Idaho Prison Blog

It is Thanksgiving morning (2018) as I write this - and lest there be any doubt, there are many things for which I am thankful and eternally grateful - but last nights raid by corrections officers and staff at the ISCC (reminiscent of black-uniformed, jack booted storm troopers) bent on confiscating any state-issued food under the guise of preventing Thanksgiving alcohol making will certainly leave a streak of resentment and sadness. (Oh, and it takes days or weeks to make alcohol from fruit, etc.) OK, I get it, they have an interest in preventing inmates from consuming alcohol, but most of the food they confiscated was food they not only allow us to have in our cells, they even deliver it to us in the housing units. The state giveth, the state taketh away I suppose.  An orange or an apple, a piece of bread, peanut butter and jelly - provided just hours before - ripped from our grasps and our cells and thrown into trash bags - hauled away as garbage while so many people in the worl...

In a recent blog, I stated that institutional staff are able to communicate with individual prisoners via the JPay email system - at no cost to the state or prisoner. While technically correct, it has come to my attention that institutional staff do not have DIRECT access to the system - but that facility staff send emails to specific prisoners for such matters as appointments, etc. by routing the emails through the IDOC Central Office. I was called "gullible" by Warden Christensen on this matter during a conversation wherein I cited to him the date and time of emails directed to specific inmates at the ISCC to remind them of Town Hall meetings. In a Concern Form, I again cited the inmate, date and time stamp of the email, only to receive from him a vehement denial in writing that he could send JPay emails and has never done so. He may be telling the truth, but SOMEBODY at ISCC authored the emails - and it proves that the process IS available for use in providing Notice of ce...

In response to the lawsuit in SHACKELFORD v. McKAY, Ada County (Idaho) Case No. CV-OC-16-05583, the IDOC agreed to amend a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to require staff to notify prisoners whenever an electronic communication or ECM (email, videogram or photo attachment) was censored. The IDOC simply repurposed a document used by IDOC mailrooms to notify prisoners of censored or confiscated incoming (postal) mail (Attachment to IDOC SOP 503.02.01.001). Despite the SOP change and requirements, staff rarely, if ever, properly or timely notify prisoners when ECMs are censored or confiscated. What IS happening is that any time there is an ECM confiscation, an electronic communication of the fact is usually sent to the intended recipient prisoner which reads: "HELLO [inmate name / number], AN EMESSAGE THAT WAS SENT TO YOU HAS BEEN CENSORED AND WILL NOT BE DELIVERED. NO REFUNDS ARE PROVIDED FOR CENSORED MAIL." This communication provides no practical notice or useful informat...

In what has become almost common in the recent months, ISCC staff - without notice to prisoners - have canceled laundry services (usually on a Saturday or Sunday) leaving piles of wet, stinking, dirty laundry in the floor of common living areas throughout the main facility for up to 3 days.  Prior to the implementation of the new procedure in August of 2018 under Warden Christensen, inmate laundry was placed in large carts which were collected at or before 6:00 am by workers and wheeled to the laundry area for washing on a daily basis. Laundry considered "darks" (or Greens) and "whites" were washed on alternate days, including weekends and holidays (except Christmas). Because prisoners are not released from their cells until 6:00 am, most prisoners place their laundry in the cart the day or night before after work or showering. Early risers sometimes wait to place their laundry in the cart until morning, taking their chances that the cart will not have been remo...

On October 3, 2018, a handful of prisoners at the ISCC noticed that when saving new emails to the draft folder on their tablet, a new dialogue box appeared: "YOU HAVE 1 DAY TO SEND THIS EMAIL DRAFT, OTHERWISE IT WILL BE DELETED". There was no other prior notice that this "upgrade" to the email app would be implemented. Prisoners who did not save an email to the draft folder on that date had no notice whatsoever of the disaster that was to come in the next few hours.  On the morning of October 4, 2018, thousands of prisoners throughout IDOC woke to find virtually every email draft on their tablet ... gone.  In my case, one hundred fifty three email drafts which had been stored on my tablet for years had been deleted, including unsent legal documents, poems, even a Will - hundreds of hours of typing - gone in an instant, for no apparent, rational reason, as data kept on the tablet does not interfere with, or take up space on the JPay network or servers.  Clearly...

The CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) type televisions currently allowed for inmate use in the IDOC should be removed from the offender authorized property list in the interest of safety, security, efficiency, cost-savings and environmental impact. Since mid-2010, Keefe Commissary Network (KCN) has sold only flat screen televisions to inmates in the IDOC [FN 1]. This means that each CRT television owned by an IDOC prisoner is at least 8 years old - well exceeding the life expectancy of such an appliance which is operated on average more than 10 hours per day in less than optimal conditions. It is also very unlikely that analog/CRT sets will ever again be sold to prisoners. Dealing with CRT TV sets creates a number of problems in the prison setting. The most obvious of these problems has to do with available space where the bulky footprint of the CRT sets owned by inmates are at least 5 times greater than even the largest flat screen set available. In addition to the space they take up in housing ...

I wasted a day today - I was simply watched. I did nothing to benefit anyone or to hurt another... or myself.  Or maybe I did, or didn't... it's difficult to know. What the price of sorrow or delight - convenience or security? Did my presence stimulate the economy? It cost $69.59 in other people's money to hold me here today. I am inventory - an invesment. Were I missing for even part of a day, it would cause a panic, thus, I am meaningful to at least some, but I was not missing today, thus, no panic - so nobody noticed me. Fed morning and night, meals - prepared in bulk - calculated for optimum nutritional and caloric value. Standard fare, with occasional treats and drink, pushing and shoving with others milling about, through a small hole in a wall. During the day I am released amongst the others of my kind, staff casually walking within the enclosures checking for injuries, conflicts or concerns, but at night I am caged for the protection of others as if my dangerousness...

"If certain Idaho inmates are so indispensable in their jobs that they cannot be transferred to other facilities and are immune from being transferred out of state because of their job assignment, how can it be argued that these inmates are being treated the same as all other prisoners?" - ISCC Corrections Officer: August, 2018  The Idaho Correctional Industries Act (Idaho Code Title 20, Chapter 4) provides that "...all services and labor provided" (except for hobby craft) performed by inmates constitutes "Correctional Institution Products" (we'll just call them Products here). This law also specifically states that these products "shall never be sold - or given away - for any private use". In what is clearly an end-run around the statutes, IDOC administrators, in conjunction with ISCC staff are operating a for-profit Braille transcription program from the south Boise prison under the guise of being an "educational and training program...

IDOC administrators, after having been notified by JPay that nearly a quarter million dollars had been fraudently credited to Idaho inmate accounts, charged 364 inmates with administrative violations of Theft. The means by which the funds were stolen vary, but one inmate was found to have credited his own JPay account nearly $10,000. In what is becoming standard practice in the IDOC, one prisoner who has hacked his JPay account more than once, ordering thousands of songs for which he did not have the funds, and still have not been paid for, has received no discliplinary report or punishment simply because he provides work, services and information for administrators. This inmate continues to have access to computers and other devices with the knowledge and permission of ISCC staff because the inmate "assists administrators and represents inmate interests". [Editor's note: While he may assist administrators, he certainly does not represent inmate interests.] This inmate ha...

Dear Tax Commission Representative: On May 6, 2018 I sent to you an email regarding Keefe Commissary Network, the sole contract vendor used by the Idaho Department of Correction to sell commissary goods to prisoners, unlawfully calculating sales tax on a line-item basis. I received a response to that email from you shortly thereafter, indicating that an investigation into the matter would be initiated by your commission. Since that date, I have had no communication from your office regarding this matter, and Keefe Commissary Network continues to charge prisoners sales tax based on line-item calculations, often over-charging sales tax to thousands of people per week in Idaho, but certainly not paying these overages to the commission. I have considered (and am still considering) seeking a Writ of Prohibition from the district court on this matter to prevent KCN from continuing to calculate and charge sales tax on a line-item basis in violation of Idaho Code, however, I have been waiting ...

On the July 14, 2018 - two hours into the (so-called) Live P.D. broadcast on the A & E television network, Greene County Missouri Sheriff's Corporal Tim Haynes is shown responding to a call (several miles away) where someone was stabbed in the hand - at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour - while reading aloud from the vehicle mounted computer screen. As noted in previous posts, this show (not a program - a show) does have some inherent value in exposing actions of police from across the country while driving which, if commited by any other citizen, would result in at least a citation and fine, including not wearing seatbelts (even when speeding to calls), running stop signs without lights/sirens or failure to signal when making turns or lane changes. These officers and deputies constantly use (non) hands-free telephones while driving and type on computer keyboards - even when driving at outragous speed. While the show can be entertaining at times - if you watch it with ...

Article links to Prison Legal News: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2018/jul/1/idaho-prisoner-swallows-razor-blade-force-corizon-provide-medical-care/

Where does a prisoner or their family turn when facility administrators make ludicrus and final decisions which are in conflict with Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) or Policy? Apparently, not to Mr. Ross Castleton, Deputy Chief of Prisons as his June 11, 2018 response to the following questions posed to him indicate. Racist, sexist, homophobic and utterly ridiculous statements and policy interpretations by ISCC Warden Jay Christensen and other facility administrators as seen below seem to be the final word in the IDOC. Here's an example: "On January 23rd, you made me aware during a tier check that you had your friend send in photos of male sumo wrestlers with large breasts in order to test our threshold of censorship. If it depicts female breasts and nipples it will be confiscated, even if it is on a man." (Jay Christensen Level 3 - Appellate Authority Response: Grievance No. IC 180000123 - May 18, 2018) HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS PRES...

In an effort to clarify official IDOC policy, Dale Shackelford recently had emails sent to Chief of Prisons  Ashley Dowell . Ms. Dowell then assigned Mr. Ross Castleton, Deputy Chief of Prisons, to investigate and answer the questions. The following are some of the questions and responses (as received). Q: In the simplist of terms, the actual number of days staff have to release an email, photo or video from the time it is received at the facility from Jpay to the prisoner. A: The number of days staff have to release an email photo or video from the time it is received at the facility is 5 days if it is approved. If it is not approved and goes to investigations, it can be held up to 10 days. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr. Castleton indicates that the ECMs may be held 5 days, not 5 BUSINESS days, however, despite staff who are authorized to review ECMs working 24/7, SOP usually indicates that times do not include weekends or holidays.)  Q: Same question, but what is the number of d...

Dear Tax Commission: As I'm sure you are aware, Idaho Code 63-3619(c) requires that retailers calculate (sales) tax upon the entire amount of purchases of the consumer made at a particular time and not separately upon each item purchased - (often referred to a line item purchases). Despite this statute, Keefe Commissary Network (KCN), a company contracted by the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) to provide retail sales of commissary goods to prisoners continues to utilize line-item calculations when calculating (Idaho) sales tax on these retail sales. Several years ago, a lawsuit was initiated in the Ada County court regarding this very matter. The Tax Commission made it clear that KCN had no exemption to allow the use of line-item calculations, however, because an employee at the Idaho State Tax Commission - without authorization - had told KCN and IDOC that they could utilize line-item calculations on inmate purchases, the court ruled that KCN had a [then] reasonable belief t...

In an email to IDOC prisoners dated April 25, 2018 (reproduced below), Keefe Commissary Network made the decision to increase prices of all commissary goods by 4.9% (we'll have to call that 5% guys - really... how stupid do you think we are ... never mind - don't answer that...). While that 5% increase might be an increase of 5 cents on the dollar using street math, let's use some prison math shall we? Let's say that an item - we'll call it a Widget - costs Keefe (wholesale) 40 cents. On the street, this item would then retail at somewhere between 90 cents and one dollar, but in Idaho prisons - based on the contract Keefe has with the IDOC, Keefe can charge more than what you would pay if you were to purchase the item retail at the most expensive "convenience" store in the state. That 40 cent widg e t will now be retailed to prisoners at the price of right around $1.75 - - - but wait, there's more! On top of the retail price, IDOC adds a...