Conditions are just so bad here. No one is doing anything to alleviate the situation either. In fact, IDOC has a job position for incarcerated people to present complaints/issues to authority labeled a dorm representative. Our dorm representative was demoted from her position for “writing letters to the warden.” Of which, none of the issues she presented or which have been presented for months have been addressed: everything effectively ignored.
If you recall, back around May, 2021, I had written a letter to the safety hazard manager addressing unsafe conditions. The letter consisted of the fact that incarcerated people are locked out of inside areas by doors with no ability to notify officers to be let in. Locks are not on doors at the other side of the campus, and initially when we moved here, the doors were propped open. Of course, if I go into afib outside a door, or if people fight, or have any other plethora of emergencies, gaining entrance inside or to an officer is impossible. The warden herself made a personal appearance reprimanding me for writing Ms. Manning about the situation, which dealing with IWP, we now know emergency call buttons behind locked doors are illegal for general populations [The same issue was protested and addressed there during summer 2020]. Here, the doors prevent ingress out of freezing cold temperatures or high temps in summer months. The warden informed me that face to face, she would not deal with me like IWP did, she told me I could not transfer from the factory job she made me work to a Televerde sit down job (although I have a serious heart condition) because of my letter writing. And the doors are still locked. No door bells exist or any notice for c/o’s. A friend of mine almost received a conduct report for throwing items at the c/o’s office window. Had the window been broken I am sure she would have been.
So, we have three locked doors to get through to enter/exit the building making it impossible to knock. Also, the c/o south lower is responsible for overseeing a makeshift and hidden “lock down” unit. Hallway 2 holds persons locked inside cells with no emergency call buttons and two doors separating their unit from the c/o. The c/o is supposed to do periodic checks, which further aggravates the situation with locked doors.
So, anyone who attempts to present issues of policy violations and health and safety violations is retaliated against.
People are crammed on top of each other with no room inside the cells for their personal belongings. People’s personal items are stored in hallways on the units because the rooms are so overcrowded. IDOC policy calls for 15 persons for 1 shower and toilet: yet, we have 3 toilets and 4 showers for over 70 – 80 people. No guidelines exist for special requirements, but certainly any court readings I have investigated would require more space than is given. Women on top bunks don’t even have ladders and the ends of beds are crammed against walls or other beds.
We have 2 phones for all these women, no electric outlets in the cells, only 35 chairs for people to use in the common area. We do not have enough tables for the population to sit at. Since we moved here in April 2021, we have basically been on Covid restrictions forcing us to eat our meals on our unit. Yet, no space is available for people to sit and eat. The unit consists of Royer factory workers, first shift and second shift. On the weekends (everyone’s days off) no relaxation is permitted for everyone nor are people able to eat meals at tables or in chairs. People use yoga mats to sit on the ground and eat. Fighting is common due to lack of space: an easy fix with more tables and chairs
To aggravate the masses, outside recreation is not available during hours conducive to both first shift and second shift schedules, if it is available at all. Outside rec may be available for an hour three days a week, in the warmer months. No one is even required to give this side of the prison outside recreation. Inside options are not for socializing, and only hold 8 people maximum capacity. The available hours for the “gym” are not conducive to second shift factory workers, and work release incarcerated people, who also live on this side of the prison, are denied fair or equal access. The warden recently implemented a rule denying tv’s in the dayrooms to be on until 4pm. Second shift gets no access to television because personal tv’s are only available on the other side of the prison (this side is the east campus or MCU II; the other is the west campus or MCU I). With zero programming available for this side (only available for the west side) and the only activity a 40 hour work week, mental health is rapidly deteriorating. The 6 people who are not working at Royer on this unit are assigned “support staff”. They are not permitted access to opportunities which all other people at the prison’s west campus are (such as edu, vocation, etc). Visitation, when in person, is so curtailed, the c/o monitoring the area is involved in visitor’s conversations. No vending machines are available (available on the westside) and only 3 visits are permitted per hour. During visitation hours: sat/sun and wed evenings, outside recreation is also denied (only a restriction on this side of the prison).
Of course, personally, I have been refused Americans with Disability protections. Instead, I was forced to work in a factory, denied the same employment given all other similarly situated incarcerated people with my training in the last mile computer coding program (thru sit down work at Televerde: I am the only graduate having been denied employment)
My health condition deteriorated while working at Royer. I have been medicated severely by the local cardiologists due to “not being able to monitor me in a hospital setting” because of me being incarcerated. I initially was reassigned from the factory to a sit down library position, but due to the warden’s direction, was reassigned immediately to a unit cleaner. My medical restrictions state, “sit down job”. The people who work in the library sit down all day. The law library is basically non-existent. No computer access for people needing to type legal work, no research materials digital or otherwise. It is all bad and speaking out clearly results in retaliation.
Thanks