WoMag jail story
It used to be hard (but not uncommon) for the weekly Worcester Magazine to scoop the daily Telegram & Gazette. Yesterday, via the power of the Internet, WoMag beat the T&G by 8 hours in their coverage of a recent federal report on problems at the county jail.
The report (PDF) makes a few dozen recommendations on improving conditions, because:
In defining the scope of inmates’ Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, the Supreme Court has held that corrections officials must take reasonable steps to guarantee inmates’ safety and provide “humane conditions†of confinement. . . . The “humane conditions†standard is satisfied when a corrections system provides for inmates’ basic needs for safety, medical care, food, clothing, and shelter. . . . As discussed below, the conditions at the Jail do not comport with these legal standards.
This part has already provoked comment:
The Jail’s grievance process is difficult for inmates to access. As an initial matter, inmates do not have direct access to grievance forms and must obtain them from the housing unit captain. Once a form is completed, inmates must “complete and forward the form in an envelope, with postage, addressed to the (‘Facility Inmate Grievance Coordinator’) by way of the outgoing facility mail.†Pursuant to the Jail’s policy, inmates must file a grievance form within ten days of the incident at issue, although the grievance officer told us that he does not enforce this rule. Inmates are subject to these same rigorous requirements if they wish to appeal the grievance officer’s decision.
The inaccessibility of this system is reflected in the low number of grievances that are filed.
Deputy Superintendent Jeff Turco:
There’s nothing in the Constitution that says a jail can’t have a cumbersome grievance process … [or] any process.
Buck Paxton:
Apparently some people think the right to petition for a redress of grievances is just part of a Seinfeld sketch.
I’d be curious to see how this report compares with the reports issued to other jails these days, or Worcester County in the past.
Meth lab at slaughterhouse
At a notorious kosher slaughterhouse, according to accounts of a recent immigration raid there. “Last November, the search warrant said, ICE agents interviewed a former Agriprocessors supervisor who said some employees were running a methamphetamine lab in the plant and were bringing weapons to work.” Erik Marcus notes: “I had no idea that crystal meth was part of a deep religious tradition.”
Interview with Louis Rodemann of KC Catholic Worker
Haven’t listened to it yet, but here it is: mp3#1, mp3#2.
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