Paula Dockery: Come on, Gov. Scott, get to work fixing corrections department | TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune
People are dying in state care, and all Gov. Rick Scott can muster is a blank stare.
Since 2000, 3,954 inmates have died in our state prison system, and last year was our deadliest ever with 346 deaths. Particularly disturbing is that the numbers keep rising with reports that some died by unusual circumstances.
According to the Department of Corrections website, of the 346 deaths of inmates in custody, 140 were attributed to HIV, cancer and cardiac or gastro conditions, with another 24 classified as other medical reasons. Three were classified as accidents, three as homicides, seven as suicides, and in 163 cases the cause of death is still pending.
Pending?
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I hope that former Florida legislator Paula Dockery remains involved in prison reform, because activists are getting swatted down like flies when we ask reasonable questions or request reasonable actions, and sorely need back up.
The personnel swapping that happens in Florida to take advantage of the still-open DROP retirement loophole is in play as regards Florida Department of Corrections, new Secretary Julie Jones is openly double-dipping. But perhaps Gretl Plessinger’s is double-dipping, too, which would be greater salt in the wounds of inmates families/friends who know her from being the DoC’s apathetic spokesperson, and who fear her now being in the same position at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is supposed to play a role in oversight of the DoC.
There are prisoners from other states that have been Ghosted to Florida. One is Jacob Barrett, who is preparing to resume his hunger strike over prison conditions. Barrett isn’t in Florida’s online database, nor is his Oregon’s – his home state. It could be that taxpayers from both states are paying to incarcerate Barrett, as though he were two people. Oregon is ignoring all the national and international news about Florida’s prison homicides … which seems rather unusual. And cruel.
Via email (part of trail below), I made the U.S. Postal Service aware that some Florida corrections officers discard mail instead of delivering it – or forwarding it if the inmate has been moved. The USPS decided it was a regional matter, although my making them aware of Jacob Barrett being Ghosted to Florida from Oregon clearly made it a national matter. As it happens, it’s also an international matter, as many citizens of other nations – particularly European nations – correspond with inmates in Florida.
I rarely stoop to sarcasm, but I’m not feeling as bad about having done so with the USPS and FBI after reading some of Paula Dockery’s guest columns, especially since I know what she doesn’t – that feds have already giving Rick Scott a pass on destroying inmates mail, which likely means they plan on giving him a pass on all harm deliberately done to inmates not only to date, but in the future.
From: Susan Chandler
Date: March 3, 2015 10:39:03 AM EST
To: ethics.help@usps.gov
Cc: jones.julie@mail.dc.state.fl.us, Governor Rick Scott <Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com>, ASKDOJ <ASKDOJ@usdoj.gov>, Breyman Jamie E <Jamie.E.Breyman@doc.state.or.us>, portland@ic.fbi.gov, Betty.A.Bernt@doc.state.or.us
Subject: Fwd: Request for relief and redress re interference in delivery of mail to inmates
Dear Ethics Help,
I had asked that my correspondence be forwarded to either the head of Consumer and Industry Affairs, or the Chief Inspector General. I now ask that you forward it to both.
It is not difficult to understand that corrections officers and officials’ interference in inmates receiving their mail contributes to their being trafficked and held incommunicado, nor is it difficult to understand that it is an international matter.
What is difficult to understand is a governmental Ethics Offices that is so ethically challenged that its representatives don’t even identify themselves.
Please let me know that you have met my request, whoever you are. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Susan Chandler
[Note to Portland FBI: Whom do you serve, and how?]
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From: Ethics Help <Ethics.Help@usps.gov>
Date: March 3, 2015 9:53:57 AM EST
To: Susan Chandler
Cc: “jones.julie@mail.dc.state.fl.us” <jones.julie@mail.dc.state.fl.us>, Governor Rick Scott <Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com>, ASKDOJ <ASKDOJ@usdoj.gov>, Breyman Jamie E <Jamie.E.Breyman@doc.state.or.us>, “portland@ic.fbi.gov” <portland@ic.fbi.gov>, “Betty.A.Bernt@doc.state.or.us” <Betty.A.Bernt@doc.state.or.us>
Subject: RE: Request for relief and redress re interference in delivery of mail to inmates
Ms. Chandler,
We will forward your email to our Pacific Area Consumer and Industry Affairs office. In addition, you may contact the U.S. Postal Service Inspection Service directly at 1-877-876-2455.
Regards,
Ethics Office
From: Susan Chandler
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2015 6:44 PM
To: Ethics Help
Cc: jones.julie@mail.dc.state.fl.us; Governor Rick Scott; ASKDOJ; Breyman Jamie E; portland@ic.fbi.gov; Betty.A.Bernt@doc.state.or.us
Subject: Fwd: Request for relief and redress re interference in delivery of mail to inmates
Dear Ethics Office,
Thank you for acknowledging my email requesting relief and redress for inmates nationwide that being are denied receipt of their mail by corrections officers and officials, which plays a discernible role in inmates being Ghosted, Disappeared and/or held incommunicado.
I cannot, however, thank you for forwarding my email to the Southern Area Consumer and Industry Affairs Office, as the inmate I specifically mentioned – Jacob Barrett – is an Oregon inmate who has been Ghosted to Florida, making the matter anything but strictly Southern. That the USPS is providing unwitting assistance to the abuse and trafficking of America’s inmates is in fact an international matter … were the USPS to track the return of mail that corrections facilities refused to deliver, it would find a significant portion being returned beyond our borders.
I therefore ask that you revisit my request for relief and redress, and forward it to either the head of the Consumer and Industry Affairs Office, or the Chief Inspector General. Thank you for your time; I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Susan Chandler
Wobbly Warrior's Blog 