Missouri Prison Reform received the following message from a resident of a Missouri Prison.
There is a problem on many levels with property of people incarcerated being stolen and not investigated or replaced by MDOC or even other people incarcerated being held accountable to replace if they were to be found at fault for the theft. Recently! I made changes to my life to exit a gang and was told I would have to pay with my life. Because of this extreme measure I requested PC and was fairly quickly placed in the PC unit from the segregation unit I was placed in to wait. I was never given the opportunity to secure my property and MDOC did not make sure immediately it was secured either. Upon getting what was left of my property back from the property officer I learned all my food items where gone, all my hygiene, all my stamps, TV, coaxial cord, fan, hot pot, stinger, CD player, alarm clock radio, lamp, beard trimmers, rug, 2 blankets, 3 gray shirts, 2 new balance shoes, 2 thermal tops, 2 thermal bottoms, sweatshirt, sweat pants, 2 Khaki shorts, bath towel, washcloth, Personal family bought leather bound Bible, books, mirror, fly swatter, nail clippers, cooler, shower bag, hat, sunglasses, and so much more small items that is a total value of about $730.00… This is not the first time this has happened to me and just about everyone who comes to the PC unit has to go through this. This also happens to just about all people incarcerated that go to the segregation unit and it happens generally with people incarcerated getting robbed of their possessions while gone from their cells. It is hardly ever looked into and there are no consequences to these actions and we are told camera footage does not have to be reviewed or provided and it will not be investigated. In the past and it will be the same now for me if I file the proper IRR and take it all the way through the process to the Grievance process I will not be helped in any way to prove the theft of my property even as in the case at hand now it is all gone. At MDOC’s disposal they have just about all of these items in the property room storage that has been confiscated from people incarcerated who had property that they had not bought in there possession and possibility the same property now altered that was stolen from people incarcerated like me. This property can be used to give back to people incarcerated like me at no cost to MDOC but they refuse to do so. This now puts the burden back on my family to resend me money to buy all these items and my family is not well off so this will take years to replace. I would be able to replace these items myself by working in MDOC but I can not have a job like MVE furniture factory builder that I had before PC and cant have while in the PC unit. I also would like to state for the record that not only was I trusted in a job like MVE furniture factory working with tools but I have an excellent institutional record with no type of write ups for over 5 years. I feel that this is not only a form of unnecessary oppression but punishment. I do not deserve this and no other people incarcerated do but this problem is state wide in MDOC and needs to be corrected and can be done so very easily by securing people incarcerated property immediately and investigating thefts and lost property instead of not caring. I ask this question if this was done in out there as in theft, burglary, and robbery is there not an investigation, charges, and compensation???? I thank you again for reading my story and for your time and my hopes are that people incarcerated can get justice in this matter and our families not have to be burdened by this type of wrongful treatment for no reason at all.
Sincerely, David Rasco
