Idaho Prison Blog

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 days s