I HATE TO SAY "I TOLD YOU SO", BUT... I TOLD YOU SO

Last night, the nightly poker game conversation at the table next to me turned to familiar and every increasingly sore topics - television channels at the ISCC, and violence. It was this conversation, and subsequent actions by one of those players that reinforces my observations and confirms my continuing analysis: television - specifically quality television programming and signal - is as important in today's prisons as any amount of fencing or number of guards on a shift.

In addition to the issues I have covered in the several articles I have written over the years (on this site) regarding the lack of maintenance, poor quality and programming of the TV cable system at the ISCC, on October 6, 2022, prisoners received the following email from an unknown author:

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"This message is in regard to television services provided by Mood Media for the DISH network. We are aware that the service is not working. We received an email today that said DISH instructed Mood Media to stop providing services. We are looking into this and intend to get DISH back up or provide another alternative. Please be patient while we address the issue as it will take some time to work through this. We know how important TV entertainment is therefore this has our focus and TV will be back asap.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND CONCERN FORMS ABOUT THIS."
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Boiled down, this means that the vendor with whom the IDOC contracts cannot come through with services already paid for by the inmate population.

Just days before, virtually all of the satellite channels on the inmate cable system (CCTV), at least at the ISCC, went out one by one. Over the course of the next few days, satellite channels came and went - some familiar, others not - then prisoners were left with only local broadcast channels. Of course with most of those local channels going on and off (dropping signal) 10 to 15 times an hour and aspect ratios so far off that many programs cannot be watched (which has been complained of for well more than a year with no joy in having the problems rectified despite nearly $10k said to have been "spent" on it) it can be said that the television problem at the ISCC has taken a new, and dangerous turn.

As of this writing, there are some satellite channels on the ISCC CCTV system, including two cartoon channels (one the preschool age children's channel Nicktoons), the Weather Channel, a few religious channels, the Oprah Winfrey Network, a Hallmark Christmas channel and a cooking channel. Gone are the most popular, such as FX, ESPN, IFC, Comedy Central, TCM, National Geographic, BET, Univision, Animal Planet and more.

The facility channel which posts medical appointments and other announcements is so out of date that nobody pays attention to it anymore. Most appointments are posted on the channel only after the date has passed, and meeting notices - from early August - are still in the announcement rotation in the last week of October. Oh, and there are a few memos from the year 2021 (and before) still in rotation. At least someone has recently corrected the date and time on that channel, which was (at one point) exactly 3 years, 10 hours and 23 minutes slow.

ISCC units are constantly "going dark" (being locked down due to lack of staff), quarantined (locked down due to [possible] infections), and with recreation and education consistently cancelled, many prisoners at the ISCC (and the entire IDOC) rely on television not only for something to do, it is incentive to stay out of trouble, trouble that can result in the inability to watch programs to which they have become accustomed - be it soap operas, a TV series, long-awaited movies, etc. Indeed, most prisoners purchase their own televisions at ridiculously inflated prices and the dayrooms (at the ISCC at least) have 2 to 3 state-owned sets mounted on the walls for prisoners to watch.

Granted, many people on the street will not understand how watching TV can be a constructive activity, but being constructive is not the issue, the issue is that prisoners are not DESTRUCTIVE when they have reason (incentive) not to be (see article THE BABYSITTER IS DEAD - AND ISCC ADMINISTRATORS ARE THE KILLERS on this site).

The poker games, violence and other such illicit activities have significantly increased since the channels have been gone and last night's conversation at the next table was very telling. You see, one prisoner was complaining about another (mentally ill) prisoner's actions. A prisoner at the table observed that the World Series (baseball) was to start the next day, so he really couldn't "deal" with the mentally ill guy because he didn't want to miss the series. Someone else said that he didn't care to watch the series, and that because all the programs and movies he wanted to watch were no longer available (and there was nothing else he wanted to watch) there was no reason NOT to go to the hole (where he could not watch TV).

The very next day, one of the prisoners from that (poker) game went into the cell of the mentally ill prisoner, locked the door and severely beat him. With reduced incentive, such as the loss of television quality/programming (a decidedly significant privilege) comes increased apathy about losing those few, and relatively insignificant privileges that remain.

For the money - none of which comes from taxpayers - quality TV is the most effective and efficient means to reduce prison violence and illicit behavior, and to increase security.

Unless priorities change, things will keep going as they are, and I'll be here to tell you once again - see, I told you so.


See also on this site: ISCC TELEVISION SYSTEM STILL SCREWED UP AFTER THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS SPENT TO REPAIR IT - WHERE DID THE MONEY GO?