re calling Aww Snap! News briefs.
Aww Snap! News briefs are short broadcasts filmed using JPay’s 30-second VideoGram service and posted to TikTok from Berlin under the handle @ThePrisonDude. I do what I can to notify my sources of information how and why I am attempting to amplify their work, and I include in each followup an invitation to utilize our growing network.
The production process has its kinks and my team is green to TikTok, but early results are promising.
If you or someone you know may be interested in helping Aww Snap! News pursue its aforementioned goal, check us out, follow us, subscribe to us, pin us, X us, like us, swipe us right, toggle us down, Yelp us up, shout us out–whatever you’re doing online, doing it to us would be cool.
And if you come across a story, a body of research or an incarcerated talent that you would like to share, hit me up by way of snail mail, JPay, contact form, email or TikTok.
After posting this epistle, I emailed this thread to several members of the MuckRock team, including the product outreach manager that I first reached out to in April. That email was the only one of five to bounce, suggesting to me that he has since moved on.
MuckRock COO Amanda Hickman kindly responded by email before the end of the day. According to their records, she said, the MuckRock support team answered my final inquiry May 27. She included what she said was their response and offered to answer further questions.
Unable to match the May 27 return to my own email records, I cannot say why I never received it. I can only say that I am relieved by Ms. Hickman’s tactful and timely response, as it allows me to continue believing in her organization and the people it serves.
“MuckRock is a nonprofit, collaborative news site that brings together journalists, researchers, activists, and regular citizens to request, analyze, and share government documents, making politics more transparent and democracies more informed.” — Muckrock.com
[This message forwarded from a resident of the Idaho State Correctional Institution.]
It’s Patrick Irving again. I approached your team by email early April to share that I was planning on devoting a year to strengthening the information networks used by criminal justice researchers and writers, and that I for some time had already been referring people to your platform. I emailed again in May with questions about using your service to submit public records requests to prison systems across the U.S. Can you please help me to understand why I’m still awaiting your response?
Since your info center and management team have fallen short in responding to my queries, I feel torn by the need to begin recanting months of referrals to your service. The excitement that I maintained for so long after reading about your mission and researching your team is nearly gone, replaced by the worry that your operations may be biased towards individuals who are researching and writing from incarceration–a population for which I am proud to champion.
Would anyone at MuckRock care to comment on my experience?
Welcome to the August edition of First Amend This!
This publication provides an insider look at issues affecting the Idaho Department of Correction community. If you wish to assist this effort, share the link, copy and paste, or print and send this issue to another.
Looking to help improve Idaho’s criminal justice system? We ask that you contact Erica Marshall with the Idaho Justice Project. The Idaho Justice Project works to bring the voices of people impacted by the criminal justice system to the legislative table to work on solutions.
***
EDITOR’S NOTE
In this issue:
All hell is breaking loose at Saguaro Correctional Center; FCC votes to lower the rate caps for jail and prison phone and video calls; judge broadens restraining order in Idaho Vagina Trials; sister of Milo Warnock, Hallie Johnson, publishes op-ed on Idaho prisons; drugs, drones and cellphones–a growing concern in corrections; Thomas Creech fouls the friendship of a federal judge and local prosecutor; Boise State Public Radio brings you an Idaho prison gang update; and an IDOC job fair prepares residents for reentry.
Let’s First Amend This!
***
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS OF CLARK CLEVELAND’S DEATH
Several residents who recently returned from Saguaro Correctional Center (SCC) in Eloy, Ariz. last month presented me with concerns surrounding the death of an Idaho man at the facility they knew only as Cleveland.
I reached out to the IDOC public information officer (PIO) to verify whether they are referring to Clark Cleveland, a man with whom I became acquainted at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. The PIO recommended I submit my query as a public records request.
I followed her recommendation, requesting the names, dates and causes of death for all Idaho prisoners who have died at SCC.
Unfortunately, Idaho public records law prohibits incarcerated individuals from requesting information that pertains to other imprisoned people, and this law is sometimes interpreted to include those who are deceased. Whether that’s true with this request has yet to be determined–my inquiry remains unfilled as this article is published.
It was another person following SCC operations who supplied me with this news release, found on the IDOC’s X (formerly Twitter) account. It corresponds with the estimated time of death relayed by those who first approached me.
A 39-year-old IDOC resident housed at Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona, who was found unresponsive on Mon. 6/17/24, has died. Staff performed life-saving measures and called 911. The resident was pronounced dead at 4:19 a.m. Local law enforcement is investigating.
Having compared information provided by the IDOC Resident Finder with media coverage of Cleveland’s crimes, I can say that it appears Cleveland has completed his natural life sentence. But I remain unable to confirm whether he was the subject of the news release without IDOC verification.
Among those I’ve spoken to is an individual who says that he was housed a few cells away from Cleveland the evening he died. He has given me permission to share what he witnessed but asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.
He tells me that he and Cleveland were in the hole on unit HB when Cleveland began screaming that something was burning a hole through his insides, and that Cleveland beat on his door for hours, yelling for staff to help him. Medical staff came onto the unit and spoke to Cleveland multiple times that evening, and each time, he says, they accused him of faking his emergency. Because Cleveland was housed on the upper tier of his unit when they finally brought in a stretcher, prison staff had to carry his bloody and lifeless body down the stairs to the stretcher. He also says that he later spoke to prison staff about what he witnessed, and they told him that Cleveland died on the way to the hospital from a hole being eaten through his stomach.
SCC is a private contract facility that is operated for a profit by the company CoreCivic. It currently houses prison overflow for Idaho, Hawaii and Montana.
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
______________________________
1 pc — Chuckwagon Patty
1 cup — Farina
8 oz. — Milk 1%
3 oz. — Biscuit
0.75 oz. — Country Breakfast Gravy
2 pckt — Sugar
8 oz. — Vitamin beverage
————————————————
Patricia Fay West, 56, last month pleaded not guilty to six felony charges resulting from her alleged June 20 attempt to smuggle 6 oz. of methamphetamine into SCC.
She was employed by the prison at the time of her arrest.
According to Honolulu Civil Beat reporter Kevin Dayton, the Pinal County Narcotics Task Force searched West’s home after her arrest and found enough meth to bring the total amount in her possession up to roughly two pounds.
West is now facing six criminal charges, including two counts of possession of a dangerous drug for sale and one count of promotion of prison contraband–each a felony punishable with up to 10 years in prison.
An IDOC spokesperson declined to comment on West’s arrest and drug activities at SCC
“But Hawaii prison officials,” writes Dayton, “said in December that no Saguaro staff members had been terminated, arrested or charged with smuggling contraband last year.” This despite a man on the Hawaii side of the facility being found dead in his cell last fall with methamphetamine in his system.
CELL ESCAPES, CELL INVASION, AMBULANCE RIDE AND LIFELIGHT: MORE REASONS TO BE CONCERNED WITH IDAHO’S CONTRACT FACILITY
On July 27, four Hawaii men housed in an SCC AdSeg unit brutally assaulted another man on their unit after performing what appears to be an orchestrated cell escape.
Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (HDCR) released a statement saying that one of the four aggressors first assaulted a guard who was escorting him, then used the guard’s keys to free three others from their cells before invading the cell of a fifth man.
Honolulu Civil Beat reporter Kevin Dayton has since identified the fifth man as 51-year-old Daniel Kosi.
The guard was taken to the hospital by ambulance, Kosi by helicopter. Both were released the following day.
Kosi’s sister spoke to Dayton about the assault. She says her brother reported being stabbed roughly 50 times in his head and upper body.
Honolulu lawyer Myles Breiner represents a client who is also incarcerated at SCC and claims to have witnessed the attack. Breiner told Honolulu Civil Beat that surveillance video shows the guard who was allegedly assaulted failed to abide by policy and escort his prisoner in restraints with a fellow officer. He also said that Hawaii corrections is now investigating whether that guard was paid off.
“The July 27 attack,” writes Dayton, “comes two months after another Hawaii prisoner at Saguaro was apparently murdered in his cell in another area of the facility.”
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
______________________________
1 pc — Salisbury Steak
0.5 cup — Mashed Potatoes
0.75 cup — Vegetables
1 pc — Pumpkin Cream Pie
2 oz — Wholegrain Bread
10 gm — Margarine
8 oz — Vitamin Beverage
————————————————
FCC VOTES TO IMPOSE NEW REGULATIONS ON PRISON TELECOM PROVIDERS
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on July 18 voted to impose new regulations on prison telecom providers that will significantly lower price caps on jail and prison phone and video calls.
Phone calls are to be capped at between 6¢ and 12¢ per minute, depending on the type and size of facility. Video calls will be similarly capped between 11¢ cents and 25¢ per minute.
The new regulations prohibit providers from charging excessive fees for things like depositing funds into an account, and from pocketing unused funds from consumer accounts. They also limit the incentives that companies can offer to those who contract their services to 2¢ per calling minute, and only for costs accrued facilitating their services.
Additionally, providers are now required to make their services more accessible to people with disabilities.
Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) communications strategist Wanda Bertram described the new regulations in a PPI report as “a massive victory in the decades-long fight for prison and jail communication justice.”
Unfortunately, writes Bertram, providers will still be allowed to bundle “regulated services into contracts with unregulated services that charge unfair and unreasonable rate (like electronic messaging and tablet features).”
Editor’s note: The Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) in 2020 filed a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of four plaintiffs against providers Securus and Global Tel*Link–now known as ViaPath Technologies. HRDC claims that both companies violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act by colluding with the billing and processing company 3Cinteractive to fix the cost of single-call services. Anyone who in the past 10 years has paid $14.99 or $9.99 for a single phone call from either providers Securus and Global Tel*Link, now known as ViaPath Technologies, is encouraged to contact the HRDC legal team.
FEDERAL JUDGE TEMPORARILY REINSTATES GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE IN IDAHO PRISONS
Idaho Prison Project founder Julia Piaskowski last month interviewed several transgender individuals incarcerated in Idaho prisons whose medical diagnoses this year became the target of House Bill (HB) 668.
The bill that prohibits state resources–including state-paid health insurance–from being used to treat anyone diagnosed with gender dysphoria was immediately challenged in federal court by three incarcerated individuals, represented by ACLU of Idaho.
Last month I reported that Chief U.S. District Judge David Nye issued a temporary restraining order requiring the state to continue providing hormone therapy to the three plaintiffs. Nye has since expanded the order to include all current residents in IDOC custody who have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and are receiving hormone therapy.
In the absence of her brother, Milo Warnock, 45, killed Dec. 10 while locked in his cell at the Idaho State Correctional Center (ISCC), Hallie Johnson last month published an op-ed in the Idaho Statesman, through which she describes awakening to the deficiencies in corrections and how Milo’s story has moved her to advocate on behalf of others.
“During and since Milo’s incarceration,” Johnson writes, “I have learned about the conditions and treatment of inmates at ISCC and the disparity of treatment between facilities. The information I have gleaned is not acceptable to me, and I wish to share it with your faithful readers whose voices might join mine in a call for a change.”
DRUGS, DRONES AND CONTRABAND CELLPHONES — THE IDAHO STATESMAN REPORTS
With more contraband cell phones confiscated in Idaho prisons this year than in the last five years combined, Idaho Statesman reporters Samuel O’Neal and Kevin Fixler investigate how current federal regulations impede the ability of state prisons to combat drones deliveries of contraband.
THOMAS CREECH TESTS THE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN A FEDERAL JUDGE AND LOCAL PROSECUTOR
Attorneys for Thomas Creech say in a new court filing that U.S. District Judge Amanda Brailsford should have recused herself from Creech’s February request to suspend his execution while he sought a new commutation hearing.
According to Ruth Brown with Idaho Reports, Creech’s attorneys claim that Ada County deputy prosecutor Jill Longhurst tainted the outcome of his January commutation hearing by crediting him with a murder for which he was never charged.
They say in their newest filing that an openly-fluttered-about friendship between Brailsford and Longhurst’s boss, Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts, created the same conflict of interest that Brailsford once cited as the reason for recusing herself from a lawsuit filed against Bennetts.
Per the Idaho Judicial Council’s code of conduct, “a judge shall not convey or permit others to convey the impression that any person or organization is in a position to improperly influence or coerce the judge.”
Brailsford in her response is now contesting the claim that she and Bennets are the kind of friends that Creech’s legal team says they projected during Brailsford’s 2019 installment to the state bench. (Synopsis: Bennetts suggested in a speech that Brailsford was her occasional lunch companion, the kind of friend a person was fortunate to find, one for whom she’d drop everything if asked . . . Brailsford called Bennetts a dear friend in return.) In response to Creech’s newest filing, Brailsford writes, “[Ms. Bennetts] has never been to my home or I to hers. We have not taken vacations together, celebrated holidays together, or shared family occasions together. We have not regularly communicated either by correspondence or by telephone, and in fact, we have rarely communicated.”
Creech is now asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to weigh in on whether the two women’s friendship was strong enough to tip the scales in favor of his execution.
U.S. ATTORNEY ON YEAR’S LONG DISRUPTION OF IDAHO PRISON GANG
U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho Josh Hurwitz last month, during an interview with George Prentice on the Boise State Public Radio show Morning Edition, described the legal steps taken by his office, the FBI and the IDOC to disrupt an Idaho prison gang that recently made national news coverage.
July’s record-tying nine-day streak of plus-100 degree temperatures was greeted by Idaho State Correctional Institution units 14B and 14C with an overall lack of air conditioning, ventilation and ice.
“Our cooling systems are up and running, but are only designed to lower the temperature by 20-25 degrees,” Chief of Prisons Chad Page announced in a July 10 JPay message. “Remember to drink plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated. If you are not feeling well or are experiencing symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, or headaches, please report to staff immediately.”
Portable swamp coolers placed on both units were left with instructions to keep their cooling reservoirs empty.
On July 12, Unit 14 staff delivered a memo stating that they would begin supplying each of the unit’s four tiers with 5-gallon buckets of Gatorade. The drink arrived two and three times a week for approximately three weeks and there often wasn’t enough for everyone to get a cup.
On July 27 at 7 a.m., a corrections officer taking the Unit 14B dayroom temperature showed me his point-and-shoot thermometer reading: 99.1° F.
For those without fans in their cells, it felt even hotter because our cells lack the ventilation that we have in the dayroom. The 8″ plastic fans sold by Keefe commissary for $26.58 (after tax) have been sold out for several weeks, and the company has notified residents over JPay they will remain out-of-stock until mid-September.
(What it did not say is whether the outage is a result of reallocating its inventory to states where prisoners pay more. The Appeal earlier this year reported that Indiana prisons sell 8″ plastic fans for $33, and Cory Doctorow reported that Georgia prisoners pay $32 for the same fan that Delaware’s Sussex County Correctional Institution sells for $40.)
It has been brought to our attention that prepaid stamps are unable to be used when sending mail. Our development team is actively working on a fix to resolve this. Please be assured that any prepaid stamps purchased will not be lost during this time and will remain on your account. We apologize for any frustration and inconvenience this has caused.
Another announcement will be sent out as soon as we have an update. In the meantime, please be patient and refrain from submitting concern forms or grievances on this issue.
***
ISCC JOB FAIR
An ISCC job fair last month provided residents who were within six months of their scheduled release date an opportunity to meet and apply with community employers and organizations who offer support services.
Boise’s KTVB News anchor Brenda Rodriguez reported prior to the event that Idaho prisons last year released 5,101 people back to their communities, and that the number this year is expected to climb.
“We are thankful to the 24 partners and employers who attended this event, and to many others who sent in job flyers and information about their business” the IDOC posted on Facebook. “We look forward to making this a regular practice and expanding it to other facilities.”
With over seven years of episodes available for streaming, Mark Renick hosts Victory Over Sin on Boise’s KBXL 94.1FM, Saturdays at 12:30 pm. The program, funded by the Southwest Idaho advocacy arm of https://www.svdpid.org, shares what it’s like to live incarcerated in Idaho and then to come out of incarceration and live on parole.
7.20.24. Doug Austin shares how he is embracing the support of his local community after spending 42 years incarcerated.
7.27.24. Doug Austin returns for a second week to discuss adjusting to life after 42 years in prison and how he is now supporting those following in his footsteps.
The Resident Auditing Committee last month submitted public records request for:
1) The total number of IDOC residents who have passed away at SCC, including first and last names, date of death, confirmation of autopsy and the suspected cause of death.
2) The number of yearly drug tests performed on IDOC residents at SCC and the number of incidents by year where opioid reversal drugs were administered to IDOC residents.
3) Any legal agreements, statements of work and internal PowerPoint presentations signed or received by the IDOC from Talitrax, Securus Monitoring or any other service provider contracted to provide wearable electronic monitoring technologies within Idaho prisons.
All requests remained unfilled as this issue was sent to press.
***
RESOURCES FOR INCARCERATED PERSONS
Prisoner Visitation and Support is a volunteer visitation program for federal and military prisoners across the U.S., with special priority given to those on death row, in solitary confinement, serving long sentences or not receiving regular visits. PVS volunteers visit once a month with no religious or political agenda. Limited visiting for Spanish speakers. Serves federal and military prisons only.
A message from the advocate group Idaho Families for Sentencing Integrity:
Greetings,
Idaho Families for Sentencing Integrity (IFSI) is a newly formed group of committed citizens with loved ones that have been impacted by incarceration in Idaho. IFSI advocates for policy changes in Idaho that decrease incarceration, reduce recidivism, and improve Idaho’s justice system–particularly for those with substance use disorders. Please join us to become a part of the solution to a problem that affects so many Idahoans.
If you, your family or a loved one has been impacted by the criminal justice system in Idaho, PLEASE take a moment to participate in this brief survey at https://TinyUrl.com/IdReformSurvey. We are in the beginning stages of collecting data from citizens who want to see changes in Idaho’s criminal justice system. As we organize our citizens group we will need information from Idahoans who are willing to work for a change. Please feel free to pass this message and survey on to anyone you know who might have an interest in getting involved in making change happen in Idaho.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. It is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
Thanks!
[Note from Patrick: Please complete the survey by Sept. 1, 2024.]
***
SUGGESTION BOX
I suggest a no-holds-barred dodgeball tournament between teams of staff and admins.
From the advocate group Idaho Families for Sentencing Integrity:
Greetings,
Idaho Families for Sentencing Integrity (IFSI) is a newly formed group of committed citizens with loved ones that have been impacted by incarceration in Idaho. IFSI advocates for policy changes in Idaho that decrease incarceration, reduce recidivism, and improve Idaho’s justice system–particularly for those with substance use disorders. Please join us to become a part of the solution to a problem that affects so many Idahoans.
If you, your family or a loved one has been impacted by the criminal justice system in Idaho, PLEASE take a moment to participate in this brief survey at https://TinyUrl.com/IdReformSurvey. We are in the beginning stages of collecting data from citizens who want to see changes in Idaho’s criminal justice system. As we organize our citizens group we will need information from Idahoans who are willing to work for a change. Please feel free to pass this message and survey on to anyone you know who might have an interest in getting involved in making change happen in Idaho.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. It is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
Thanks!
[Note from Patrick: Please complete the survey by Sept. 1, 2024.]
