Transcript
Cell Restriction for Writing a phone kite in blue ink. It never ceases to amaze me at how petty correctional officers can be when they want to write somebody up or how unit staff use such petty write-ups to punish prisoners, often retaliation. On September 12th, 2017 while I was working in the South Dakota State Penitentiary, Jameson Annex Kitchen I was called over by a correctional officer. This correctional officer had a bunch of minor write-ups in his hand. He asked me "Do you know your rights?" I was surprised and asked what I was written up for. He told me I was being written-up for filling out a phone kite in blue ink instead of black ink. I couldn't believe this and told the C.O. how petty it is and he agreed., I looked and read the write-up that had my phone kite stapled to it. It stated: "On the above date and time (9/11/2017 at 11:40pm) I, SCO Morris, was sorting through kites and came across a kite written in blue ink. The kite was filled out by Shane Bell. Inmates are not to have blue pens, they are only supposed to have black pens." This write-up was done by SCO Christine Morris on September 11, 2017, at 11:46 pm. I would think prison correctional officers and staff would find better ways to spend their tax-payer paid time then looking for kites written in blue instead of black ink. If you ask me or most other people, I'm sure they would agree but that's not the end. I received one day of cell restriction for it by Unit Coordinator Angela Steineke. A few days later I was called to the Unit Coordinator Angela Steineke office, It was for the above mentioned write-up about using a blue pen instead of a black pen. I was expecting her to throw it out because of how petty it was, she didn't. I went in to talk to Unit Coordinator Angela Steineke and asked why I was written up for something so petty and that I didn't even know I could get such a write-up. She said "Can you buy a pen with blue ink on commissary?" Which she already knew the answer was no. I said "no, but this is really petty, your C.O.'s have nothing better to do then worry about what color pen ink is on a phone kite?" She simply said "one day cell restriction starting tomorrow." I still can't believe how petty some of the write-ups you can get in this prison. What do you think of this petty write-up for using blue ink to write a kite to use the phone instead of writing in black ink? I also did not get to use the phone for which I kited. The South Dakota State Penitentiary, Jameson Annex prison staff, can and will, write-up a prisoner for any petty thing they want. This kind of on-going action is dangerous and provokes prisoners. These petty minor offenses can lead to acts of violence and injury where it can be avoided. I would think the safety and security of the prison would be important, but it appears that some of the correctional officers, with upper staff approval want to harass, retaliate against prisoners because they can or are bored. This is a dangerous recipe for problems and violence. One day, when a prisoner or prisoners get angry and go-off over such petty and provoking write-ups and somebody gets injured or killed because of it, then maybe the prison administration and other upper staff will put an end to all these petty and provoking write-ups. My opinion is it will continue, because the prison administration ignores the signs of on-going problems here. I guess only time will tell.
