Prisoners Reach Out

Todd Hiivala 363687 GBCI , PO Box 19033 Green Bay, WI 54307    11 27 16 second offering on pdf : small Victories excellent series of letters and complaints that succeed in getting a destructive rule changed.  

Title You're Breaking Up Presented by: Todd E. Hiivala #363687 Green Bay Corr'l Institution P.O. Box 19033 Green Bay, WI 54307-9033 Subject            Complete refusal by GBCI staff--from maintenance, to supervisors, to the Warden himself--to repair or replace broken telephones inmates use to call and talk with family, friends and loved ones. Background: Between the end of 2015 and early 2016 GBCI installed phone jacks along the tiers, allowing inmates to request and place phone calls to family, friends and loved ones. Prior to this the only access to phones was at recreation, where there were, and still are, only a dozen phones that up to 100 or more inmates were/are expected to use within their one-hour recreation period. As one can imagine, between a lack of staff supervision, and no honor or courtesy among inmates monopolizing the phones, the whole process was/is chaotic and dysfunctional. The addition of phones on the tiers was a positive step, in the rig

“NEO SLAVERY” encroaches on WI DOC? TWO DISTURBING SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES   "NEO SLAVERY"  and "NEW Slavery" are terms I am beginning to read more and more in WI prisoner letters. Very important and disturbing stuff.   I will link this to some of the essays and here summarize. 1) The legislature enacted Act 355 last April , which directed the WI DOC to take 50% of incoming funds from prisoners jobs for “restitution”, the amount the court ordered the prisoner to pay to victims at their   sentencing. Previously to this, 25% was taken. The DOC however, is taking 50 % from all funds coming in including moneys from families and they are doing it retroactively- taking for years served before the Act was passed. This has a big impact on families and prisoners. They are already reeling under the weight of many fees and the wages made by the few who do work within the system are incredibly low   . Here is a chart from one of the writers of the articles below

Todd Hiivala 363687 GBCI , PO Box 19033 Green Bay, WI 54307  Inmates forced to choose between recreation and their prison jobs Greetings to all at Community, along with appreciation for the time, hard work and continued advocacy on behalf of those of us housed at this and other Wisconsin correctional institutions. Below find letters I mailed to the DOC Secretary, DAI Administrator and Security Chief in Madison, informing them of GBCI officials' most recent action in forcing those with jobs or in school to relinquish up to half of their constitutionally protected right to recreation. This blatant act of retaliation against 1,100 inmates for the despicable action of a single inmate who assaulted a staff member with hot water is unprecedented. As I pointed out to DCC officials, I've done over a quarter century in a dozen prisons across three states and have never witnessed anything--any assault on the fundamental rights of inmates--as flagrant as this! I firml