Some edits were made for clarity. Names and places were redacted by Missouri Prison Reform.
My name is Toby Gregory. On May 25 2023 I sent a message on my tablet to my mother. The conversation was just general stuff. I was repeating what other offenders were talking about that day. There was talk that the mail room supervisor and she used to work at **** **** *********** and may have used meth. I repeated hearsay, the mail room supervisor didn’t censor the message as it posed no threat or violated any institutional rules. She then came and wrote me up for a 23.1 “Giving False Information to Employee or Official” this rule doesn’t even apply as I was talking to my mother, however the Sergeant went along with it. At the hearing I presented 33 years of case law on the issue stating that our messages are protected under 1st amendment, and that we can’t be punished or retaliated against for being critical of staff, institution, state & federal government or if our messages offend the staff in any way. I also pointed out that if I was talking to an official that would be a privileged message and I can’t be punished for that however it wasn’t! I also pointed out the rule I was accused of violating doesn’t apply. The hearing office ignored all this evidence, and policies and found me guilty! There is so much that is wrong with this violation! The mail room supervisor abused Her power and authority by violating policies to write me up. The mail room policy, the censorship policy, the staff member conduct policy, and most of all the offender accountability policy that says write ups are not to be used maliciously or as a form of retaliation or revenge which this clearly is! I have filed the IRR to have the write up overturned, and my mother has called many staff members at the ******* ****** as this write up places her at 79 years old a victim and witness because she was used to punish me. I lost my job over this and have been moved to a complete locked down wing and cell. This is the wrongdoing that goes on in DOC and every staff member is involved as the sergeant shouldn’t have read this violation and there is no way I should have been found guilty and now my mother is told they are looking into it. This is clearly an act of revenge and retaliation. How many laws and policies and how many offenders need to be abused before someone steps up and says this is wrong and does the right thing? This write up should have already been expunged but staff can’t admit when they are wrong.
This is a clear violation of my 1st amendment and of DOC policies, and why do they need to look into it? That means they don’t know what the law is or even their own policies!
I am being punished. Why because someone got offended? Meanwhile two offenders are caught having sex in their cell and they get out of the hole and administration took no time in overturning one’s punishment so he could get his job back in the factory and this is a clear rule violation!
There are serious issues within the Missouri DOC!
