No Accountability with Grievances in Texas
Here in Texas, we are having severe problems with ACCOUNTABILITY with the guards, rank, staff, employees and wardens. The grievance system is a joke. Broken, and in itself corrupt, a conflict of interests. Endlessly, we, here in Texas, have tried every known rights group, agencies and firms only to be put off with our Grievance System.
Texas, it seems, has some type of trump card on extreme abuse and violation of its prisoners and their rights. They (the Texas Prison System) change policies, rules and laws ONLY to please the ones in control.
In 2015 and 2016, inmates in Texas filed over 151,000 grievances. Over 80 percent of the grievances were about prison guards, staff, medical denials and abuse. All 80+%, of course, were denied, with no fault found on guards, staff or medical. Some of these grievance issues include no fans in the day room and living areas, with all windows welded shut. No type of air cooling system. The heat and air is in itself unbearable at all hours during the summers.
The guards need no reason for how they handle inmates, or the way they treat and mistreat them. They are always in The Right. The inmate is always in The Wrong, and that is that. Medical denial, and being in severe distress is the norm. Availability of ice water is extremely limited, the guards, of course get all they need. Broken water systems and the inability to cool the living areas, even at night has made many sick. Is there any wonder why there are so many heat related deaths and suicides here in the Texas prison system? Some inmates have tried to seek medical help, only to be charded $100.00 co-pay and then receive no help at all! Where do you turn? The Grievance System? The wardens? Where is there any help?
Hundreds of inmates are forced to eat their meals with no teeth at all, being denied dentures. Here within the last few years to date, wardens have been escorted off the unit for corruption, some showing up drunk day after day. It is out-of-control, no accountability. Texas Department of Criminal Justice employees do what they want, when they want, how they want, and answer to no one for their actions!
A new policy was just passed in 2016, allowing TDCJ Administration to re-class thousands of inmates, some who have been here, like myself, 19 years or longer, with clean records, blemish-free disciplinaries, good forced work records (inmates in Texas are payed no money or anything for their labor with Good Time/Work Time meaning nothing towards release) and clean conducts, to give back the ten-year-earned G2 status, placing back to a lower status (what they do to disciplinary or problem inmates). Placing us all back with the very ones causing trouble or just arriving in the system. A violation of our supposedly protected due process rights and a Texas Law, where it is illegal (or so we thought) to change any law, policy or rule to make it retroactive where it has a negative effect on our sentence or time, placing us all back to G3 status, taking our ten-year-earned (which was extremely difficult) status, jobs and housing assignment privileges.
A Texas Judge, Ellison, wanted to know why TDCJ-ID could not provide information on how many heat related illnesses and deaths had occurred since 1990. TDCJ-ID stated that they were not keeping count!
There is no type of accountability whatsoever. The corruption within the system is at its highest! It is a fact that no one cares. If you are ever incarcerated, at some point, God forbid, you may fully understand and see first-hand how out-of-control it really is. Faced with all that is going on in prisons, all over, can you please tell me how is anyone to have any type of hope if you trust the current system? It is broken. Nothing, “NOTHING!” works!
Yes! Please send me several (if possible) petitions on the new follow-up petition written to federal law. We want to hold Texas accountable to federal requirements!
