Transcript
Praetorian Correctional Money Pits: Pol Potic Confabulation By: William A. Larson, MDOC# [ID] Some would say I am fortunate to be 77 years young, after being under the quixotic loving care of the Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC), for 37+ of those years. My last days enjoying the free-world, was in 1981. I sincerely doubt if I could exist in the enigmatic politically-correct world of 2017. My primary contact with the outside world, today, is when I force myself to watch the evening Create-the-News Networks. I do this, for some unknown sadomasochistic purpose, known only to my deepest sacrilegious unconsciousness, in order to keep up with the confused, current events. At times, I have to ask myself who is the freest/safest? Those on the outside of these electrified fences; or those on the inside, looking out at the despiteous chaos. I was watching Jeopardy, while waiting for my evening news-torture to come on. They had an answer/question concerning a newly coined word, that means someone who just goes along with everyone else. The word was Sheople. Over the years, those incarcerated have been labeled: prisoners, inmates, convicts, residents, clients and now offenders; leaving out the obvious profanities. Regardless of the terminology, we still remain predatory parasites, in most people's eyes. Personally, it doesn't make any difference what staff refers to us as. We remain incarcerated state property, to be used and abused for the sadistic amusement of some staff. Within the Missouri penal system, there are individuals who do their time, similar to genuflecting lap-dogs. Albeit, possibly suffering from Stockholm's Syndrome, of the Patty Hearst era, could explain their acquiescent behavior. They make life more difficult for those who diligently attempt to improve the degenerate system, of mass incarceration. Quisling Sheople (QS), would be an excellent descriptive title for them. During my early years of incarceration, while I was still at the antiquated Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP), family members and friends, would occasionally ask me what prison life was truthfully like. All they had to draw their opinions on, was my infrequent correspondence, and Hollywood's exaggerated fictional accounts of known prison events. I usually tried to explain prison to them by suggesting they imagine removing their bathtub/shower from their bathroom. Then replace them with a double-bunk bed. Move in a couple foot-lockers and, if possible, a small desk. Add sundry items, like personal clothing, cosmetics and such. Take a boom-box radio, tune it to something they hate, set it outside the bathroom, facing inward. Then turn it up full volume. To finish it off, move into the bathroom with another person, who they really do not know, or particularly like/trust. Stay in the bathroom, except for meals and work. See how long they will survive without resorting to violence, or perpetual insanity. In the alternative, I advise them to rent a copy of the 1972 TV Movie, "The Glass House", by Truman Capote. On June 30, 2017, Missouri's newly elected Governor, Eric R. Greitens, signed an Executive Order, creating another political appointee task force, to re-study what is now officially referred to as the "Department of Corruptions". The Order starts off with: "Our prison system wastes your money and it wastes people's lives. We have to fix it." Governor Greitens goes further to lament how our newly appointed Director, "Anne Precythe, is on the front lines of this problem. She inherited a mess: morale was low, officers mistreated, not all inmates had a plan for their release." The insidious last part concerning inmates' release, got my dander up (as we used to say in days gone by); when I considered a recent article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The article, authored by reporter Jesse Bogan, publicly exposed rampant corruption within the Missouri Parole Board. Some members were callously playing "word" games with the prisoners, during their pretend parole hearings: "trying to get them to say a chosen word or song title of the day, such as platypus and Hound Dog." Like a game show, they were earning points, "while interviewing an offender." These unqualified/abecedarian political appointees, were being paid $85,000 a year, of taxpayers' hard earned money, while playing juvenile "games with people's lives and liberty." The Internal MDOC Investigation Report, that Mr. Bogan used, also admitted "several employees were aware of the games being played by the duo and did not report it." A recent class action suit by the MacArthur Justice Center (MJC-STL) has been filed against the MDOC's Division of Probation and Parole, alleging they have been ignoring decades-old constitutional standards, when they conduct parole revocation proceedings. [1] If Governor Greitens really intends to correct the publicly exposed corruption practices of the Parole Board; a problem that is exacerbated by public apathy. The only rational method, in my feeble-minded opinion, to correct the sedulous debauchery, is to: 1) Remove the Parole iBoard from under the authority of the MDOC, and return it to the Department of Social Services (DSS), where it belongs. The MDOC and the Parole Board has opposing agendas; 2) Get rid of the inept/corrupt political appointees, who are mostly ex-prison staff, or State Representatives/Senators, who voted for the draconian Truth in Sentencing statutes, that are preventing most prisoners from qualifying for parole. Replace them with educated/trained professionals, who don't have a lock-them-up-and-throw-away-the-key agenda. 3) Reinstate good-time, and other incentives, that will encourage prisoners to overcome their ingrained criminal mentality. The younger prisoners, of today (especially minorities) need help to overcome their natural suspicion of authority, leading them to disrespect and be defiant of said authority; 4) Change MDOC classification policies, that mandates some prisoners to be classified solely on the sentence, and not on their behavior while incarcerated. What purpose is served by keeping a 60—80 year old, infirm prisoner, in an expensive level 5 institution, solely due to his sentence? 5) Last, and most important, do away with mandatory/Truth in Sentencing statutes; allow the Parole Board to determine when an individual is ready to be released back into society, without posing a threat to society. It simply does not make sense to give a prisoner, in a level 5 institution, a facade parole hearing, just to satisfy the wording of the parole statutes. Just using common sense, how can a parole board member, no matter how fair or impartial he/she is, consider releasing a prisoner back out into society, when the MDOC refuses to even consider the prisoner for a lower security institution? Especially when you consider the MDOC Director, is their superior. In Missouri, the entire parole system seems to be backwards. Prior to eligibility for parole, the MDOC should be required to lower a prisoner's security classification. The prisoner could then be properly assessed, by the parole board, based on his/her behavior, while in a less secure environment. Not solely by their sentence and the criminal conviction that led them to prison. A parole hearing should be meaningful and should never be used as a game for the sadistic pleasure of the members holding the hearing. There should be some set standards, that allows a prisoner to fully understand why he/she has been denied parole. [2] To dangle a release data in front of a prisoner, then jerk it away without explanation; is nothing more than ignominious bear-baiting, and serves no other purpose other than the sadistic intent to punish a prisoner without purpose. Former Governor Nixon appointed the identical type of "task force", six years ago. The MDOC recalcitrantly refused to adopt ANY of their recommendations. In Missouri, or as I prefer to call Mizzery, as elsewhere, political grandstanding and real prison reform, rarely go hand in hand and converge. Political rhetoric will never resolve problems, in a morally corrupt penal system. During the recent weeks, the MDOC has lost three more major civil actions: 1) A wrongful death of a short-time prisoner, who was isolated in a suicide-cell, and ignored. The jury awarded $1,256,793.29, plus attorney fees and court costs. [3] 2) An asthmatic prisoner, who was licentiously forced to cell with heavy smokers, was awarded $111.000, by a jury of Missouri citizens. [4] 3) A female staff-member was awarded $1,500,000, plus attorney fees and costs, for sexual harassment. [5] By time attorney fees and costs are assessed, Missouri taxpayers will have to pay out more than $3,000,000 for MDOC staff's maleficent. behavior. Yet! no-one loses their jobs, and some are promoted to directorships. The Missouri Jurors, obviously were sending a message to the MDOC, to get their act together. The message, will of course, fall on deaf ears. The MDOC will continue to flagiticously allow prisoners to perniciously die. They will continue to allow boys to be boys, playing their Machiavellian games. It does seem that the MDOC is going to finally do something about the tobacco problem, or so they pretend. On January 16, 2017, I sent Governor Greitens a missive concerning the MDOC's long history of cultivating tobacco addiction. Suggesting the MDOC should be required to follow the example of Missouri's surrounding neighbors, and remove tobacco products from the institutions; or provide smoke-free wings for those who medically require them. On March 12, 2017, in flagrant retaliation, without warning SCCC staff removed the non-smoker from my cell, and replaced him with a heavy smoker. FUM Meyers refused to accommodate the two non-smokers requesting tn) be moved in with me, even though this is an ECU (Enhanced Care Unit) wing. On April 5, 2017, the MDOC responded to my missive to Governor Greitens, stating: "All housing units and buildings of the Department of Corrections are tobacco/smoke free." On April 24, 2017, I responded to the MDOC's blatant untruthful response, pointing to a published case where the Federal District Court had ordered the MDOC to pay court costs and attorney fees to an asthmatic prisoner, for forcing him to cell with smokers. [6] I asked Governor Greitens the simple question of: if the MDOC will lie to him about this simple matter, what else are they lying to him about? On September 1, 2017, they moved the smoker out of my cell, and replaced him with a non-smoker. On September 25, 2017, SCCC staff posted a notice stating that the sale and possession of tobacco products will be banned as of April 1, 2018, in all MDOC Institutions. which I find rather suspicious (April Fools Day). But I will wait and see. Missouri/MDOC are facing other major litigations. The deliberate underfunding of the Public Defenders System, which ranks 49th in the nation. [7] MDOC/Corizon's refusal to provide the new "direct-acting, anti-viral" (DAA) drugs. for those prisoners who suffer from chronic Hepatitis C (HCU) viral infections. [8] DAA is now the prevailing treatment, outside of prison, that is 95-99% effective at curing HCU. The U.S. District Court has just approved class action status for the DAA suit. [9] If Missouri loses the DAA suit, it could bankrupt Corizon, and the State. There is approximately 5,000 prisoners, in the MDOC, with HCU. According to published cases [10], the cost of the full treatment has risen from $84,000, in 2015, when I helped DS receive his Harvoni treatment [11], to $94,000 in 2017. Unless Missouri can make a reduced price deal with the manufacturer, it will cost Missouri $470,000,000 to treat all of the HCU infected prisoners. I have to admit that I am extremely biased about this subject matter. To be fair as I can, without throwing up, you simply can not compare the old penitentiary system, to the nouveau correctional regime. The overt fatal violence, alone, has dissipated in these modernized predator-motels. You still have violence. If you force any aggressive-angry alpha-male into a confined group, you have to expect disputes. To pretend to believe otherwise, is insane. Just a decade ago, prisoner on prisoner murders were as normal as a common cold. When they built and moved us into these new institutions, they unwittingly disarmed us. MSP was nothing more than an antiquated weapons manufacturing plant. Without well-made weapons, it is far harder to cause a fatal injury. In my early years of incarceration, the staff consisted mainly of over-sized, semi-literate, farm-boys, or ex-military. They would go toe to toe with anyone, and smile while they were doing it. They enforced all the rules, with a frightening vigor. In this present day penal environment, most rules just get lip-service. Staff exoterically enforces the rules they feel like enforcing. Modern-era staff seem to have forgotten that rules, especially in a prison setting, have a designed purpose. Without enforced rules, you have uncontrolled chaos, with the prisoners making and enforcing their rules. Prisoners minaciously take advantage of the smaller staff, both male and female. Male staff's greatest worry seems to be if anything major kicks off, how would they protect the female staff? A serious problem that did not exist in earlier years. There is a transpicuous myth about prisoners, that has been created by Hollywood. It amuses me when I hear new prisoners referring to it, as if it was scripture. Prisoners never inform on each other. If James Cagney was still alive today, and out walking in the prison-yard screaming: "YOU DIRTY RAT". Most, if not all, prisoners would look to see if he was calling them out. In a recent U.S. Supreme Court case, the Court documented that 97% of federal prisoners, and 94% of state prisoners, plead guilty in order to receive a lighter sentence. [12] Common reasoning would weigh in the favor of the argument: if a prisoner would "snitch" on himself, for a shorter sentence; what would it take for the same prisoner to "snitch" on you? In the mid-90's, Deputy Superintendent Donald Cline, at MSP/JCCC, instituted a new program entitled: "Intensive Therapeutic Community" (ITC). Most prisoners opprobriously referred to it as: "I Tell Cline". One of the rules, of the ethnocentric program, was that you were required to inform on your fellow ITC members, if they broke any of the rules. No-one seemed to be bothered by it, and soon-to-be Sheople signed up. I imagine Pol Pot was laughing/spinning in his grave, that what he started has now breached the western world. ITC is designed like a military-style boot-camp, with drug, alcohol and criminal behavior lectures. It is heuristically designed to change despicable criminals into Quisling Sheople. Some State Courts make this boot-licking program mandatory, in order to be eligible for probation/parole. When I attended boot-camp, at Fort Leonard Wood, which is only a short distance from this institution (SCCC); the main purpose was to turn a civilian into a team member, and to overcome the natural reluctance to harm another person. Which is necessary in a military unit. One thing for sure, you did not "snitch" on each other, or you would get a "blanket-party". As usual, the MDOC turned ITC into another look and feel good, money-pit. I find it incredulous that the MDOC could ever believe that a boot-camp-like-program, could instill in anyone the ability to stay away from drugs or alcohol. Army boot-camp is well-known for encouraging new soldiers to drink like a fish. Many new recruits had their first drink during boot-camp. Rehabilitative programs, within the Missouri penal system, are nothing more than code words to burn up excess funds, and rip off the taxpayers. In the 70's and early 80's, we had numerous self-rehabilitative programs. They were provided by Lifer's Inc., DEPART, Toastmasters, Jaycees and others. These programs were effective. They were attended by those who wanted to be involved. They cost the taxpayers nothing. [13] These efficacious programs were discontinued after some of the outside participants testified for the MSP prisoners, in a class action on conditions at MSP. [14] At the time, the MDOC was a small division of the DSS. MDOC caseworkers were trained social-workers, from the DSS. They assisted us with the day to day problems of adapting to prison existence. The caseworkers would represent us at violation hearings, arguing any mitigating circumstances. [15] Today's caseworkers are mostly retread security personnel. They act as our prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner, when we facetiously receive a "due process" hearing. Prisoners are now forced to attend and participate in these ethereal Pol Potic programs. The prison absolutistic staff deliberately ignore the apodictic fact, that the prisoners who benefit from these programs, choose to benefit. Those who are forced, just give the programs lip-service compliance, and go on with their lives. Wasting everyone's time, and state resources. Even Governor Greitens agrees that the MDOC is very adept at wasting monetary resources. The MDOC is the proverbial money-pit. The MDOC has created/copied various subjective idealistic programs, such as: Restorative Justice (RJO); Impact of Crime on Victims (ICVC); Employment Skills/Life Skills (ES/LS); Long Distance Dads/Inside-Out Dads; Pathway to Change; Anger Management; Impact of Criminal Thinking (ICTC); Gavel Club; Puppies for Parole. In the RJO/ICVC programs, they require the participants to openly admit and discuss the crime that brought them to prison. In the MDOC rule-book, they warn you not to share such information. This is especially devastating to prisoners with sex cases. Most of them do not want others to know about their case. It sometimes places their very safety in jeopardy. Approximately 10 to 20%, of prisoners, sign up for these programs of their own free will. The conceptual programs are all designed to take away a prisoner's individuality, turning them into Quisling Sheople. You can get the same zombie effect with a thorazine/lithium cocktail. I, personally, doubt the sanity of anyone who would willfully want to work in a penal institution. Then for these individuals to attempt to brainwash a prisoner into becoming a clone of some emulous creature, sort of gives me the Willies. The hypocrisy of the MDOC, when it comes to rehabilitation, is clearly shown in their aberrant treatment of an autodidact prisoner, Dr. Jon Marc Taylor. In 1980-81, Jon Marc was convicted of several felonies, in both Indiana and Missouri, when he was a teenager. He served his time in Indiana and was sent to Missouri, in 1993. [16] Jon Marc was the poster-boy for self-education and rehabilitation. While he has been incarcerated he has: written/published Prisoner's Guerrilla Handbook to Correspondence Programs; successfully, by mail, completed a B.S. degree, a M.A. degree and a Doctorate. [17] In 1992, he was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He has been an active advocate for the return of Pell grants to incarcerated students. A Judge once described Jon Marc as: "one of the most remarkable examples of rehabilitation" that he has ever seen. The time I personally knew Jon Marc, he was always keeping busy with prison programs. He especially enjoyed the Gavel Club. He consistently rode me about wasting my time reading fiction publication, rather than educational non-fiction. Instead of MDOC staff landing Jon Marc for his educational achievements, they did everything they could to impede his progress, and to destroy his institutional behavior record. At Crossroads CC, a CO gave him a false violation for assault, when he raised his legs so the CO could take off his ankle shackles, when he came back from an out-count. The State seized what little funds Jon Marc had, under the Missouri Incarceration Reimbursement Act [18], something that the State does very selectively; even seizing money intended for college courses, which the Act prohibits. [19] In 2014, here at SCCC, Jon Marc was invidiously placed in Sad. Seg., under a false investigation. Someone, other than Jon Marc, had posted unauthorized notices, in all of the housing unit wings, encouraging prisoners to notify their families, in order to get them to support the effort to have the Truth in Sentencing Statutes overturned. A cause he was very active in. While in Sad. Seg., Jon Marc, who was only 52 at the time, suffered a major stroke. When I saw him in the SCCC infirmary, in 2014, he was recovering nicely. He was then transferred to the ECU at South Eastern CC. He died of another major stroke on December 27, 2015. If anyone had earned a medical parole, Jon Marc did. He would probably still be with us today, if he had been released and received competent medical care. The primary problem I have with prison programs, is the fact they are mostly created and operated by egocentric prison staff. How can anyone take anything prison staff says, or does, seriously? They sexually harass/abuse each other. They sadistically retaliate against those who file grievances/complaints. They refuse to follow or enforce their own rules. They carry drugs and other contraband into these institutions. They punish prisoners for being mentally ill. They ignore prison rapes/assaults, allowing some prisoners to openly own/abuse others. I can go on forever about some prison staff's shortcomings. Sciolistic prison staff would be the last person I would go to in order to receive advice on how to change my life positively. Their "do as we say, not as we do" mantra doesn't mean anything to me. I'm from Missouri, you have to show me that their conceptual sophistry means and accomplishes something. Sources of and Additional Information [1] Yeager v Precythe 2017 US Dist Lexis 152795 [2] Murphy v MDOC 2016 US Dist Lexis 19398 [3] Letterman v Does 2017 US App Lexis 11052 [4] Washington v Denny 2017 US Dist Lexis 97893 [5] Hesse v MDOC 2017 Mo App Lexis 932 [6] Washington v Blunt 2011 US Dist Lexis 75731 [7] Church v Missouri 2017 US Dist Lexis 82788 [8] Postawko v MDDC 2017 US Dist Lexis 71715 [9] Postawko v MDOC 2017 Us Dist Lexis 117238 [10] Bernier v Trump 242 F.Supp.3d 31 (USDC DC 2017) [11] Simrin v MDOC/Corizon CRA# 6:15-cv-03198-DGK [12] Missouri v Frye 566 US 134, 143; 132 SCt 1399, 1407 (2011) [13] Burks v Walsh 461 F.Supp. 454, 473 (DC WD 1978) [14] Burks v Teasdale 603 F.2d. 59 (8th Cir 1979) [15] Sostre v McGinnis 442 F.2d. 178, 198 (2nd Cir 1971) [16] Taylor v Taylor 2 Fed.Appx. 699 (8th Cir 2001) [17] Wicksell v DeVille 2012 US Dist Lexis 81405 (Louisiana) [18] State ex rel Nixon v Taylor 25 SW3d 566 (App WD Mo 1999) [19] State ex rel Nixon v Farmer 268 SW3d 402 (App WD M0 2008)
