Transcript
Chronicles of June (The Fallout on the Ground) Frederick Masfln #55487—O56 USP Tucson PO Box 24550 Tucson, AZ 85734 If you're new to my essays, my name is Frederick Mason, and I write many journals and essays on prison issues. I have written well over 200 essays, one of which I am about to share with you. This essay is about discrimination in prison, and how USP Tucson fails to address it. I'll explain it as we go along, and will "pause" in parts to explain. Let's begin: It is June 27th, of 2016, 29 DAYS since I wrote the email about J Officer Huffstuttler and her actions over Memorial Day Weekend, and how disrespectful they were at least, racist at most. I have doc- umented my attempts to chronicle the events after I sent emails to the Warden and Recreational Supervisor Gillooly. Since the initial meeting with Gillooly, I believed he would make no sincere effort to find out what was really going on. I believed then, as I do now, that Gillooly had no true intent to resolve the matter, only to rather cover it in defense of another government employee. ("PAUSE: Here's the situation in a nutshell; Recreational staff officer Ms. Huffstuttler, a caucasian officer, refused to let the black inmates to get popcorn, but allowed the caucasian inmates to get some. I was so insulted by it, I quit working at recreation as a bingo announcer, and boycotted all events at recreation. I addressed the issue to the prison, but as they always do, they try to sidestep or cover it up, always defending their own. Thus this email, documenting the events, as you will see. Let's continue...") My disappointment is in the hypocrisy here. Gillooly told me himself that when he first heard of my accusation, he wanted to View the playback, and IF I was wrong, I would be put in the SHU for making inflammatory remarks about an officer. So,.. if I'm RIGHT, then Huffstuttler WAS guilty of discrimination. So, where's the justice? If I'm wrong, I'm in the SHU inside of 24 hours. But now, 24+ DAYS later, she still has no rebuke of her actions. Because of this, I have “banned” myself from ALL Recreational activities in the indoor rec. It's hhad quite an impact: ("PAUSE: Here's what I'm saying: If I am right, then the prison MUST investigate the discrimination. But, if I am wrong, then the same prison will put me in the SHU (Special Housing Unit) as punish- ment for making offensive remarks about an officer. But... what if I'm RIGHT? So, I decided to stay away from all activities in the indoor recreation, as you will see as we pick it up from there,. ") One, I no longer go to my "Strategy Gaming" class in the indoor rec on Wednesday afternoons... -2- Two, I opted out of doing "Bingo"aannouncing for B1 and D1 for the Sports Competition Games. Three, I opted out of the Jeopardy announcing for the games held in Recreation during Diversity Day. Four, I won't be attending the "Magic: The Gathering” Tour~ nament on Thursday, June 29th, at Recreation. I will not support Recreation for anything, as I will personally protest the department- and the prison- for a severe lack of justice. Again, if I was guilty, my punishment would have been swift and -1 merciless. But when an officer is wrong, there is no justice. The double—standard makes it very difficult to respect the department. And many inmates who know me KNOW my disappointment, and nearly all agree with me. Officer Huffstuttler has very few inmates who will put in a decent word for her. Many guys tell me to file a BP-8, or a BP-9, which goes on Central File and thus in her records. But, will they REALLY file it? I can imagine hundreds of com- plaints filed against officers and staff every year. How many are offcially on file? I don't know. And sadly, every inmate who is aware of my situation knew that the prison would do nothing- so did I. It now gives the impression that the Recreation Department supports discrimination, because it did nothing to ensure that a government employee would respect the diversity of races in inmate population. Huffstuttler clearly does not do that. Yet today, June 27th, I was told by a recreational orderly that Officer Huffstuttler may be out for the next week or two... or a family emergency. So,..how should I feel? For a fraction of a second, I wanted to rejoice; Let the woman suffer, since she had no mercy on us. Why should I care about any- thing in her life? But I told the inmate that although I COULD be happy for her misery; I couldn't in good faith, wish that on an enemy. It's just not right. 35 I Still it's not ri ht‘ there's some level of iustification here. 3 g 7 J Now, is she really gone on family emergency, or is it possible they've found a loophole to get »her out of recreation for awhile? They know the inmates would learn that she's gone, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched to believe that possibly this was a cover up to put Huffstuttler out for awhile, so they can "investigate" or let water run under the bridge. Just kinda seems too timely, with Diversity Day just around the corner. WWm-, ‘1."“? mm?‘ ‘M ‘ -3; So, will I go back, with Huffstuttler gone? No. Not at all. Recreation was most cowardly in dealing with this very sensitive situation. Gillooly says they take those things "very seriously". I can't tell. So, I will continue to ban myself from Recreation, in protest (silent if need be), to the terrible way Huffstuttler dealt with us 29 days ago. The Fallout has settled...and nobody noticed or cared. (End of entry) In frustration of what I was going through, I wanted no part of the Recreation of the prison; I took myself from all events involving the Recreation, nor would I support a department that took no initiative in dealing with this issue. It has to be made clear, officers that work here have rules to go by as well, and are also held responsible when they don't treat inmates with some level of respect. I also felt insulted that the Recreation officer would tell me that if I was wrong, then I would be punished... but when it was revealed that Huffstuttler was wrong, there was no kind of punishment. So, it implies that officers can get away with breaking the rules, but we get punished for the slightest of things. That's not rehabilitation; it's torment. That's not what prison is about. It ought to be about reform, getting inmates to change, to be better persons, not bitter persons. That's how I felt, but rather be around those that made me bitter, it was best for me to step away from the toxic area, and focus on other things... like writing. I ended staying away from the area for about a year, long _ enough to cool down, then return to the Recreation area. And just; so you know, Huffstuttler doesn't work there anymore... But USP Tucson never admitted they were wrong... Anyway, that's it for now, until next time...
