#vadoc

[salcristina]

[ 1/3/2024 ] There is an ongoing hunger strike at Red Onion State Prison in Wise County, Virginia.

Reports on this were posted on Interfaith Action for Human Rights and It's Going Down.

On Tuesday, December 26th, 2023, several prisoners confined at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison began a hunger strike to protest the continued use of long-term solitary confinement within the institution. Despite critical concern, outcry from the public and prisoner populations in the state, incarcerated people are still subjected to this brutal practice which has been renamed “restorative housing” since July 1st, 2023 when measures were passed to limit its use in the state.

The latest update is that several more have joined in and thirteen prisoners are now on hunger strike.

During the strike, it is being asked that supporters contact the Virginia Department of Corrections as well as the governor of VA to demand an end to this controversial practice (of long-term solitary confinement.) We also need to let them know that the hunger strikers have our full support. The contact info is as follows:

VADOC: Central Administration; USPS P.O. Box 26963; Richmond, VA 23261 David Robinson Phone: 804-887-8078, Email: david.robinson@vadoc.virginia.gov

Virginia DOC Director, Chadwick S Dotson, Phone: (804) 674-3081 Email: Chadwick.Dotson@vadoc.virginia.gov

VADOC Central Administration Rose L. Durbin, Phone: 804-887-7921, Email: Rose.Durbin@vadoc.virgina.gov

Beth Cabell, Division of Institutions Phone: 804-834-9967 Email: beth.cabell@vadoc.virginia.gov

Gov. Glenn Youngkin Phone: 804-786-2211 Email:glenn.youngkin@governor.virginia.gov

Thanks friends for taking a minute to break the isolation that the State has tried to impose on our comrades. 🔥🔥🚔🔥🔥

[mightyflamethrower]

Corrections Officer Kharmishia Phillip Fields and her assigned K-9 Rivan were on duty and working in the area at the time of the attack. Officer Phillip Fields and Rivan responded to stop the attack, protect the inmates, and restore order. Rivan was violently and repeatedly stabbed and kicked by the inmates and later tragically died at the facility while VADOC staff attempted lifesaving measures. Officer Phillip Fields, a trained K-9 handler and 4-year veteran of the Department, sustained no serious injuries due to her training and Rivan’s courageous actions. Order was restored by Officer Phillip Fields, responding Corrections Officers, and Rivan’s actions. The attacked inmate was transported to a local hospital for injuries sustained in the attack and was later returned to the facility.

Sadness. Nothing but sadness.

[the-final-straw-blog]

Free Alex Stokes + Russian Anti-War Saboteur Ruslan Siddiqui

This week on the show, we’re starting out with an interview with Lo and Meghan, two supporters of Jewish independent journalist, artist and antifascist leftist from Albany, NY, Alex Stokes Contompasis. Alex is serving a 20 year sentence for defending himself and 3 other community members attacked by Proud Boys and Oath Keepers at the New York state capital on January 6th, 2021. For the hour, we speak with Lo and Meghan, two friends and supporters of Alex who talk about Alex’s media work, the politically-charged court case and his ongoing appeal. More on his case can be found at FreeAlexStokes.Com, you can order his artwork to support his case there as well. They mentioned getting support and attention from the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund.

Then, you’ll hear an interview from our comrades at Frequenz-A in so-called Germany with a recent interview of Anya of the grassroots group called Solidarity Zone that offers legal, media and other support to people facing charges for anti-war direct actions inside of Russia to speak about their work and the case of Ruslan Siddiqui, an anarchist who does not deny railway sabotage against the Russian war efforts in Ukraine. This first aired on episode 75 of B(A)D News: Angry Voices From Around The World from the A-Radio Network.

Solidarity Zone Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/solidarityzone

Telegram: https://t.me/solidarity_zone

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/solidarity_zone

LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/solidarity_zone

Email: solidarity_zone(at )riseup.net

Finally, you’ll hear Sean Swain reading from an incomplete list of people killed by law enforcement in the USA during the month of April 2023.

Announcements

Red Onion Hunger Strike Phone Zap

The saga at Red Onion continues, with more than 30 participants. Participants are asking supporters to call the Governor and the Virginia Department of Corrections to demand that the Red Onion follows state restrictions on solitary confinement. Kevin "Rashid" Johnson is additionally requesting his treatment for congestive heart failure and prostate cancer that he be moved from Red Onion to a facility like Sussex I or Buckingham that are near to large medical facilities.

You can hear a recent interview we had with a comrade of Rashid and see a roundtable of comrades of Rashid on Black Power Media recently talking about his situation. Here's a social media post with all of the pertinent information: https://kolektiva.social/@BlueRidgeABC/111868911724769356

VADOC Central Administration USPS P.O. Box 26963; Richmond, VA 23261 David Robinson Phone: 804-887-8078 Email: david.robinson@vadoc.virginia.gov

VADOC Director, Chadwick S Dotson Phone: 804-674-3081 Email: Chadwick. Dotson@vadoc.virginia.gov

VADOC Central Administration Rose L. Durbin Phone: 804-887-7921 Email: Rose. Durbin@vadoc.virgina.gov

Beth Cabell, Division of Institutions Phone: 804-834-9967 Email: beth.cabell@vadoc.virginia.gov

Governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin Phone: 804-786-2211 Email: glenn.youngkin@governor.virginia.gov

Sample script: I am calling in support of the hunger strikers at Red Onion State Prison. I am concerned about the serious health effects of long-term solitary confinement and other illegal and brutal methods of confinement including sensory deprivation. Please end the use of these practices. I am also seriously concerned for the health of Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson, as he is being prevented from accessing care for his health conditions. Please move him back to Sussex I or to Buckinghm, near a major medical facility, so that he can resume cancer and cardiac treatment. Thank you.

Support Guarani M'Bya in Brazil

from FireFund.Net:

This campaign aims to support two native land in São Paulo south and also, others in state interior and coastal zones. Our goals is to restore and expand the prayer house (Opy’i) and communal kitchen, plant native trees and subsistence foodsuch as corn, rice, potato and others, distribute water and generate clean energy collected from surrounding rivers, support the cerimonies, and other constructions such as houses and other demands that the comunitie brings to us. Also carry out the construction of ecological bathrooms and support the school located in the land. These are some of the missions and commitments we have to native people here in São Paulo.

. ... . ..

Featured Tracks:

Get It Together (Buck Wild Instrumental) by The Beastie Boys

High Water Everywhere, Part 2 by Charlie Patton from Complete Recordings 1929-1934

Check out this episode!

[zagrebackamacka]

Ok nem ellenpeldak. Ok azok, akik egyreszt szerencses genekkel szulettek es eleg batrak is, h szarjanak az elvarasokra. Akiket megszolnak, ha plasztikaztatnak vagy botoxoztatnak es megszolnak, ha nem. Aki nezhet ki a legjobban, ha egy jogan keszult paparazzifoton lathato a combjan, h narancsboros. Akit megszolnak, ha smink nelkul megy edzeni vagy boltba. Akit megszolnak, ha sminkben es kioktozve megy edzeni vagy boltba 😗

A pasik irant nincs az az elvaras, h minden aron harminc evvel fiatalabbnak kell kinezniuk. Hogy ha nincs belove a seroja, akkor az nem rendetlen, hanem tok edes, mert milyen vadoc meg laza. Ahol, ha felszed par kilot, legfeljebb kicsit aputeste lesz es vegre nem a kinezetere figyelnek, hanem a tehetsegere* Mondjuk Brendan Fraser vagy Russel Crowe.. de meg Capriora sem mondtak, h mostanaban milyen kitelt holdvilagkepe van a korabbi kisfius helyett, o maradt az isteni Leonardo.... Ebbol Matthew Perry talan a kivetel, aki kapott mar mindenert, bar ketsegtelen, h idonkent tenyleg ijesztoen nezett ki.

* ellentetben Kirstey Alleyvel es Kathlene Turnerrel vagy epp Zsurzs Katival

Lenyeg a lenyeg, h mindenki oregszik valahogy. Nyilvan Ford is eleg szerencses ebben, es vannak hasonlo szinesznok is...csak valahogy nekem a fenti fotokrol az jutott eszembe, h meg ezek kozul a szerencses szinesznok kozul se kertek volna egyiket se, h igy full smink nelkul, kozelrol, szo szerint rancredobe fotozva fotozhassak oket. (Szvsz Ford fotoin is lehet kis csalas persze, de megis inkabb kiemeli mint elrejti a korat)

Harrison Ford | Esquire | May 31, 2023 | 📷 Ruvén Afanador

[sonicakuma]

Hello I hope you have the time to see what's in the link about how the penal system work for women in Virginia. It's rarely discussed here in the real world but when it does it's frowned upon. The stigma needs to come to an end. I admit having to looked into prisons for love because most of my friends and family knew that I got banned from POF plus the burnout from online dating and I'm not into the nightlife and pickings for an African American atheist like myself are nonexistent here and had to make the business decision due to the aforementioned reasons and tired of being harassed by ladies I don't want, getting one date and don't see her again. Bobbie is the exact opposite of the thots and deadbeat mothers around here. Again feel free to click or touch the link to see the statement. In closing I knew I made the right decision to correspond with Bobbie in 2015.

[lux-scriptum]

When will I stop mispelling Cadoc's name

[notsoterriblymisanthropic]

WHAT IS HAPPENING? A coordinated dial-in protest will take place tomorrow morning and afternoon on behalf of our comrade Kevin Rashid Johnson demanding an end to the retaliatory abuse and harassment that he has suffered since exposing the dangerous and negligent conditions that prisoners are experiencing at Pendleton Correctional Facility in Pendleton, IN. WHEN IS THIS TAKING PLACE? We are asking that these calls take place between 9 am - 11:30 am EST and again between 2 pm - 4:30 pm EST.  We want to demonstrate to these prisoncats that our comrade Rashid has an organized, unified front and we mean business. WHAT ARE OUR DEMANDS? 1. We are demanding that the retaliatory and punitive measures against Kevin Rashid Johnson (#264847) and his cell neighbor, Mark Patterson (#988302) end.  This includes the repeated cell searches, destruction of property, denial of phone calls, and seizure of commissary items. 2. We demand that Rashid's tablet be replaced at no cost to him.  This is only right since it was, in fact, the guards who purposefully broke it in retaliation for Rashid exercising his rights to free speech and political expression. 3. We demand that Rashid be allowed his right to legal counsel by speaking with his attorney, Dustin McDaniel, of the Abolitionist Law Center.  This right has been refused since Rashid's time at Pendleton even after providing proof of Mr. McDaniel's credentials supporting that he is Rashid's attorney.  Rashid has not been allowed to add Mr. McDaniel to his list of approved numbers to call or his visitation list. WHO TO CONTACT? The following people should be contacted in regard to Rashid's current situation:

- John Adam Ferguson, Chief Legal Officer

jferguson1@idoc.IN.gov

(317)460-6307, mobile

(317)233-8861, office

- Charlene A. Burkett, Ombudsman IDOC

ombud@idoa.IN.gov

(317)234-3190

- Joseph Walters, Dep. Director VADOc

(Proxy for Harold W. Clarke, Director of Virginia Dept. of Corrections)

joseph.walters@vadoc.virginia.gov

(804)887-7991

- DuShan Zatecky, Warden Pendleton Correctional Facility

(765)778-2107

The following links will lead you to the resource materials that you will need to make and record the outcomes of these calls:

Suggested Script

Call Outcomes

Recording the outcomes of your calls is important because this information will be used to determine the necessary next steps in this coordinated action.  Also, please note that on the Call Outcome sheet there are multiple tabs, each of which corresponds to one of the contacts listed above.  Please use the appropriate tab for each contact when recording the outcome of each call.

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

As Hurricane Florence barrels towards the East Coast 170,000 people behind bars lie directly in it’s path with no ability to evacuate in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

We need your help putting pressure on each state to ensure the horrors that happened at FCI Beaumont during Hurricane Harvey don’t happen again. Already one prison we know of in a flood zone is refusing to evacuate.

Demands-

Immediate evacuation of all prisoners from every prison.

Stockpiling of Water and Food at every facility.

When you get a response tweet @FightXPrisons! (Or email FightToxicPrisons@gmail.com)

ALSO-

We don’t trust ANY Department of Corrections. Per Jailhouse Lawyers Speak’s advice, “If you know any prisoners in this storm path, it’s important to tell them to fill up any containers or bags with water NOW!! Prisons are notorious for not giving adequate drinking water to prisoners if any at all after the water is contaminated.”

There’s a lot of numbers so maybe get with some friends and divide up!

Numbers to Call

North Carolina Department of “Public Safety”  (Twitter- @NCPublicSafety)

DOPS General Line- 919-733-2126

Department of Correction General Line — (919) 838-4000

Ask to speak to Director Lassiter’s Office.

South Carolina Department of Corrections (Twitter- @SCDCNews)

Agency Director- Bryan P. Stirling —- 803-896-8555

Virginia Department of Corrections (Twitter- @VADOC)

General Number- 804-674-3000

Press 0 at the menu and ask to be transferred to the director’s administrative assistant.

Only current VA evacuation- Indian Creek Correctional Center.

Federal Bureau of Prisons-

Mid Atlantic Regional Office (North Carolina and Virginia)- 301-317-3100

Southeastern Regional Office (South Carolina)- 678-686-1200

[theculturedmarxist]

By the site admin:

Rashid has learned he has prostate cancer, as detailed here. He needs all his supporters to call the Virginia authorities and urge that he begin treatment immediately. The following text can be used by people calling or emailing in. It has been written by a comrade who also has cancer and is in touch with many friends who do as well, at Rashid’s request:

“My name is _______________________. My friend Kevin Johnson,#1007485, housed at Nottoway, just learned from the prison doctor that he has prostate cancer. Tests he took last October and November indicated that diagnosis almost certainly, but no biopsy was performed until April and the results reported to him on July 1. Eleven of 13 biopsies are positive for prostate cancer.

“Cancer kills, and it can kill fast. A friend with prostate cancer says his treatment started immediately upon diagnosis in an effort to stop the cancer from spreading to his lymph nodes and on to his bones, where it would be fatal. The Virginia Department of Corrections has already failed in its responsibility to provide even minimal care. Mr. Johnson’s thousands of supporters are shocked to hear of these inexcusably long delays in diagnosis. The best possible treatment must begin now. No obstacle must be allowed to cause further delay.”

Personalize the message if you can, and send it to the following authorities:

Director of the Virginia Department of Corrections Harold W. Clarke VADOC P.O. Box 26963 Richmond, VA 23261 (804) 674-3000 docmail@vadoc.virginia.gov

Director of Health Services, VADOC Steve Herrick healthservicesinquiries@vadoc.virginia.gov (804) 887-8118

Warden Clint Davis Nottoway Correctional Center 2892 Schutt Rd. Burkeville, VA 23922 (434) 767-5543

[actifithealth]

Campbell County Public Health Department Gillette Wy

Campbell County Public Health Department Gillette Wy

Campbell County Public Health Department Gillette Wy. Offenders who are not under vadoc custody will not appear in the search results. Campbell county public health nursing. New CEO Named for Campbell County Health Campbell County Chamber Of Commerce from gillettechamber.com County clerk has marriage and land records from 1912 and election records; Covid 19 vaccinations moderna covid 19…

[the-final-straw-blog]

Hunger Strike at Red Onion + Military Refuser in Israel

This week on the show, we’re featuring three segments.

First up, you’ll hear part of an interview with Shupavu wa Kirima, General Secretary of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party, comes on to talk to us about the ongoing hunger strike among prisoners at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia protesting the abuse of solitary confinement and the medical status of hunger striker Kevin “Rashid” Johnson. More at https://RashidMod.Com [00:01:18 - 00:25:47]

Then, Yuval Dag, an Israeli anarchist member of Mesarvot recently imprisoned for publicly refusing conscription, talks about draft refusal, opposing the war on Palestinians and the occupation and undoing zionist ideology. More at https://linktr.ee/meaarvot [00:27:31 - 01:06:13]

Finally, you'll hear Sean Swain reading the names of people killed by US law enforcement during February 2023 [01:06:15 - 01:12:02]

Call-in / Emails For Red Onion Hunger Strikers

Who To Contact:

VADOC~ Central Administration; USPS— P.O. Box 26963 Richmond, VA 23261

David Robinson Phone~ 804-887-8078,

Email: david.robinson@vadoc.virginia.gov

Virginia DOC ~ Director, Chadwick S Dotson,

Phone~ (804) 674-3081

Email: Chadwick.Dotson@vadoc.virginia.gov

VADOC ~Central Administration Rose L. Durbin, Phone~804-887-7921 Email: Rose.Durbin@vadoc.virgina.gov Beth Cabell, Division of Institutions beth.cabell@vadoc.virginia.gov (804)834-9967 Gov. Glenn Youngkin (804)786-2211 glenn.youngkin@governor.virginia.gov

Red Onion Hunger Strike Participants last we heard:

Kevin “Rashid” Johnson – #1007485

Jason Barrett – #1092874

Rodney Lester – #1429887

Charles Cousino – #2213403

Eric Thompson – #1208012

Joe Thomas – 1193196

Nguyen Tuan – #1098070

Demetrius Walllace – #1705834

Gregory Binns – #1157265

P. Williams – #2103207

DeQuan Saunders – #1458253

J. Hilliard – #1988319

Ray Galloway – #1407902

Gregory Azeez – #1421616

. ... . ..

Featured Track:

One Man Army (instrumental)  by Rage Against The Machine

Check out this episode!

[shirlleycoyle]

Prison Mail Surveillance Company Keeps Tabs On Those On the Outside, Too

In March 2018, the Virginia Department of Corrections (VA DOC) was trying to gain more control over the mail its approximately 30,000 incarcerated people received. Mainly, it wanted to close a loophole in which people posed as businesses so they could include color photos. A contact at the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections recommended they talk to a Florida company called Smart Communications about its product, MailGuard.

Smart Communications offered to do a whole lot more than that. It offered VA DOC a suite of products that would make it possible for prison officials to monitor and search all inmate communications with the outside world. It would create a searchable database of everything each prisoner said and received, along with who said it. And, the company claimed, it would include postal mail in this dragnet through its MailGuard product, by scanning each mail item at a remote facility and uploading PDFs for incarcerated people to view from a tablet. The people in prisons would never receive the physical letter. 

The MailGuard system works by having senders address their mail not to the prison, but to a PO box rented by Smart Communications. For state DOCs, the company offers to set up a mail receiving facility in the state, and then ship the mail to its Florida facility for processing. There, the mail is opened, scanned, and uploaded. According to the proposal, inmates would then log into a kiosk to view the PDFs of their mail remotely. After 30 days, the mail is destroyed. There is no way for incarcerated people to ever physically hold or recover their mail.

And, the company said, it would not only track incarcerated people inside the walls, but their friends, family, and anyone who sent mail to them, too.

"Investigators will have access to the postal mail sender’s Email address, physical address, IP Address, mobile cell number, GEO GPS location tracking, exact devices used when accessing system [sic], any related accounts the sender may also make or use," Smart Communications said in a proposal for VA DOC. The proposal and other documents were obtained through a public records request. 

Motherboard is posting the proposal, which was created specifically for the VA DOC, because it shows how a private company proposed a complex surveillance system that would keep tabs not just on incarcerated people but also on the people who sent mail to them, even if they were not suspected of a crime.

This system, Smart Communications boasted, "eliminates anonymity of postal mail, now postal mail has a digital fingerprint with new intelligence." And this intelligence could be used to crack down on "gang members."

When Motherboard asked Smart Communications for comment on this article, a lawyer for the company demanded that we not publish any of the documents, which were obtained using freedom of information laws that journalists regularly use to procure public documents about how taxpayer money is being spent and the general dealings of a democratic government.

"I understand you have obtained information relating to a confidential proposal that Smart Communications previously made to the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Corrections. Please be advised that this proposal and the information therein was provided pursuant to a confidentiality understanding / NDA and was clearly and prominently designated as CONFIDENTIAL, PROPRIETARY, and TRADE SECRET," David Gann, general counsel with Smart Communications wrote in an email. "It should never have been shared with you or anyone else by the recipient. We will deal with that issue separately, but regardless, Smart Communications demands that you, Vice Media, Motherboard, and any other affiliated companies or entities immediately cease and desist all efforts to further disseminate or distribute any information obtained in that confidential proposal. Smart Communications further demands that you immediately destroy all copies of its proposal."

In its FOI response, the VA DOC claimed that it did not have any nondisclosure agreement with Smart Communications. The documents obtained as part of this request were automatically made available through Muckrock, the nonprofit platform Motherboard used to file the request on. Motherboard has redacted some inmate personal information and personal contact information for Smart Communications executives.

"Smart Communications takes the protection of its intellectual property and confidential / trade secret information very seriously, and it will pursue all violations to the fullest extent of the law," Gann continued. "Please immediately confirm receipt of this email, that you will not further violate Smart Communications' intellectual property rights by publishing any aspect of its confidential proposal, and that you have destroyed all copies of Smart Communications' confidential material."

The proposal, which VA DOC did not ultimately pursue, does not explain in detail how Smart Communications' platform works, it generally lists its capabilities and prices. VA DOC opted to spend about $7 million a year on an in-house solution of photocopying and shredding all mail before delivering the copied version to people in prison. But Pennsylvania did sign a contract with Smart Communications, through an emergency procurement process, due to a controversial and contested claim of a surge in mail being laced with synthetic marijuana. 

The rollout was "a mess," according to Quinn Cozzens, staff attorney at the Pittsburgh-based Abolitionist Law Center, a public interest law firm.

"Mail was delayed for weeks or months and was regularly delivered to the wrong person. Color photos were scanned and delivered in black and white, often with portions of the picture cut off. They rejected mail and returned it to the sender without explanation for why it was rejected." Plus, the promised kiosks never materialized, as PA DOC staff printed out the PDFs on copy paper and handed them to incarcerated people just like VA DOC does.

While Pennsylvania's deal with Smart Communications was widely reported at the time, the extent of the company's capability to track people not in prison has not been previously known.

"Smart Communications has been boasting of their dystopian surveillance system at least since they were awarded a contract by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections in 2018," said Cozzens. "Smart Communications’ total surveillance of every aspect of communications with incarcerated people is a chilling convergence of the expansion and privatization of the surveillance state on one hand, and a growing private industry that profits from holding human beings in cages on the other."

The extent of Smart Communications' reach across the U.S. mass incarceration landscape is not yet known. In communications with the Nebraska Department of Corrections in October 2018, which Motherboard also obtained via a public records request, a company representative boasted of its contract with Pennsylvania and claimed to be "under contract negotiations with Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, Utah, and Florida!" 

At least in Virginia's case, this was a bit of an exaggeration, as Virginia received a proposal but never pursued it. The majority of the company's clients appear to be regional and county prisons. 

Screenshot: Virginia Department of Corrections documents

"Written correspondence is one of the most, if not the most, important means for incarcerated people to maintain connections with family and loved ones outside of prison," Cozzens said. "Smart Communications prevents incarcerated people from ever holding a drawing sent to them by their child, or an original photograph, or a handwritten letter from a loved one that hasn’t been scanned and reprinted on a sheet of copier paper."

In the proposal, Smart Communications estimated it would pocket $1.8 million in profits over a five-year period through payments from VA DOC for equipment and maintenance. At least in PA DOC's case, incarcerated people do not have to pay to access their mail, although Smart Communications told VA DOC that if it opted for its digital communications suite, people sending messages to people in prisons would have to pay 50 cents a message or $1 a photo.

Smart Communications offered VA DOC a system to monitor, approve, and potentially reject mail using a "management console" giving them "instant access to the entire VADOC database of inmate mail." Investigators can receive real-time alerts via text or email when an inmate marked as a gang member or otherwise flagged receives an item of mail.

Letters can be approved or rejected by DOC staff. Screenshot: Virginia Dept of Corrections

The company further offered VA DOC the "Smart Tracker" system, the one that tracks the people who send incarcerated people mail. The proposal doesn't detail how the system works, but it appears to use the data people input to create an account through the "Smart Jail Mail" portal to connect them to the letters they send. The company retains all digital copies of mail for seven years, meaning if the system is used in enough prison systems, over time it could generate a considerable database about who associates with whom.

This creates real privacy concerns for people whose only "crime" is trying to communicate with someone in prison, says Aaron Mackey, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who has worked on prisoner privacy issues. 

"People who communicate with prisoners are now going to have reduced autonomy, privacy and expression and associational rights," Mackey said, "because now, wholly innocent individuals who are trying to just communicate with family and loved ones, members of their community and so on, are now going to be caught up in this surveillance." Even institutions like social service organizations and religious leaders will be caught up in the dragnet, Mackey warned, potentially getting flagged as troublesome figures because they communicate with people in prisons.

But the most significant issue, both Mackey and Cozzens say, is the emotional toll not receiving physical mail takes on incarcerated people. Even before the pandemic, many prisons have gradually shifted to encourage mostly digital interactions through video visitation and similar efforts. Physical mail was a key link between people in prison and their support networks. That link is being cut. 

To be sure, people in prison do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy even for physical mail. Prior to the Smart Communications contract, all postal mail in Pennsylvania state prisons was opened and physically inspected for contraband by prison staff and skimmed for contents, Cozzens said. But it was rarely scanned and preserved. Once the initial inspection was complete, the mail was delivered to the person it was addressed to. 

Cozzens sees a huge difference between that approach and what Smart Communications is doing. "There is quite a difference between a prison guard potentially skimming over a letter one time before delivering it, and every person who sends mail to an incarcerated person having their letters scanned, rendered digitally searchable, stored for seven years, and on top of that their personal information is also stored and meticulously tracked." He compared it to police agencies merely writing down a license plate when they pull someone over versus deploying license plate readers on a mass scale. 

"This is just another step down that road," Mackey said, "where prisoners increasingly have diminished rights and privacy."

Prison Mail Surveillance Company Keeps Tabs On Those On the Outside, Too syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[gocurrentcom]

Corrections dept. is breastfeeding-friendly

The VADOC provides clean, private, secure, locked accommodations for new mothers at each of its facilities, including prisons, probation and parole offices and other agency locations.

[notsoterriblymisanthropic]

Urgent call to action: Rashid says, ‘They are trying to kill me’

We are asking that folks call and email on Rashid’s behalf:

“Hi, my name is ___ and I am calling to voice concern over the unjust treatment of Kevin Rashid Johnson. It has come to my attention that Rashid has been refused his property following a premeditated attack that we believe may involve members of your staff.

“We are demanding that the property be returned to him immediately and that it include his medication, correspondence, writing effects and legal materials specifically. We are especially concerned about your refusal to give him the remainder of his K.O.P. meds, Lozartin and Hydrochlorothiazide. These are life sustaining medications and need to be administered every day. As it stands now, he has been without them since Aug. 25, 2020.

Denying him these things is a violation of his medical, legal and human rights and impedes his ability to look after his health and defend himself from these most recent, bogus charges. I understand this type of behavior and refusal of basic human and legal rights by IDOC authorities represents a racist and abusive pattern of targeting Rashid for his political beliefs and for his publicizing the conditions at Pendleton amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to other racist and oppressive conditions. We understand your officers, A. Long and R. Cochran, have been key figures in this continued racist and abusive practice.

We demand ALL of his property be returned to him immediately. We also demand that this rumor of an impending transfer out of Pendleton Correctional Facility being used as a pretense for withholding his property from him either take place immediately or cease. Finally, we demand he be allowed to communicate with his attorney and any other legal counsel that he deems appropriate and that he be allowed to add his attorney’s phone number to his phone contact list immediately.

I want you to know that Rashid has the full support of many friends both here and abroad. The entire world is watching your actions there at Pendleton Correctional Facility. We hope that you will do the right thing. Thank you for your time. Goodbye.”

Call or write the following officials to save Rashid’s life

Ombudsman Charlene A. Burkett, 317-234-3190, ombud@idoa.IN.gov

Chief Legal Officer Jon Adam Ferguson, 317-460-6307 mobile, 317-233-8861 office, jferguson1@idoc.IN.gov

Warden Dennis Reagle, 765-778-2107, dreagle@idoc.in.gov

Administrative Secretary to the Warden Shannon Schott, sschott@idoc.IN.gov

Deputy Director of VADOC (Virginia Department of Corrections) Joseph Walters, 804-887-7982, joseph.walters@vadoc.virginia.gov, proxy for Department of Corrections Director Harold W. Clarke as of Nov. 11, 2018