Mission Statement: To promote the
well being of prisoners in Maryland and, to a limited extent, those
released from prison, being mindful of the causes and prevention of
crime and ultimately enabling prisoners and ex-prisoners to attain
success in their lives.
Strategy: Keeping lines of
communication open with prisoners, prison administrations and
administrators, the government including the legislature, and where
possible, family members, other volunteers and active segments of
the criminal justice community.
Disclaimer: The following
newsletter may contain editorial content including but not limited
to parody, satire and all out put on.
Famous opening lines (actual DOC
correspondence):
As I have said many times, I am not a lawyer, I never
went to law school, and I cannot represent people in a court, give
legal advice, or prepare legal documents. One of the major
problems I run into is people who have very legitimate legal claims
either in their "suitcase" or subject to "money" damages. To my
best knowledge, information and belief, I have been unable to find
lawyers for people with bonafide legal needs. For example, I heard
of a "cut and dried" medical malpractice case in a Hagerstown
prison. Despite many, many long distance calls seeking a referral,
the Hagerstown Bar Association was unable to refer a single
lawyer to take this "guaranteed" case. Baltimore City is better
but not by much. My file on people with legal claims is two inches
thick and growing. What I have resolved to do is contact as many
"legal" sources in the hopes something will turn up. So far I have
met with utter failure. Perhaps this newsletter will result in
recruitment. Examples:
This newsletter is being sent to a great many places. If you
are an attorney or know of one, please contact me if you are
interested in providing representation for prisoner matters.
Legal Aid Bureau Prisoner Assistance Project
bites the dust! New but not as good agency to take its place!
Due to a federal court decision, Legal Services Corporation, parent
of the Legal Aid Bureau, can no longer handle prisoner matters.
The "PAP" unit that so many of us have depended on over the years
is shut down as of July 31, 1996. Another, much smaller group, has
been set up to handle a very limited number and type of case. So
for time counting or for clear violations of federal civil rights
matters only, there is a new group called
PRISM ("Prison Rights Information Services of Maryland,
Inc."). PRISM will be located on the Eastern Shore (not Baltimore,
Jessup or Hagerstown) at 100 Church Alley, Chestertown, Maryland
21620.
On the other hand: While the FBI has the "Unabomber",
DOC has its "Unapooper". The Unapooper
now resides at an undisclosed DOC facility where yet another warden
is plotting his transfer to yet another region. Unapooper files
with the State and Federal courts anything and everything even
slightly annoying. He is probably responsible for half the
employment of two Assistant Attorney Generals. You can help
neutral-ize the Unapooper by filing grievances and court actions
only when you think you have something legitimate and
actionable and your petition is to the best of your
knowledge and ability. The State Attorney General, Joseph Curran,
is actively trying to cut off inmate litigation altogether and (see
above) he has been partially successful already. Don't let him do
that to us.
Pro se litigation: If I bring the data
diskette topic up to the Commissioner one more time, he will jump
up and down, turn blue and smoke will come out of his ears. Never
you mind, I brought it up to Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy
Townsend. If the Commissioner was last year's "Grinch that Stole
Christmas", he is this year's "Mr. Crabcake '96". The definitive
answer about why you can't have data diskettes - you guessed it -
security. Apparently a single inmate of the 1,000,000
incarcerated in the United States in an unspecified Midwest
state used a data diskette to utter the word - you guessed it -
"escape". The real story is that it makes hundreds
of "security" personnel "insecure" if the inmates have better
equipment and know how to use it. In fact, at my prompting, the
Commissioner went around the Department of Public Safety including
the wardens' offices surveying the existing computer equipment. He
was heard to say after testing the various machines: "The
Department of Public Safety is like a box of chocolates, you press
V-E-R at the C-prompt and you never know what you are going to
get."
Anybody fluent in Spanish, Greek, Pig Latin, Cantonese or
Mandarin is invited to utter "escape" in the language of your
choice. Only do it with pencil and paper or toothpaste smeared on
your cell wall. Do not do it on a Brother, a Sharp or an XT
operating anywhere at or above 8 Hertz.
Like the young man who found himself surrounded by pony
doo-doo and said to himself, there must be a pony, DOC Headquarters
is saying there must be a security risk somewhere. Meanwhile, the
security doo-doo gets deeper every year.
In fact, the "security" doo-doo got to the level of the
Secretary (Bishop Robinson) earlier this year. An "Order of the
Secretary" apparently confirmed the stance of the DOC with regard
to diskettes. I found it didn't matter to them that I was able to
prove that each and every one of the legal cases cited in that
Order could be easily overcome - I got back a two-page letter to
the effect that if Stuart M. Nathan (see below) says it's
right, it therefore is. The letter said that people were welcome
to file suit in Circuit Courts, which would be nice if people were
trained lawyers and (make believe) had access to legal research
materials, xeroxers and printers.
The matter will be described in great detail to the American
Bar Association (ABA) section on Pro Se Inmate Litigation.
The ABA is busy "assessing [and cutting down on] the
burdens" of inmate litigation on "courts, correctional
officers, and state attorneys general" "without undermining
inmates' constitutional rights".
How to determine your official JBCS score: 58-80 pts,
maximum; 35-57 pts, medium; 33-34 pts, rank and file CO; 34-35
pts, warden; 32-33 pts, shift commander; 30-31 pts,
secretary/commissioner; 28-29 pts, SUI; 14-27 pts, minimum; 12-
13 pts, Department of Education; 10-11 pts, Bank executive; 8-9
pts, Insurance Company Examiner; 5-7 pts, DOJjie; 0-4 pts, you
don't belong in the prison system.
Consider all results confidential. Remember there is no
override, there is no team and the warden and Commissioner are as
much a part of it as you are.
The All-Time Classic Grievance came
to me from MCAC at the beginning of the holiday season. I knew it
would be a good one since it came with a Richard Nixon stamp
instead of the U.S. flag stamps that come from the rest of the
system. Here it is in its entirety: "Other (explain):
Institutional indifference to my monastic situation. I've reached
a point of monastic development whereby which my physical structure
is out of sync with this architectural structure." This person is
obviously in tune with fifteen centuries of Western history and a
comparable extent of Eastern tradition. Warden Eugene Nuth is
going to have a tough time answering this one. Why not send one to
your own warden, too!
Population Report: (latest population
report available from Department of Public Safety): MCAC ("Supermax"): After the Department
of Justice (the "DOJjies") moved in last Spring, while DOC
transferred anyone that was nutty ("nutty" meaning the most
retarded, the most suicidal, the most schizophrenic, and so forth),
looking at my mailbag, it looks like they kept everyone that was
"bonkers". My mailbag indicates a higher bonkers ratio out
of MCAC than out of any other joint in the system. I am unable to
determine whether the "bonkers" is derived from living at MCAC in
the first place or whether the "bonkers" syndrome started and came
in from other joints first.
The "DOJjies" (Department of Justice) sent a 13 page letter
to the Maryland Governor with copies to assorted public-sector
Maryland attorneys as of May 1 ("Mayday"), 1996. The Maryland
Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Public Safety
(Stuart M. Nathan) sent back a 7 page letter as of June 19. At any
moment, the "dojjies" are going to send another batch of
paper back to the Maryland AAG. This batch of paper might
include filings to the Federal District Court down on Lombard
Street in Baltimore City (i.e., "Complaint", "lawsuit", "sue you",
etc., etc.). It is uncertain at this point how far these exchanges
of correspondence and other papers will result in lasting improve-
ments in the day-to-day lives and transfers in-and-out of the MCAC
facility. Certain "house cleaning" is already in progress,
and it is certain that copies of everything have been and
will be widely circulated in Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington,
D.C. for the time being.
MCPRJ: An SUI shop is making bumper stickers: "Don't
blame me, I voted for Sauerbrey"
WCI: Brother can you spare the dollar or two to help
these poor local people fight off economic Depression besides
making us live there?
Lifers: The Hagerstown chapter of the
Maryland Lifers' Fund has reorganized not only to include lifers
with work release time in or recommendations to minimum, but all
long-termers at the same facilities with common interests. The new
organization has been named, "Offenders and Advocates Coalition for
Change" (OACC). OACC hopes to recruit and consolidate support
throughout the lifer/long-term communities across the Division.
Annapolis/Headquarters: You know
you're dealing with a bureaucracy when they say:
a) Hold while I transfer you.
b) You have to fill out this form before I can help you.
c) You're not on our computer.
d) That's not in our budget.
e) Our policy is ...
f) We're running a little bit late ...
Sentencing Commission: Governor
Glendening tried to impart his leadership by introducing a
"Sentencing Commission" bill in the last General Assembly. The
Governor talked about "get 5, do 5" and other "macho, macho", no
good time, no parole concepts. The Senate and House, having heard
about these "initiatives" responded by obliterating 3/4s (or more)
of the Governor's proposal. The resulting, final bill has almost
none of the Governor's ideas, but contains a lot of more sensible
and realistic language about sentencing guidelines for the future.
A 19-member committee has already been named, about half appointed
by the Governor, about half by the legislature. If you want a copy
of the "Maryland Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy"
legislation, call 841-3810 (858-3810 in the D.C. area) and ask for
as many as five copies of "Chapter 563". As for the details of
Commission membership and its meetings, you can call the Governor's
office at (410) 974-3901 and ask for the Appointments Secretary.
M25 Burglars: In 1994 the legislature
redefined the penalty for burglary and daytime housebreaking but
they left undecided anyone sentenced before October 1, 1994 who had
been given mandatory 25 sentences. In the last legislature,
together with Katy O'Donnell of the Public Defender, we introduced
legislation to vacate or amend the sentences of at the least, 99
M25 burglars. You might remember that we notified 60 people on our
"M25 burglary" list individually before and after we filed the
bill. The upshot is that our bill failed BUT another
bill, which might have given you 30 or 40 straight time, got
through the House but not the Senate. It therefore never became
law at least during 1996. The bad news is that our opening
bargaining position for 1997 is not 25 parolable --
it is more like 30+ parolable. The legislature is not likely to go
for anything else. If you don't believe me, call 841-3810 (858-
3810 in D.C. suburbs) and ask for copies of House Bills 379
(ours) and 607 (theirs) from the 1996 session.
Finely chop all ingredients except tuna fish and egg. Coarsely
chop or flake tuna fish and egg. Mix everything together, then add
enough mayonnaise to moisten everything else but not to create a
goo. Refrigerate for 5-10 minutes until chilled.
Serve with lettuce and carrot sticks. Be careful not to keep
under your bunk more than 24 hours at a stretch or expect you and
everyone else sharing your concoction will suffer an acute case of
food poisoning.
Have you ever noticed that TV news isn't exactly "on
the ball" exactly "all of" the time. The following numbers
are for you to call not for "ordinary stupid" like when they
can't pronounce a name or don't know the difference between East
and West Baltimore. These numbers are to call when they are
"really stupid" like when they screw up the place of a
meeting, the name of a speaker, the committee(s) being covered or
the difference between the White House and the Department of
Justice. In descending order of magnitude, they are: WBFF
(Channel 45) 467-4545; WJZ (Ch. 13) 466-0013; WBAL (Ch. 11) 467-
3000; WMAR (Ch. 2) 377-2222. Lest it go without saying, they are
all in area code 410.
Lobbyists for and against the casino industry spent $870,000.00
even while the legislature was not in session. Maryland Lifers
Fund spent $449.72 during the same period.
During one hearing which might have decided to spend $115
million or more, one delegate was heard to exclaim, "I'm not
an M.B.A.!" This tended to shed light on the fact that
most politicians, in particular the ones formulating prison policy,
are lawyers and are not skilled at Business Administration or any
other related field.
A "doggie" bill is one that goes "woof woof" when fed
to a paper shredder. Testing my new Shred-Master 9000 bought
especially for the 1996 session, the biggest "woof woof" came from
House Bill 865 which would have banned weight lifting and martial
arts from DOC institutions. HB 865 was sponsored by Delegate James
Harkins (his real name) and eight (8) others.
The next biggest "woof woof" came from the bill that was
supposed to be for lifers (HB 1021). The "woof" came from people
who didn't know anything about the legislature who managed to add
language having nothing to do with lifers but attracted lots of
people ignorant of the legislative process to their political
position. They managed to kill the bill for everyone else. The
Senate dumped the bill 11-0; the House dumped it 18-2. The bill
was dead before it took its first breath.
It doesn't matter how many phone calls -- it doesn't matter
how many people or how many ribbons -- a "doggie" bill will go
"woof woof" when it hits the shredder -- no matter what.
And you thought AT&T was a rip off:
Sure, the cost of an AT&T collect call out of Hagerstown to
Baltimore City can go to $6.00 or more for 12-15 minutes --
Sprint (the "Dime Lady") tried to get me for $4.35
for a 9 minute local collect call inside the City.
Fortunately, Bell Atlantic saved the day and gave me credit
for the whole $4.35 plus tax. They told me in the future to ask
for the Bell Atlantic operator no matter how weird the
payphone you are calling from. Otherwise, all calls, not
just local, will be considered (and billed) long-distance -- and,
you will be at the mercy of whatever company happens to "own" the
"rights" to the phone.
The next joints after WCI will be WWCI
(Weally Western CI) and EECI (East of Eastern CI). DPS is also
looking at sites in Cleveland, Ohio, Fairfax, Virginia and
Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Ohio is looking at sites around
Indianapolis, Indiana, Pennsylvania is looking at sites near
Binghamton, New York, and Virginia has sent site locators to Prince
Georges County. If privatization is approved in the 1997
legislature, Princess Lines will have a flotilla of "Love Boats"
outside the 12 mile limit off the coast of Ocean City.
If you happen to have a calculator that can handle 10-digit
numbers, you can see that these five years alone add up to
$1,788,204,179! And the 1996 number is only
the working appropriation -- the actual number
won't really be known until all those pesky receipts,
invoices, debits and debt service accruals are put together and
accounted for! What this also means is by the end of Fiscal
Year 1997 (i.e., soon) the total will go over the top
where the State of Maryland will have invested over $2
billion (!) in its attempt to use incarceration as a
solution to its problems. And that's only since this newsletter
alone! This is still only a slice of the middle of
the 1990s -- imagine the decade beginning July 1, 1999! Won't
our Moody's rating rise, fall or go some-
where in between then!
Here's the contest: Your mission, should you decide
to accept it, is to "guess" whether the "working" number for 1996
will hold up and whether you can guess the final 1996
"actual" figure just in time for the 1997 legislature. Your
"guesses" have made for the most popular handouts at the last three
General Assemblies! You could win up to the equivalent of
two books of stamps ($12.80) deposited directly in
your personal commissary account!
Here's the catch: Along with your 1996 "actual" budget
"guess" you have to write a paragraph of no more than 400 words
explaining why DOC's budget is the way it is. There will be
one "winner" and "runners up" will depend on the number of entries.
Anyone is eligible to enter even if you work for the
Department of Public Safety, the Department of Fiscal Services or
the Department of Budget and Fiscal Planning. However, only
residents of the Division of Correction or Patuxent can qualify for
a prize. So enter early and by September 30, 1996 -- imagine
getting a personal visit from the 1996 DOC Operating
Budget Prize Patrol! The winning two books
of stamps could very well have your name on them!
LEGAL SERVICES UPDATE
The Legislature: News You Don't Want
to Know: