Ostensibly, the grievance process in any penal system permits the redress of wrongdoings by the prison administration or guards.
In Alaska, at it's most basic, the process begins by seeking informal resolution and, if that fails, then the filing of a formal grievance, with the opportunity to appeal any decision to a higher authority, including the courts.
The Department of Corrections (DOC) has promulgated policy and Procedure 808.03 to govern the grievance process. Policy and Procedure (P&P) 808.03 B states: "All prisoners, officers, and reviewing authorities shall follow the procedures below when filing and responding to a grievance. [The complete Grievance Policy is provided for our users] Unfortunately, primarily because prison administrators fail to abide by their own procedures,
Admittedly, this writer cannot speak about what occurs at all the facilities operated by the DOC, but at the Spring Creek Correctional Center this is most certainly the case, and we are very interested in receiving information from other facilities concerning the efficacy of their grievance process.
As can be shown in below listed documents, sometimes the Institution Compliance Officers, Superintendents, Directors of Institutions, and even the Grievance and Compliance Administrator abuse their authority and discretion, violate their own rules and procedures, and fail to fulfill the obligations for which they are employed and paid to accomplish. In documents already available, you can see an Institution Compliance Officer, Mark Prentice, fake an investigation to support various restrictions to be placed upon a prisoner by the Superintendent, Larry Kincheloe. You will see that same Compliance Officer and Superintendent violate the grievance procedures in a conspiracy to bury the facts and issues presented in grievances to appeal those restrictions; they literally rejected (screened) numerous grievances about their own actions, then denied the appeal of those rejections themselves - all in blatant violation of the DOC's Policies and Procedures, and with full knowledge of the Department's Grievance & Compliance Administrator, who is responsible for overseeing the entire grievance system and the actions of the Institution Compliance Officers.
As in our opening page, we make AN OPEN INVITATION to all prisoners and their families to submit letters, documents, and stories concerning their experiences with Alaska's prison system and, in this instance, particularly the DOC's Grievance Process.
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