Missouri Prison Reform received the following message from a resident of a Missouri Prison. Some edits were made for clarity.
The Missouri Department Of Corrections would have the state to believe we (individuals incarcerated) are so violent and liars etc. The fact is we are incarcerated for law violations and now we are held and the staff and correctional officers placed to oversee us are supposed to be the pillars of the community and the state. Law abiding, honest, honorable, respectful, and professional and some are but most are NOT, they are the opposite! People incarcerated have lost respect for the administration, staff, and most of all the system. If a person incarcerated is clearly in the right and I will take you right back to my message to my mother where I gotten written up by mail room supervisor out of revenge on May 25 and it is still not expunged when case law, and DOC policies say this is not only protected under constitution but common sense. So these are our rehabilitators and taxpayers pay alot for corrections to rehabilitate so in reality if DOC is claiming we are liars, pieces of crap, violent, and more well I would say its the process and how DOC operates so maybe they are rehabilitating us to be this way with all their wrongful actions. The administration is still trying to figure out how to manipulate the law to make it in their favor so they don’t half admit they are wrong when that is exactly what is needed and more of it to get people incarcerated back in the habit of trusting the system and the process. DOC claims there are avenues in place to help us with issues, this is a bunch of smoke and mirrors. There is no number we can call to report wrongful actions on staff as the spokesperson has stated in the past. DOC claims we have the Informal Resolution Request and Grievances to assist us. This may work if it wasn’t biased, and if staff actually followed the laws and their own policies and could be grown up and admit when they are wrong or when their subordinates are or acting in the wrong. I challenge this by simply stating at the JCCC institution alone audit this process and compare denials to approvals and investigate some and you will see that even if people incarcerated are correct, they are still denied staff make statement to the person incarcerated in regards to this process stating if your not going to file a lawsuit don’t file IRR. This means they plan to deny if right or wrong. The Central Office has Constituents Offices. This is a waste of taxpayer money as this office doesn’t need to assist because like everything else they are not there to help individuals incarcerated or mediate, they help the staff screw over people incarcerated.
Toby Gregory
