IF THE ISCC WERE A HUMAN BEING - IT WOULD BE ON LIFE SUPPORT
Granted, there are a lot of things not to like in prison (for prisoners and staff alike), but when the basic functionality of a prison breaks down - and nothing is done to correct it - bad things can and will happen.
Since the first days of their reacting to the pandemic, ISCC administrators, like authorities around the world, have been flopping to and fro, trying to figure out what to do, or how to do it. Like everywhere, at times, prison staff have gotten it wrong - really wrong - and while there are a few things they've gotten right (like feeding prisoners in their housing units), their worst failures involve intentionally allowing the basic services provided to (and paid for by) prisoners to fail and continuing to either ignore or refuse to correct problems - some which have been going on for months. For Example:
> For more than 5 months, virtually every local television channel on the ISCC cable system drops out (no signal) then comes back on seconds to minutes later - several times an hour. (See the article "The Babysitter is Dead - and ISCC Administrators are the Killers" on this site).
Local channels have varying degrees of audio/video sync problems (words not matching lips, making it look like an old Chinese language martial arts movie dubbed into English) and other easily fixed problems. Resetting a receiver for a missing channel (taking 30 seconds to do) can go unresolved for weeks.
> Since mid-January, 2022, LexisNexis (the service for which IDOC spends thousands of dollars per month for legally required prisoner access to courts data) has been down. Probably not really an ISCC-specific thing, just thought I'd mention it.
> Inmates have been cohorted by tier, meaning no school, programs, etc., yet inmates housed in various units routinely enter other units/tiers, and work together every day (maintenance, foyer janitors, ILD, kitchen, etc.), not to mention sitting together in the medical waiting room for hours.
> At ISCC, there are only 2 kiosks for anywhere from 40 to 100 prisoners per housing area. There's a 30 minute limit on each kiosk session and a 30 minute lock out between sessions.
Many housing areas with higher populations have but 1 operable kiosk, and technicians tell us that new ones won't be available for 6 months, though the computer inside the hardened kiosk frame is nothing more than a small desktop computer available at any Walmart. As was determined when it was initially decided to install 2 kiosks per tier, a single kiosk is simply not sufficient for the minimum needs of the area, especially with video visitation.
(When both kiosks recently went down on unit F3, I suggested bringing one of the portable kiosks from another unit to allow the tier to order commissary. Staff told me there were none available. The ICS technician who arrived a week later to assess the inoperable kiosks told me that inmate [ILD] workers "threw away" a portable kiosk because they didn't think they needed it any more... Huh?)
> There have always been rumors that ISCC food service staff knowingly feeds prisoners old and out-of-date food. (See the article IDAHO PRISON FOOD - "NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION" on this site.)
Ever since expired, rancid Jennie-O brand sandwiches were served to the population on Christmas Eve of 2021, every Jennie-O sandwich served since has a USE BY (not BEST BY) date months prior to it being served. Food service staff respond to Concern forms (and grievances) stating that because they don't thaw the sandwiches until the day before they are heated and served, the USE BY date means nothing. The meat is rancid, and the bread moldy, but they keep serving it.
> Some "privileged" inmates are being openly given special considerations, food, jobs, property and dispensations, even allowed to break quarantines and cohorts to work in other housing units without supervision. Inmates are being paid for hours (even jobs!) not worked, have authority to hire and fire other inmate workers, even the power to allow/disallow other inmates to participate in programs and organizations - all in violation of IDOC SOP. Administrators (or their assistants) intercede on these inmates' behalf - even against security staff. At least 1 officer reportedly resigned over this very issue.
> Keefe Commissary is out of stock on the most popular items - at least when it comes to the ISCC. Some items MAY be in short supply because of supply-chain issues, MAY be out of stock because Keefe is refusing to order items until they can [contractually] raise prices to inmates later this year, but items are CERTAINLY out of stock because every week, Keefe fills ISCC orders last - after all other facilities.
> Noise levels on tiers is ridiculous - so loud at times prisoners cannot even hear announcements over the tier PA system. Most prisoners are reasonable in their noise levels - it's usually just a few inmates - on most units - who blast radios, scream (for no reason other than to do it or be obnoxious), holler across the tier, slam dominos, yell at each other at the poker tables and make other unnecessary noise. Often, staff on the tiers cannot even hear their radios due to the noise, yet refuse to address the noise issue.
> Many incoming and outgoing emails are taking inordinate amounts of time to process and release. While staff shortages, watching movies or playing on the computer all night could account for some email delays, initial reviewing staff need to "lighten up", use some judgment and quit sending every email/attachment/video to investigations for secondary review.
It doesn't take a doctor to see this patient is critical -