ISCC BLAMES LOW STAFFING FOR MOUNDS OF DIRTY LAUNDRY LEFT STINKING IN FLOORS OF HOUSING UNITS
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 removed by workers on time, or that they will released from their cells early.
When laundry services are unexpectedly canceled, prisoners are not notified and realize only after observing that the dirty laundry (cart) has not been removed, that there will be no laundry washed that day. The dirty clothes, sheets, blankets and rags have sat in the cart for some time, mingled with the dirty clothing of everyone else on the tier are then dumped in the floor to make way for the clothing that will be washed the next day. Prison rules prohibit prisoners from doing their own laundry in their cell or unit.
An example of the ramifications of this is as follows: Today greens (prisoners are limited to 2 sets of green scrubs) should have been washed - greens were canceled, so the greens are dumped in the floor in the common living area so that the cart can be used for white clothing the next day. When the white laundry comes back, the greens will then be placed back into the cart, and sit overnight before being washed. This leaves prisoners with no clean greens to wear on that second laundry day, the wearing of which is required to go to the chow hall, education or other, sometimes mandatory programs.
Staff who are making the decision to cancel laundry services cite a lack of staff to oversee inmate laundry workers/operations (number of officers required to staff the laundry area: 1) while the IDOC screams for the construction of a new facility to house the increasing inmate population. If IDOC cannot hire enough staff even to keep laundry services operating to a minimum hygienic standard, how is IDOC to staff a new facility?
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 removed by workers on time, or that they will released from their cells early.
When laundry services are unexpectedly canceled, prisoners are not notified and realize only after observing that the dirty laundry (cart) has not been removed, that there will be no laundry washed that day. The dirty clothes, sheets, blankets and rags have sat in the cart for some time, mingled with the dirty clothing of everyone else on the tier are then dumped in the floor to make way for the clothing that will be washed the next day. Prison rules prohibit prisoners from doing their own laundry in their cell or unit.
An example of the ramifications of this is as follows: Today greens (prisoners are limited to 2 sets of green scrubs) should have been washed - greens were canceled, so the greens are dumped in the floor in the common living area so that the cart can be used for white clothing the next day. When the white laundry comes back, the greens will then be placed back into the cart, and sit overnight before being washed. This leaves prisoners with no clean greens to wear on that second laundry day, the wearing of which is required to go to the chow hall, education or other, sometimes mandatory programs.
Staff who are making the decision to cancel laundry services cite a lack of staff to oversee inmate laundry workers/operations (number of officers required to staff the laundry area: 1) while the IDOC screams for the construction of a new facility to house the increasing inmate population. If IDOC cannot hire enough staff even to keep laundry services operating to a minimum hygienic standard, how is IDOC to staff a new facility?