Excerpts from a letter sent 7/16/18 from a prisoner at Racine Correctional:
“I made 20 copies of the submission form form for the newsletter and
handed them out to people. About the Dane Unit, they had no hot water
for over a month. Kitchen workers had to go to work without showers.
We are currently asking all RCI inmates who were made to squat during
a strip search to file a complaint to the warden. One officers is
making us do this after visits even though the security director says
this is no longer an official part of the strip search….The gym
ceiling leaks anytime there is rain. The floor floods and makes
playing basketball dangerous…New canteen limit is $42 a week.”
“So Jon Litscher was replaced by Cathy Jess, Uh? Let us not forget
that on July 2015 she sent psychologists to re-evalate the most
serious mentally ill prisoners classification code to make it appear
as if there were lower levels of of mental illness in seg.”
“Right now I’m trying to get administrators to give us new mattresses
in seg. 90% of all the mattresses in RCI’s seg unit (Waukesha East and
Waukesha West) are ripped, cracked or missing chunks of their
protective plastic cover. According to their policies (DAI 303.00.02
Sub XL, A), the Facility shall provide inmates in RH all of the
following 1. Clean mattress. These mattresses are not only dirty but
extremely unsanitary, because they are exposed to countless fluids on
the daily basis that can’t be cleaned off since they’re missing chunks
of their protective plastic cover. The fluids soak into the cushion
and give it a foul order.”
Conditions in the Wisconsin prison system need to change.