Widespread corruption in the IDOC
I have been fighting my criminal case for 16 years now and you could not possibly imagine, let alone fully comprehend the unbearable, deplorable and inhumane conditions prisoners endure on a daily basis at the States Maximum Security facilities in Illinois. In addition to having to exist in such a grim and cold reality, prisoners must function under a constant heightened sense of alert in anticipating prisoner upon prisoner, prisoner and staff, and staff upon prisoner assaults. The unwritten protocol, and attitude of prison administrators/staff are a “fuck you convict demeanor” and prisoners are mistreated, harassed, disrespected and provoked so badly by prison guards, prisoners are often left with no other alternative but to take matters into their own hands and brutally assault prison guards. What is most disturbing is the reality that prison guards themselves often instigate, provoke and engage prisoners in physical confrontations, and only the prisoners are criminally prosecuted, because no one wants to acknowledge the heinous, and criminal activity of prison guards.
In some instances prison guards have not only engaged prisoners in physical confrontations out of holding a revile towards prisoners, but in order to gain financially by filing civil actions, seeking promotions, days off, and politicking with prison administrators. The grievance procedure is a complete joke, because the very prison officials who oversee the grievance procedure do nothing more than lie, deny, and make every effort to conceal the egregious abuses of prison guards against prisoners, due to the liabilities involved, and simply because most prisoners are completely ignorant as to how to expose such abuses. I am what is stereotypically referred to as a jailhouse lawyer, because of the various Federal Civil Rights Actions I had or am currently pursuing against the corrupt prison officials/employees of the IDOC.
For years I have gone out of my way or have attempted to compel other prisoners to either pursue civil actions, bring such matters to the attention of public officials, news organizations, or law enforcement, because the horrendous abuses prisoner are subjected to daily throughout the IDOC is un-fuckin-believable. I have seen the news reports about the abuses of prisoners in Iraq, and Guantanamo and such prisoners are treated with dignity, in comparison to how we are treated in American prisons daily. I don’t require some lawyer, judge, or politician explaining to me as to how the system works, because I certainly have enough life experience to realize how fucked up, corrupt, and racist are political, economic, and judicial structures truly are.
I was housed in the very same cell location as prisoner Leezer, just several months before this prisoner was murdered by his (Leezer’s) cellmate. In fact, just several weeks before Leezer’s murder, I personally forwarded a correspondence to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Warden, Director, and various news organizations, including the Chicago Tribune, about how prison administrators were deliberately, and recklessly endangering the health, and safety of prisoners, by housing prisoners two men per cell, despite such celling assignments being specifically designed to house one man per cell. I stipulated in said correspondence that such double man occupancy in a Maximum Security Facility has already lead to literally hundreds of well documented incidents of prisoners brutally assaulting their (prisoners) cellmates, due to prison administrators simply throwing anyone, and incompatible prisoners in the cell together.
To add insult to injury, despite hundreds of prisoner upon prisoner cellmate assaults being well documented, the great majority of such prisoner upon prisoner cellmate assaults go largely unreported and undocumented. I can’t remember too many nights going by where I haven’t heard body blows being struck, due to prisoners being involved in physical confrontations with their cellmates. One of the greatest contributing factors to prisoner upon prisoner cellmate assaults is prison administrators at the Stateville CC deliberately placing, and mandating that rival factions of gang affiliates being placed into the same cell together. No prisoner can be housed in a cell with another prisoner involved in the same or similar gang affiliation, so rival gang members who are killing themselves out in the streets are being forcibly confined into the same cell together in the prison system, and I’m dumbfounded that there isn’t a prisoner/cellmate murder every few days.
I myself have been thrown into the segregation unit on several occasions for being involved in physical confrontations with my cellmates, cellmates which prison administrators themselves (prison officials) had me placed into the same cell with. In one instance I was given six months in the segregation unit @ the Menard CC for being brought up on charges of assaulting my cellmate, despite my numerous requests for a cell change/transfer. Due to the massive overcrowding issues plaguing the IDOC, prisoners who should never be placed into a cell with another prisoner under any circumstances, such as predators, which has only led to further instances of prisoners being savagely assaulted or even raped by their cellmates.
The most horrific factors pertaining to these matters is that, prisoners often go out of their way to avoid such altercations by requesting cell changes, filing grievances on the matter or even claiming their cellmates as enemies, yet prison administrators refuse to follow their own rules and regulations and simply don’t give a fuck about prisoners assaulting themselves because it is simply the norm and an accepted practice. The only time any real fuss is ever made regarding physical confrontations is when prisoners are involved in physical confrontations with prison guards, because in these instances prison administrators really have to go out of their way to cover their asses.
These prisons are being run as if it was the medieval era. There are virtually no real educational or job training programs. Illinois State law mandates that prison officials afford prisoners at least one hour of cell activity daily, which often refers to recreational activity, yet prisoners are left to sit and brood within these cages for twenty three and a half hours a day with only a fifteen minute break for lunch and fifteen minutes for dinner. Prisoners are basically supposed to be afforded at least one hour of recreation/yard activity every day, but here at Stateville prisoners are only being afforded access to the prisons yards twice a week, and with the numerous lockdowns which often last for weeks, if not months, prisoners are lucky to obtain recreational activity several times every few months.
The meals served at these institutions are beyond repugnant and sickening. Many prisoners simply don’t have the means to have relatives/friends forward funds on a regular basis and prisoners often rather starve than consume the road kill served to prisoners in this dungeon. The Stateville CC receives millions in funding from the state in order to serve prisoners proper diets, yet the food service supervisors receive large bonuses to curtail cost, which often means searching for the worst garbage to feed prisoners. Much of the good food that’s supposed to be served to prisoners is often siphoned off/stolen and diverted to the officers kitchen, where prison guards enjoy free meals at the expense of the State of Illinois. How in the fuck the State of Illinois is subsidizing every meal which a prison employee consumes while on the clock/working is beyond me, especially considering the tremendous budget deficit the state is currently facing. It is simply unsustainable for the state to cover the cost of feeding every one of its employees, in addition to having to feed the entire prison population. The cost for feeding every employee here at Stateville alone is well in the millions of dollars every year, and this is taking place throughout the IDOC.
The employees of the IDOC are paid on average $45k a year and many of the Lieutenants and Majors receive salaries well beyond $80k a year, yet the state of Illinois is picking up the tab to feed these welfare recipients for every single meal consumed.
It is a social scientific and statistical fact that crime is driven by poverty, yet the overall prison population is literally cat down into these dismal tombs for years, if not decades to do nothing more than stand by idly, engage in further gang activity and only to be released ten times worse off than when entering the thunder dome. And despite 95% of the prison population ultimately returning to society, nothing is being done to actually better, education and train prisoners to become productive individuals. Upon release prisoners need to be able to provide for themselves, pay the bills, and be able to support our families. When you have a prison system allowed to function in such a cesspool of waste, corruption and mismanagement as the IDOC it is no wonder that so many prisoners return to the streets to continue to engage in gang activity, selling drugs, victimizing individuals and even murdering others, because it’s all a prisoner has been instilled with and after years of being tormented degraded, and dehuamized, I’m stunned that a prisoner upon release has not driven back to one of these prisons to stalk, hunt down and brutally assault or murder one or more of these prison guards for the unspeakable evils that prisoners are subjected to regularly at these concentration camps.
I myself have various litigations pertaining to the overall prison conditions, retribution, etc which I have been subjected to and even despite my litigations prison guards/officials have made me a prime target for all manner of retribution. I possess a tremendous amount of statistical and legal documentation further supporting and proving my claims.
