28 April 2k6

My internal clock is off a bit today.  I got up early to start collecting the ingredients I need to prepare for breaking bread with Bones and the fellas tomorrow evening.  Fried taters, scrambled eggs, smoked sausage, crushed Black Pepper Jack Doritos, squeeze cheese, ‘n salsa.

Since Bones went terminal, there are seven of us who have been given permission to go visit with him, tell war stories and dirty jokes, and bring him goodies to eat.  Saturday evening’s Archie, Hawkeye, and myself usually share a hot casserole or burritos, with sodas.  Anyway, it’s my turn to cook, so it’ll be a breakfast casserole.  We’ll have to see about rooting out some chocolate, too.  I don’t know if it’s good for him, but, at this point, whatever he wants we’ll call good.  I wish I could share a fat Cuban or Dominican cigar and good long look at the stars with him. 

Up until recently, Bones has been hanging in there, physically.  Since his liver is shutting down, they’ve had to drag his dusty carcass outside to get the fluid drained from his abdomen – it’s called “third spacing” fluids.  But, after we started feeding, getting him out in the sun, and sharing him company, he looked like he was actually getting better.  Well, that’s just not happening.  Jaysus!  He was always skinny, hence “Bones,” but he’s gotten downright skeletal, I don’t care what anyone says, no human being should be so diminished that the neck of their shirt constantly threatens to fall to their waist!

Anyway, he’s an old Okie, who’d be embarrassed that I was spending this many words speaking about him, but some things bear remarking.  He is pragmatic about his impending death and, far from wishing for more time or begging for some kind of terminal parole action, he seems content that his time on this planet is coming to a welcome end.

My Baha’i Prayer Book has two pages, both containing prayers for the departed, marked with the names of those I know or owe who are no longer with us.  One page is for those who have passed the other for those who, for reasons of their own, took the leap into the next life on their own.  Bones would recognize many of those names, and would take comfort to know that he’ll always be in good company.

One last thought to put to ink, Brother.  I won’t be sharing this with you (as I said earlier, I know it would embarrass you), but, if the Creator gives you access to the Internet, you can read this:  I and your other friends love you, will miss your company, and we’ll definitely be talking long trash about you when you’re gone!  Be peaceful.

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23 July 2k6

Yeah, I know it has been awhile since I’ve worked on this project, but it couldn’t be helped.  Medical treatment has kept me, pretty much, poisoned for the last year.  But, that is all over now and, except some lingering side effects, I am feeling much better.  Also, I appreciate the efforts that those who love me put into ignoring my emotional instability, the ranting, and my constantly feeling sick and exhausted.  Chief among those are my wife, Michelle, and mother, Lori; with the exception of other prisoners, like my Wiccan friend Chris Nelson, they were the people who have the most contact with me and loved me regardless of how bad I was feeling and acting.

For those of you who do not know, the treatment for hepatitis C is so harsh that many, if not most, depending on the population characteristics, fail to complete the year-long cycle of weekly injections and daily poison pills.  Interferon (injection) and Ribavirin (capsules) are the drugs of choice for treating HCV.  I was blessed enough to receive a “pegalated” version of the interferon, which binds to interferon molecules to molecules of monomethoxy-polyethylene glycol.  For patients, like me, that means there were fewer shots and some lessening of the side effects.  There are some newer drugs in the pipeline; one of which had incredible results in early human testing, where 100% of the test subjects were down to “No Virus Detected” after four weeks (versus a 41% success rate using pegalated interferon after forty-eight weeks for some genotypes of the hepatitis C virus).  I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to make treatment recommendations, but, if you have hepatitis C, I would strongly suggest you work with your health care provider to see if your condition will allow you to wait until better and more effective medications become available.

Today is my birthday.  Wahoo, 52!  Now if only I could be opening boxes, instead of living in one...

On the 21st I was moved from Corrections Corporation of Americas’ (CCA) private, for-profit prison in Florence, Arizona to their new 82.3 million “state of the art facility,” in Eloy, Arizona.  Since I fell, in 1976, I’ve opened two new facilities – one federal, in Phoenix, Arizona, and one state, in Seward, Alaska.  There were pluses and minuses in both cases.  Though I’ve only been here two days, I can tell you this:  Like both previous times, new institutions are full of new employees tripping on what, exactly they’ve gotten themselves into, and , this time, nearly a thousand prisoner, convicts, and inmates, wondering how they’re going to get screwed this time.  Oh yeah, this place has that new prison smell.

The new mailing address for this place is:

Telephone is (520) 464-3800

I’ll update with e-mail addresses, as appropriate, when that information is available or can be discovered.

Among the staff that came with us from Florence are Warden J. Frank Luna and Assistant Warden K. Stansel.  Though if is my birthday, I cannot call home until we’re assigned PIN numbers and can get money transferred from our commissary accounts into our separate phone accounts.  That is supposed to happen tomorrow, sometime.  Until then, know that I am thinking of you and miss you like mad, Miche.

In case I’ve neglected to mention if, again,  spending taxpayers money on, or profiting by, the process of exiling prisoners thousands of miles from their families and homes, is EVIL and dooms us all, citizens and prisoners, alike, to suffering the consequences of our corrupted democracy and corporate greed.

While I haven’t done much writing, I have been collecting notes and data for several essays for prisoners. org.  Be on the lookout.

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25 July 2k6

Here is the latest skinny concerning the transfer of Alaska prisoners from CCAs’ Florence Correctional Center to their new Red Rock Correctional Center.  (See the 23 July entry for the initial information concerning the move).

There are now about 450+ prisoners transferred, so far.  360+ came from FCC; there were a couple dozen that arrived from Alaska, and some, but not all, that are being stashed at the Eloy Detention Center.  Among them were Harry L. and Richie Rich.  Since the different cell houses are being segregated, I haven’t had to chance to visit with them, but did pass the yard o the way to Medical (for blood tests) and got a fence-filtered finger-wiggle from Harry.  Man, his hair is all grey!

I’ve been transferred to open a couple of other prisons during my time, but this is the first time I’ve opened a prison that is still under construction, and the most basic of administrative processes weren’t in place.

With the exception of buying commissary or sending money to our families, no other orders (for shoes, underwear, sweat clothes, etc.) are even expected to be set up for processing until the beginning of September.  In fact, our funds did not accompany us from Florence (approx. 25 miles down the road) and we are being told they may not get here until, possibly, Thursday.

For prisoners and our families, failure to transfer our funds with us means that we cannot buy phone time until sometime after those funds get here.  Unless, of course, your family members set up telephone accounts, specifically, with the prison telephone contractor, and pay-in-advance for collect call service.  The rates charged by these prison telephone companies amount to legalized extortion. So, except for mail, we are being held incommunicado.  I wonder if CCA owns a piece of, or gets a kickback from, the telephone contractor?  Answer:  Maybe and most certainly.

During orientation, yesterday, we were informed that CCA will be deducting $3.00 a month from the account of any prisoner using electricity, pursuant, supposedly, to an Alaska Statute that permits ONLY the State to recoup electrical costs from prisoners housed in State facilities.  However, I expect that there will be some legal wrangling over that, since CCA is a private corporation, not an Alaska government agency, and this facility is not a State facility.  I’ve heard that an argument can be made that, if the ADOC Commissioner has authorized CCA to collect the money from exiled prisoners, the Commissioner (Marc Antrim), himself, would be party to a criminal conspiracy, as the statute authorizes him neither to collect those funds from prisoners outside of the state in private facilities, nor permit CCA to collect those funds for themselves.  Something for the legal beagles to chew on.

The law library for this cell house has only 3 terminals and 3 typewriters.  For 360 prisoners?  That doesn’t sound right.

We were informed that the regular library has 4000 books on order, and is supposed to open in mid-August.

There are only (2) inmate telephones in each module (for 60 prisoners), but we’ve been told that four (4) more have been ordered for each module.

From the outside, the Programs building is huge.  CCA staff project that some educational classes will get going in another 2-3 weeks.  Others, like the hobby and vocational programs, can only be approximated in the broadest terms of another month or months.  Is CCA ‘self-reporting’ (as per the contract) to the prisoncrats in ADOC and the sellouts in the legislature, their failure to meet the contract requirements in order to return to the State of Alaska the monies paid for those programs?

Warden Luna did say that small engine classes were being looked at to replace the carpentry and plumbing classes, because, he said, in Alaska they use boats and “sleds” everywhere, so learning how to work on them would be more useful than carpentry and plumbing.

The food is going to be the same crap – primarily, soy, grain cereal, and turkey.  Though Warden Luna did say they were going to try and put some variation in the kind of fruit that is being served – only because Alaska negotiated into their contract that so many meals per month had to include fresh fruit and that actual beef meat.  So we may see more oranges and the occasional banana, rather than the same old cooking apples we were served, month after month, in Florence.  Face it, though, CCA makes its money on the margin between what Alaska pays them and how little of it they actually have to spend on the prisoners they actually have to spend on the prisoners they house.

Medical is still trying to come to grips with medication orders.  The Florence guards took our ‘Keep on Person” medications from us before we left, but the meds did not accompany us.  Some prisoners are still waiting for basic chronic care medications (i.e., blood pressure, inhalers, allergy etc.)  five days later.  It is very apparent that the nurses, who have had to tell us that “they still haven’t come in,” are as frustrated with their own system failure, as we are impatient at repeatedly being told they haven’t arrived.

That’s all for now.

PS: As I edit this the next day (7/26/6), I would like to note that we did receive a slice of cantaloupe in addition to our scheduled pseudo-meat loaf ‘n mashed potatoes.  It was good and ripe.  But, I’d still rather be able to talk with my wife, who I know is worried at not hearing from me since last Thursday.

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28 July 2k6

This is the second day that one of the two telephones in this module, of 60 prisoners, has not been working.  I know that the guards were made aware of it yesterday afternoon and this morning.

It has been obvious since our arrival here that this facility was not ready to accept prisoner occupants.  For example, in addition to those problems noted in my postings of 7/23 and 7/25:

The two front showers in every module, in this house, cannot be used, as the floor has a grade that causes water to run out of the shower stalls into the day room area.

In the kitchen, there are floor drains that rise far enough above the surface of the flooring, that a squeegee has to be used to move water around them to others that were properly installed – a real pain in highly wet areas, like the pots ‘n pans washing area, especially when the crews are struggling to get meals prepared and out on schedule.

In an information video shown to us prior to our being shipped here, Assistant Warden Stansel said that he has doubts about the ability of the “high capacity” ice makers to keep up.  “High capacity,” on not, we have been placed back on a loose schedule of one chest of ice in the morning and evening, but the ice chests are smaller and there are 20 more prisoners in each module.

Finally (and I say that as sarcastically as possible), the Law Library, which is supposed to have three terminals and three typewriters for 360 prisoners, has not been set up, and the terminals go nowhere, so no research can be done – period.  CCA is telling us that ADOC is responsible for connecting the terminals.

These kinds of glitches are to be expected, especially in new institutions.  But, that, along with a plethora of other items, clearly demonstrates that this institution was not ready to be occupied.  I don’t know where the pressure came from to rush us into this unfinished prison.  Did it come from ADOC, who has already classified hundreds of additional prisoners to move here?  Was it CCA, who loses profit on every empty bed?  Regardless, this place has kinks, administratively, program-wise, and mechanically, that should have been ironed out beforehand.

In reality, most of the things that are unfinished, poorly designed, or incorrectly constructed, result in simple inconveniences for prisoners and staff alike, and all the bitching won’t get it fixed any faster.  But, three (3) things should never, ever be screwed with: the food, mail, and direct communications with our families (i.e., telephones and visiting).  While Alaska had me (and 200+ other AK prisoners) contracted out to the feds, between 1977 – 1988, I saw food strikes, riots, and have been locked down and fed cheese sandwiches for days or weeks at a time; all because those three things were neglected.  Alaskan facilities may have experienced very little of that, but CCA has seen boat loads of such trouble.  Nearly every issue of Prison Legal News contains articles about their staff being fired or arrested, or one of their institutions being torn up.  So, they know better.

I have never pretended to unbiased opinion.  But, in this case, the people who make the decision to move us prematurely, are not the same as those staff members who are working to get the rest of the cell houses up and running, all the while trying to repair or make right those things that are screwed up.  Frankly, since my time in exile to CCA’s private prisons began, in October 2004, I have found the Educational personnel, generally, to be professional and sincere in their efforts to help prisoners to get the most out of the meager educational resources available.  That goes for most of the mechanical services staff, too.  Then, again, these are people who are supposed to be trained in their professions (though I understand that some are uncertified) and are subject to higher expectations.

After talking smack about the food in my previous two postings, I do want to acknowledge that day before yesterday I received a slice of cantaloupe with the evening meal and, yesterday, I actually received a chunk of real tomato in my salad of un-wilted lettuce.  To top it off, the salad had seasoned oil and vinegar dressing!

The have started processing commissary, and we are supposed to receive ours after lunch.  Good thing, too.  Our housing unit, from Florence, hasn’t had commissary in a month...

We are allowed to block a portion of our cell door windows while we are on the toilet.  I used a manila folder and my old calendar, from the Missouri Pit Bull Rescue Center, to fashion the window cover.  Now I get to see the bully dogs all the time.  They have such beautiful smiles!  Or, as Bill Plumley says:  “Oops!  Too many teeth!”

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29 July 2k6

This telephone B.S. has got to come to an end.  Yesterday, the only working phone, being used by 60 prisoners, ceased taking our PIN numbers or, if it does accept the PIN, gives nonsensical messages.  When calling my wife, I got a message stating that “the number dialed has failed to answer,” when it never actually rang to begin with.  When calling my mother, the number rang, but then I got a portion of a message stating that “the number dialed is...” and was cut off before the message was complete.

Apparently, it has been decided that the problem cannot, or will not, be addressed until the beginning of the week.  That makes if a week that we were held incommunicado, while CCA played with our funds, a single day that both phones were operable, and we began yesterday with one working phone and ended with no phones in service.  Tell me, where are the ADOC contract compliance people who approved, and who should be supervising, our move to this new prison??

Since the question has been asked, here is the answer.  According to ADOC Director of Institutions, Leitoni Tupou (Tel: 907-269-7409 / Fax: 907-269-7420), Tim Lyden, a prisoncrat in the Juneau office, is ADOC’s Standards and Compliance Administrator, and is responsible for CCA’s compliance with their contract with ADOC.  His address and telephone numbers are:

If you have been out of  contact with, or wee expecting a call and didn’t receive it from, a prisoner who is caught up in this transfer mess, give this guy a call or, better yet, call your state senator or representative and ask them to give Lyden a call.  You might also find it helpful to read the previous blog entries to get the lowdown on the premature transfer of Alaskans to this new, but unfinished, private for-profit prison owned by Corrections Corporation of America.

Shortly, I’ll be preparing an essay concerning the lack of proper oversight of CCA’s contract by Alaska Corrections’ officials.  The lack of oversight concerns issues ranging from medical care, educational programs, food service, even personnel position manning compliance issues.  Why should the average Alaskan care?  Because, the failure to properly oversee contract compliance is costing citizens money for services paid, but not received, including refunds for failure to provide services that CCA has the contractual obligation to self-report.  The question of which ADOC official is responsible for CCA’s contract compliance has been asked, but only now answered.

Al and I skipped the Chili con Textured Vegetable Protein, that was served for lunch; Al made, and we ate, a chowder, instead.  It was very good.  We also traded tonight’s Turkey ala King for popcorn balls made with one (1) bag of popcorn and three (3) nuked candy bars – well worth the trade, believe me.

That reminds me.  I have to get back on the project of collecting jailhouse recipes from my friends.

I’m going to shut down for the night.  Between not being able to speak with my family, and my typewriter having conniption fits, it’s been a whole day.

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 14 August 2k6

On my way over to the programs building, I got stuck just inside the F-Unit door, and watched the arrival of the prisoners from the substance abuse treatment mod at CCA/FCC.  I didn’t see Hawkeye, but expect that he is here now.  I also understand that the mod, at CCA/FCC, that Bones lives in will be moved today or tomorrow, and I am really looking forward to seeing him, too.

Just before we were transferred, I was standing next to a friend who was having a conversation with Asst. Warden Stansel.  My friend asked if Bones would be moved into the, planned, long-termers mod, and Stansel replied that he didn’t think Bones was going to live long enough to even get here.  I know, from speaking with him, that nothing would please Bones more.  He is tired of hurting, and has expressed that he wishes no further treatment.  He has been informed by medical staff that he can sign a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ form, but, as long as he is conscious or non-heroic measures could be taken, that a refusal for further treatment was not an option, unless he has an attorney sign the ‘refusal’ form.  Of course, Bones has no family living and is poor as a church mouse, so he feels like he is trapped on a macabre and painful carnival ride and just wants to get off.

Why he doesn’t want any further treatments, save to ease his physical pain, is easy to understand.  Twice, while having ruptured – then, about to rupture – esophageal varices cauterized and/or banded, he has awakened, terrified, during the procedure with his throat crammed with medical instruments, choking, struggling, and in pain.

I have noticed, since the last “banking” procedure, and since the administration has approved for some of his friends to visit him and to share a meal and his company in his housing mod, that he has been having increasing difficulty swallowing and appears to be in distress and pain when trying.  Maybe Stansel was correct and he won’t make it here; I just don’t want Bones to suffer needlessly, and I, nor any other prisoner I know, trusts the physician that they have here – a Dr. Stapler, formerly at CCA/FCC and, before that, from the Arizona prison system – to care about his pain or comfort.

The situation reminds me of when our friend, Dennis Anthony, was dying of cancer in the local hospital in Seward, Alaska.  The supervising physician (also the prison’s contract doctor) had ordered that an extremely painful process, of whirlpool tubbing and re-dressing open wounds, be done each and every day.  Because of the pain, Anton had asked that the process no longer be done, but the doctor demanded that the procedure be completed as ordered, stating that Anton was mentally incompetent and incapable of making decisions regarding his treatment.  That doctor’s scorn for his patient was so great that he told one nurse that suffering was what Anton deserved for what he had done.

What followed was a revolt, of sorts, where certain personnel, first, copied the medical file, and then a group of nurses confronted the doctor with an ultimatum:  They reminded the doctor that he was neither trained, nor qualified, to determine any patient’s mental competency, and that he could either rescind his order, or face multiple complaints to the medical licensing authorities.  The doctor relented.  Interestingly, within a short while, thereafter, he moved to Africa, where he could practice surgery.  The actions of those nurses were one of the reasons that my wife became a nurse – and, a fine one, at that.

This morning I want to spend an hour with my wiccan pals.  Since they live in other housing areas, visiting their educational classes is one of only a few opportunities I have to see then.  Man, I am happy to be a Baha’i – a religion which encourages people to associate with followers of all religions.  Of all of the so-called “pagan” faiths that I’ve run across or heard about, the eclectic wiccans that I know here are the most open minded and inclusive.  And, of all the active religious groups, pagan or not, they also seem the most concerned with improving the character of the individual believers, as opposed to the protestant christians, for example, who seem more interested in being judgmental, exclusive of those dissimilar to authority and righteousness they can squeeze from guilt and shame.

The crap that the wiccans have had to put up with from CCA’s prisoncrats, including the “chaplain,” would be unbelievable, if I didn’t know it was true.  This is especially true of the “chaplain,” considering that his job is to facilitate the needs and practices of ALL faiths practiced by prisoners.  He has, literally, while preaching to the prisoners in his congregation, urged them to “pray that this evil seed does not take root” in their prison.  Encouragement that has led to confrontation and openly expressed contempt and prejudice toward the wiccans.  For example, he permitted and encouraged the prisoners in his flock to conduct loud and intrusive ‘prayer meetings’ at the same time, in the same room, that the “pagan” were conducting education classes.

For me, as a Baha’i, a faith that teaches the principle of “progressive revelation” – the belief that mankind’s spiritual development has been guided by the periodic arrival of prophets of Manifestation of the Creator, who reveal spiritual truths – Wicca, and other similar earth-based religions, represent the expression of man’s earliest documented belief systems.  It is a shame that other mainstream religions can not, or will not, recognize in the wiccan beliefs the identical truths central to their own: That there is a Creator, that humans have a purpose for living this life, that we should love and honor one another, that we should wish for others what we would desire for ourselves, and, also, the importance of developing spiritual qualities and attributes, such as honesty, truthfulness, trustworthiness, mercy, compassion, empathy, courage, and steadfastness, among others.

I miss my wife, want to talk with my daughters, and play with my grandchildren...

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22 August 2k6

 Spent a day in the hole over the weekend; not someplace I find myself very often.  Significant, really, only because of the associated indignity and inconvenience involved in the process and aftermath.  I am now living in a different cell-house, but I had help getting my property moved and I am now closer to Bones, so it may all be for the better.

One of the inconveniences was having to track down a book I was reading.  Yeah, I like the author (Christopher Whitcomb), but the main thing was that the book still had my Betty Page bookmark!  It is a perfect photograph, shot in black and white.  Anyway, I did retrieve Betty, and was able to re-check out the book, so I get to finish that, too.  I did lose my pitbull window cover, but my cellie was kind enough to pack up my property, so I hope he will enjoy it.

Along with many others in my new mod, I was witness to the dumbest thing I’ve seen in a very long time.  Last night, whole watching a huge monsoon rain and lightning storm (they do know how to put on a light show in Arizona!) through the window, here comes a guard, walking beside the fence, wading through the water, and carrying a long pole, which he was touching to the electric fence (apparently to test if it were working).  It would have seemed crazy if he were merely standing in water, while testing an electric fence.  But, this guard was standing in ankle deep water, touching an electric fence with a pole, during a monsoon downpour with lightning crashing all around him!

Two things, immediately, pop into my mind:

1. This guy was so new and insecure, that he didn’t want to question an order from his supervisor, who, more than likely, didn’t even realize that there was a lightning storm and who just sent that guard out to test the fence, because it was scheduled to be done at that time.  Or, perhaps, his boss was really, really mad at him and thought he’d fry him out of the gene pool.

2. Regardless of either of their motivations or rationalizations, if you look up “doofus” in a new dictionary, you’ll find that guard’s picture.

The prisoners housed in this mod were the last of the general population to come from CCA/FCC.  They have been waiting for telephone PIN numbers and are hoping that their money will hit before commissary.  Only those prisoners in Segregation remain at CCA/FCC, but I expect them to be arriving at any time, since the prisoncrats have now opened the last cell-house to be used by Alaska prisoners.  Whether that cell-house actually has potable water, working toilets, electricity, and working telephones in another matter altogether.

As for the usual complaints: All things, generally, remain as they were when I last spoke of them, including the fact that none of the modules have the six (6) telephones required by the contract (many only have one(1) phone functioning of the two (2) installed), there are no functioning vocational, hobby craft, or educational programs (save for the Library, of course, although the recreation kennels are often so full that it is difficult to move around without stepping on, or into, other prisoners, and, last but never least, we are still being fed pseudo-meat, rather than the real meat required of the contract – and, all of this boils down to the Director of Institutions, Leitoni Tupou, and the Contract Compliance Administrator, Tim Lyden, NOT DOING THEIR JOBS, at the expense of both prisoners and Alaskan citizens (who actually pay CCA to provide).

I must be crazy to still hope that someone, other than our friends and family members, will eventually see prisoners as more than objects of derision and revenge fantasies.  Especially considering that most American citizens don’t give a minutes thought to ongoing genocides or that 35,000 malnourished children die each day.

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24 August 2k6

Today we are on ‘mod restriction,’ because the power went out this morning.  That seems to happen about as often as it rains and, being in the desert, that poses a problem only during the monsoon season.  There was some lightning, but not very close to us.  Unfortunately, when the power goes, so does the air conditioning and, even after a rain, we can expect the temperatures outside to approach 106° today.

I am hoping to get moved into a long-termers’ mod sometime in the next few days.  Many of the people that I’ve been doing time with for decades will also move in, so I’ll be surrounded by individuals with known characters, and also avoid all the youngster-driven drama.  Bones will be there, too, and that will put us in a better position to spend time with him.

The news reports that Alaska Governor, ‘Martini’ Frank Murkowski, has been given the boot by Alaskan Republican voters in the just completed primary elections.  I understand that the Republican primary winner, Sarah Palin, has said that the first thing she was going to do was sell Martini’s jet.  You remember the jet debacle, don’t you? 

Martini Frank originally planned on using Homeland Security funds to buy it.  He justified the proposed purchase claiming that it would increase State security by allowing him to quickly attend meetings across the country.  Then, he rationalized the proposed purchase by claiming that, during the time he wasn’t using the jet, it could be used to transport prisoners to Alaska’s Largest Prison... in Arizona.  The resulting public outcry got the purchase using Homeland Security funds squashed...So, Martini made it part of the State budget and spent State monies that could have been better spent on better pay for teachers, hiring incentives for nurses, for in-state treatment and care for troubled teens, education, and health care.

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18 September 2k6

It’s been awhile since my last entries.  I’ve been moved a couple more times.  Once to be housed appropriate to my Quay – actually a point-based system developed by a guy named Quay, and used to divide prisoners up according to their status as predator or prey.  I am considered neither, as I am able to “get along” with everyone.  Meaning I’m not taking anyone’s lunch money, nor allowing mine to be taken.

The second move was into the Lifer’s, or Long-term, mod.  The criteria is a minimum 10 years in, 20 left to do, and 2 years without a disciplinary.  Needless to say, this is a very quiet mod.  Everyone is respectful, generally settles into doing their own time, and involved in positive activities.  I have known some of these guys for many, many years.  Did I say I was glad to have been moved into this mod?  I am.  I am surrounded by people I have known for eons, but couldn’t easily associate with since they lived in different cell-houses.  Randy (Hawkeye), Harry, Geoff, Kimo, Mark, Gino, Steve, Evan, and Bill (Pimpsterly) are all just down the tier.  Philmore, Chris, Donnie, Loren, and Luis are down stairs.  Of course, Bones is downstairs in the first cell; he is getting more attention that he knows what to do with, now.  At present, I have no cellie, but Chris is supposed to move onto the top bunk on Wednesday.  Setting up this mod is a very good thing, especially for those of us who are settled in and just want to do our time with the minimum of b.s. and drama.

The 2 year “no disciplinary” requirement threw a wrench into the move for several people I know who have been waiting to get into a Lifer’s mod since it was first being discussed over 1.5 years ago in CCA/FCC.  Personally, I think the limitation is unnecessary.  Perhaps, it would be more understandable if it only included write-ups for High-Moderate infractions or higher.  I might be able to see their trepidation if the excluded prisoner is involved in on-going criminal activity, but, you can catch a nuisance or minor write-up for simply listening to a CD that belongs to your neighbor, possessing too many plastic bowls, etc.  Anyway, such is life... Or, doing life.

I saw ADOC Commissioner, Marc Antrim, and Wasilla Superintendent, Garland Armstrong, walking about last week.  M aybe their visit will get some things moving.  I hate to say it, but I wish Addington was still the Director of Institutions; I can’t say that I trusted him, I didn’t, but he did try to force contract compliance upon CCA.  He could, and did have problem staff restricted from working with Alaskan prisoners, etc.  His replacement is milquetoast when it comes to compliance.  Hell, Aleman, the guard who got caught planting drugs on Alaska prisoner Alphonso Brooks at CCA/FCC (see Guards Plant Drugs on Alaska Contract Prisoners for Phony Busts and Entertainment) is now working at this facility; and the person given the boot as Unit Manager of a unit housing Alaskans at CCA/FCC is now the supervisor of all of the Unit Managers (Chief-something) here at CCA/RRCC.

The job situation still SUCKS!  Prisoners who are not classified Minimum or Medium Custody are not allowed to have jobs outside of the Cell-houses without an Override by the Warden.  Since anyone with more than 20 years to do is automatically given an Override to Close Custody, most prisoners here are limited to wiping tables, sweeping and mopping floors, or cleaning showers.  The crappiest thing about the entire thing is that the “Automatic Override” practice doesn’t even exist in ADOC policy and procedure.  It was submitted as an “Action Request” by former Chief Classification Officer Bob Spinde, before he retired.

An answer to Harry’s Sick Call Request states that there are no new patients being accepted for Hepatitis C treatment at this time.  Apparently, cases will be “prioritized.”  What on earth does that mean?!  A prisoner either has HCV or doesn’t; meets the ADOC Medical criteria, or not.  (See attached Sick Call Request of Harry Lewis, dated 9/10/6)

I am on the list for a 4hr/day slot in the Unit Law Library.

Other news....

The additional phones – promised since before we left CCA/FCC – still haven’t been installed.

Medical is still a mess.  The nurses, for the most part, are trying, but the administrative processes are so screwed up that many Sick Call Requests are taking days to get addressed, if ever; this certainly violates the ADOC/CCA contract.

I understand one of us, Duffy Henry, died in the last few days, because an infected sore or spider bite on his leg was not treated.  Apparently, his Sick Call Request was ignored for six (6) days, then, after it began to turn black, he went to Medical and was turned away.  Three (3) days later, seen throwing up blood into a trashcan, he was finally seen throwing up blood into a trashcan, he was finally seen and immediately sent to an outside hospital, where he died.  A friend has said that he is working with that prisoner’s family to put the hammer on those responsible – including CCA and ADOC personnel responsible for overseeing the contract, but that does nothing for the dead prisoner, does it?  I’ve written about serious deficiencies in the Medical department before, but to no avail.  My friend has promised to write about this latest incident.  It’ll be posted as soon as we get it.

Hobby shops are still not open, though I hear that some education classes are supposed to begin today – GED, lifeskills, etc.

I heard, over the weekend, that the Library has just received another 4,000 books.

Vocational training in Small Engine Repair is now out, Carpentry class is back in.

The Warden is setting up the various religious faiths, which require it, tiny parcels of land for altars, the sweat lodge, etc.

Rumors....

A proposal has been submitted to allow us to, once more, receive Semi-annual packages from home.  Although what a “proposal” has to do with compliance with ADOC policies and regulations, I cannot say.

Commissioner Antrim told Harry that he is looking at changing the classification system.  The present point-based matrix process, as well as being ignored as to the Override situation, has long out-lived its usefulness.  For example, since I have an old-statute life sentence, I am considered, even after 30 years, to have 0% of my sentence complete and 100% of my sentence left to serve.  This has barred me from many programs, institution placements, and, at this place, even jobs off-unit.

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21 September 2k6

Dropped off some ice cream and soups for Bones and he is still neck deep into Final Fantasy 8 or 9.  Since moving into the Lifer mod, anytime I’ve stopped by to visit, he’s either been cocoon’d in his blankets asleep or cocoon’d in his blankets fiddling with the controller, trying to find the gate to that place or the secret that allows him to...you get the idea.  He is tired of being here and is just filling the hours until he leaves us.

I attended my classification meeting today.  I remember, now, why I ceased attending them when I was exiled down here. Talking with ADOC institution Probation Officers makes me want to jump off the second tier onto my head. I wonder if anyone has ever, ever had a hearing or conversation with ADOC P.O.’s that was positive, non-coercive, and non-demeaning or didn’t make them feel like a piece of crap?

The classification “committee” was made up of ADOC P.O. Pam Martin and CCA Case Manager Canullis (sp.) My only reasons for attending were:

A. I wanted to put on the record that I wanted to be returned to Alaska.  Being down here, so far from my family, is negatively affecting my mental well-being and rehabilitation, especially as it concerns my family relationships.  I went from visiting with family and friends every other week; to spending a couple hundred dollars a month just to talk with a few of them.  I’ve been able to see my mom several times, but my wife has only been able to afford the trip a couple of times in the past two years, and I haven’t seen my daughters or two grandchildren at all.  Do you have any idea what it costs to fly from Alaska to Arizona, rent cars, motels, and such - not to mention having to take time off from work?

The answer: no prisoners are being returned unless they are getting out, because Alaska facilities are at 150% capacity.  She invited me to sue.

B.  Since the parole board has now said that I can re-apply for parole in 2010, I asked what it is they expected of me, i.e., what programs they wanted me to complete, what efforts or tasks I could undertake to demonstrate my reformation or worthiness of parole, etc.

Pam Martin’s answer was that I should remain disciplinary free.  When I expressed that I’d already learned 3 or 4 vocations and pretty much completed every applicable program available, she did suggest that I could move into the Faith Mod, although how my being converted from a Baha’i into a baptist christian could demonstrate my being parole acceptable is outside of my understanding.

I am afraid that, since the parole officials are not able to tell me what, exactly, they want me to accomplish in the next 4 years, it is apparent that the Board has no intention of paroling me.  I am not so blind that I cannot see that merely allowing me to re-apply for parole, ten years after my last hearing when I was told never to re-apply, was simply a strategy for the state’s attorney and ADOC to squash ongoing litigation, including my own, in the State Appellate Court.

One thing of note was that Pam Martin informed me that if was the fault of Cleary, et al. plaintiffs that we have been exiled to Arizona.  How did prisoners suing for an end to physical and mental abuses by Alaska prison official, or seeking some minimum standards for the care and custody of Alaska prisoners, make our exile “our” fault?  Was Pam Martin even out of diapers when Cleary was filed?  It is a near certainty that I’ve suffered through more classification hearings, conducted by officious, self-important, self-righteous prisoncrats than she has celebrated birthdays on the planet.

The entire process for the Classification of Alaska prisoners, as it relates to custody and security levels, is supposed to be based upon the principle of “gradual release through the systematic reduction in custody,” contingent on the progress of prisoners through rehabilitation programs.  Uh huh, sure.  Unless something happens that causes me to be Max-ed out, nothing can, or will, ever change.  After 30+ years in, I still have 0% of my sentence done and 100% left to do. And, because I could have more than 20 years to serve, the annual recommendation (by classification points) for reductions in custody and security status have, for years, been denied to me.  I say “could” have more than 20 years to serve, because I was actually eligible for parole 16 years ago.  Where is the gradual release?  The systematic reduction in custody?

Enough said.  I don’t expect to be attending classification hearings in the future.  I will, however, seek a copy of the tape recording of the hearing and have the transcript posted.

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28 September 2k6

It appears that things are beginning to settle down in the Lifer mod.  Last week, they moved out a handful of people who had been moved without meeting the criteria (10 years in, 2 years disciplinary-free, 20 left to do).  Then a few more were more were moved in, including two or three more at the beginning of the week.  This is a very quiet med – no boom boxes, no shouting across the mod, no card slapping.  Prayers in the morning are no longer a contest of will to see if I can block out enough racket to concentrate.

Burgers and Brats were cooked and delivered beginning yesterday.  Hmm mmm mmm, open-grilled beef and pork!  Oh so delicioso!

Food-wise, it was a great day.  It started off with commissary in the early morning – mac ‘n cheese, ramen soups, popcorn – and came back to share strawberry ice cream with Bones.  After which, he had to lay down.  Then Randy (Hawkeye) swung by the cell and said that burgers were being cooked, so we headed over and scored.  When we came back, I checked on Bones and saw that he was asleep, so I came back up to the box and was going to start on a burger, but, when I opened the styro-foam container and caught the first whiff of barbi-ed cow, I immediately headed to Bones’ cell and woke him up.  “Bones. Bones!  Wake up, man. You don’t have to eat it now, but I KNOW you’re gonna want to smell this.”  Needless to say, he did, and then proceeded to gnaw half the burger down – on top of the ice cream.  This by a man who can hardly keep down a whole ramen in a single sitting.  Sure, he went back to sleep, but he did so with the smell of burnt flesh on his breath.  Dagnabbit, that put the proper spin on his day!

The day ended after a call to Michelle.  I miss my wife. and, hearing about the antics of LeTre’vyon and BjØrn makes me laugh and want to cry at the same time.  I miss my daughters and getting to know my grandchildren.

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