To Family Counsel & Loved Ones
Are you tired of the financial burdens purchasing over-priced food packages for your loved ones to supplement the poor and unhealthy food the Department of Corrections provides?
Are you tired of having 20% of the money you send your loved ones taxed for "cost of incarceration"? Did you know, you already get taxed for this very thing by the State, out of every paycheck you earn? I would guess that you'd also be outraged at the fact that while the State ALSO taxes you for all Incarcerated Individuals basic medical needs, that the DOC taxes another 15% of all money you send your loved ones for their basic medical needs as well--which consequently aren't even close to being met. Did you know that the same tax you're paying is being taxed again off every Incarcerated Individual's meager paycheck?
Why is the Department obstructing the implementation of minimum wage jobs in prison?
In 2007, the Washington State Legislature amended Article II §29, of the State Constitution allowing minimum wage jobs to return to he prison. This was suppose to be revolutionary! To just describe a few, it was to promote a smoother and more successful transition from prison to society, help individuals pay off Legal Financial Obligations, Child Support, or to take care of their costs for basic hygiene and food to relieve the crushing pressure off loved ones. Yet, the Department refuses to bring back minimum wages. Instead, it expanded the monopoly company Correctional Industries (CI) that has significantly reduced the quantity, as well as the quality, of food served--all at a greater cost and tax increase to the tax payers. But then, when individuals tried to supplement this horribly poor diet, along with the help of concerned loved one's, CI increased the price of commissary and food packages! Not to add insult to injury, but CI was also suppose to provide real world experience and job skills your loved one's would gain, and need, from these minimum wage jobs that would extremely lower their chances of recidivism, and many others as well, but help them pay their obligations.
So, to try and remedy this, Incarecerated Individuals (I/I) try to be heard and follow the policies and processes in place to try and remedy these wrong doings. I would bet that you're tired of hearing that your loved one's are following these rules set by DOC, and yet grievances are just being frustrated or not being addressed on the merits? Are you outraged that when they follow these processes as directed by DOC and then are then targeted by staff as a means of retaliation and intimidation to deter them from speaking out or suing over the deplorable living conditions?
Imagine..... instead of you spending money on your loved one each month, your loved one pays for his/her child support, court costs, restitution, other debts, AND has enough money saved up upon his/her release to even pay rent, for clothing, transportation, and the basic necessities to reintigrate into society. Sounds way more logical and a means of higher success at lowering the recidivism than the current meager:
$40 gate money
500 minute phone card (payphones no longer exists)
One pair of clothes
and bus ticket if needed.
Jailhouse Lawyer's Speak N.W. (JLSNW), through a collective of incarcerated prisoners, will be filing a legal challenge to the Washington Administrative Codes (WAC) and the mail policies that PROHIBIT the communicating, aiding others organizing, and/or parcipating in PEACEFUL nonviolent protests. Mind you, these WAC and policy rules are directly contrary to the Washington State Constitution Article, I, §4, which states:
"The right of petition and of the people to peacefully protest to assemble for the common good shall never be abridged."
Also, Article I, §5, states:
"Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right."
Now, one example of this in recent years is prisoners across this state have responsibly protested their poor living conditions through hunger strikes, sit-ins, and flat out refusals to work in COVID infected areas without the proper protective gear. So, in an effort to protect themselves and exercising their basic constitional rights , these prisoners were punished because those peaceful protests violated the prison rules. JLSNW aims to remove those barriers for your loved ones to voice their concerns, without having fear of punishment and retaliation.
Did you know, that for OVER a 100 years the courts and the Department of Corrections have been well aware that even just a short term isolation, has permanent severe negative impacts on an individuals mental health? The Department has recently issued a press release statement, and an internal Department Memo, stating it will no longer use segregation as a punishment for infraction behaviors. Yet to the contrary, the Department is still continuing to put prisoners in segregation for not just weeks or months, but YEARS or even decades, for "their protection" or "prehearing confinement."
JSLNW requests your support in this movement. All we ask of you is spread the word to your loved ones but this movements and agree, to the best of your abilities, to gather in front of your local Superior Court and/or prison nearest to you and demonstrate on specific dates to gain attention to the collective demands of Washington State prisoners. JSLNW has obtained a tentative agreement from media outlets and organizations with connections in the mainstream media to cover your demonstrations.
Stay safe, stay strong, and stay smiling :)
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