Laws Exploit Loopholes in Grievance Procedure

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[Campaigns] [Bill Clements Unit] [Texas]
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Laws Exploit Loopholes in Grievance Procedure

The issue that I’m working on here at the Clements Unit is what the laws here call “time out.” By the way, I received the Texas Pack and it has been a huge help. I can’t thank you enough.

Anyways, when a law decides to harass an inmate, and gets a response he don’t like, they place you in restraints and escort you do the Administration building, and put you in a holding cell with no restroom. There ain’t no PHD(?) cells on that building. And they leave you in there for hours.

So while you’re gone, your property is just wide open for grabs. Officers hate to inventory property but they quick to lock you up. So when you file a grievance, grievance staff try to save these laws by screening the complaint, and putting the wrong grievance code. So the objective is to stop all that deliberate indifference, and stop the due process violations and make it better for the next man. And the Texas Pack is one of the tools I needed to get me started.

If officers put as much effort into inventorying your property as they do locking you up on PHD, we wouldn’t have to file property claims. But no, they use your property loss as a retaliation act.

So what I did is, on my complain (I-127), my opening statement made it clear that I was filing on the guidelines outlined under grievance code #515 (property lost/missing/stolen/damaged). Because if you don’t state the grievance code, the investigator may put a different code. Grievance codes 512 through 515 consist of issues about property here in Texas.

Also, I was going through my past complaints (I-127s) and the action you request to resolve your situation could change the grievance code number. So be careful, and make sure your resolution request runs consistent with your statement of complaint. Because if you file a harassment complaint, and you request that a case be overturned, the grievance will be graded as “improper.” “Staff harassment” is grievance code #812, but if you mention that you want the case he wrote you to be overturned, then it changes the issue. Then the complaint conflicts with the resolution, so therefore the grievance becomes “improper.”

And I’m sure that is mentioned in the grievance manual that Texas hides. So inmates become frustrated because they don’t understand and give up. Then the law wins again. Much love to MIMP and all my fellow inmates.

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