Issue 3 July 2020
This issue will cover submissions we had lately. If you have something to add to the future newsletters it would be most helpful. The more ‘news from inside’ we get, the better. The IWOC network has been growing; the guidelines below will help us respond efficiently, especially if you plan to send in something for the next newsletter
1) Start a NEW message for your reply
2) We do not have access to any lawyers; individual legal support is outside of our capacity.
3) For newsletter submissions, please put all comments or questions into one email with the subject line “Fox Lake Reporter”
4) Be sure to let us know if you want to be named publicly or remain anonymous, both for the newsletter or to be otherwise posted publicly (i.e. on the internet).
5) Tell us which prison you are writing from in every message, especially if you’ve been transferred.
-If you’ll be released within the next three months please send a new message to us with the subject line, “Release,” so that we can forward you the info and resources we have regarding reentry.
-We want to get more people involved in IWOC’s research, phone calls, etc. If you have any family/friends who may be able to help out, send a new email with the subject line “Outside People,” + include in the message the person’s name and phone number/contact information.
-We’re a membership based labor union that organizes against capitalism and prison slavery. If you’d like to join up/want more info on what joining means, send a new email to us with the subject line, “Membership.”
-If you know anyone who’s not in contact with us who would like to receive this newsletter, tell them to add us on Corrlinks iwoc.milwaukee@gmail.com to automatically get future issues.
Christopher Smith July 9th
Covid-19 protocols that is now being enforced here at Fox Lake. All “Patients” & ” Staff members ” will be Forced to wear a mask at all times. Here’s the real problem with these “Smoke & Mirrors” that the DOC is pretending to be following when they know it’s virtually Impossible to “Social Distant” in any way shape or form. Every housing unit holds at least 176 patients at time, with 43 patients On each wing. We all use the same 4 toilets, sinks, and showers. We share the same day room, 2 patients to a room, and sitting not even 6 feet apart during meals. Fox lake administration is a joke in all aspects, and I am just keeping it real. Fox Lake administrative may be able to fool the Public with their double talk, but there’s no better news than the news from the inside. The only way “WE CAN GET COVIC-19 IS FROM THE STAFF” simply because, they’re the only ones who is back and forward in the Public on a daily basis.
PROGRAM REVIEW COMMITTEE:
This process is a joke. First, the so called Social worker tries to trap you by saying, “if you don’t take a compus, they cannot (PRC) me to where my programs are. Sounds like foul play to me, simply because the Court use a campus whenever they sentence a person or commit a patient to the Department of Corrections. However, the PRC Staff is made up of all relatives, And there is absolutely no way that I can receive a fair hearing here at Fox Lake. So, if you have a solution to all this nonsense that many of us is continuing to go through, I would like to hear your thoughts on This or feed back because, together we can move forward as a whole..
From Fox Lake
Okay, so all staff and prisoners here at Fox Lake Correctional have been tested over a month ago. All coming back negative. Zero cases of Covid is good news to us all. But I can’t understand why this institution continues to enforce practices, which does nothing to prevent the spread of Covid, if it actually does arrive inside of FLCI.
For example: The dining room tables, which usually seat (8) people, are limited to (4) instead. While waiting in line to get your tray, you are expected to remain 6 ft. apart. All of this is meant to enforce social distancing, I understand.
The problem is this: we only practice this social distancing, INSIDE of the dining room. I.e. The same guys that we are required to keep a safe distance from, inside of the dining room, are the same guys we are socially engaging outside of the dining room. We share the same microwave, phones, dayroom tables, sinks, bathroom, etc. In fact, it would be a very strenuous task to prevent the spread, inside of this setting, if it should ever arrive here.
Now we will all be required to wear masks, effective July 13th. I’m all for doing my part to help us all get through this pandemic. Hell, I go around daily, disinfecting commonly touched areas, and have been doing it for months. I’ll even wear a mask, for the greater good. But, I wonder how much thought and effort has been given, to those staff and prisoners who already have respiratory problems (ex. COPD, asthma, overweight) before making it mandatory that we all wear masks. Shouldn’t this have been a consideration?
From Chris
Hello I would like you to know what us guys go through when we go to PRC. First I would like to tell you about how I feel when I go every year. Full disclosure, I suffer from an array of mental health problems, like depression, and extreme mood swings similar to bipolar. I have worked hard to change the way I see the people around me and the way I treat them. But when I see PRC and MS. Burke she made me feel like I do not deserve to live. After the first time I went to see MS Burke for PRC, I would have killed my self ,had I not been on the intake unit where everyone can see you at all times. Now I know you might think this is an over reaction. And I talked to Physic service and they told me, they hear a lot about how bad MS Burke is during the PRC meetings and there is nothing they can do.
I have gone to see PRC at Jackson Correctional Institution for 11 years before I came to Fox Lake Correctional Institution. When I met with the PRC committee there they looked at all of the bad and all of the good I have done. They acknowledged the growth I have made, from when I started my time to the date I seen them. At first I thought it was me and my crime, but then I started to hear stories from other guys in Fox Lake. A recent example is there was a man who by the looks of things was doing everything right. He did all the right things, like taking programs to better him self( that powers at be would allow him to take) and not getting tickets and keeping a job. Buy when it came time to see MS. Burke and PRC he was told that because he didn’t take a program ( that they would not let him take) he could not move on to E.R.P. (Side note he could have done the program while in the E.R.P. program). This is what the majority of us guys here go through when we see MR. Burke at our yearly PRC. meetings. what is weird is, Madison has overridden a lot of MS. Burke’s decision, but yet MS. Burke still keeps her job. The staff here at Fox Lake know all about the way she operates. When something is said to staff about her, all they can say is ” that’s the way she does things”. Now knowing how other prison PRC staff treat the PRC process this is not the norm. If MS. Burke is allowed to stop guys from moving forward, then what do us guy use to motivate our self’s to change?
Christopher Smith, July 15th
Today’s topic deals with the stealing of money from patients here at fox lake. First, these institutions in Wisconsin seem to think that they’re above the law when it comes to taking 50% + 10% from anyone in its custody and the Courts can’t put a stop to it. Well, let’s expose these thief’s for who & what they are. For all of us who were sentenced before 2016, the DOC’s Policies & Procedure pertaining to the Restitution at 50% Violates both your (Judgment of Conviction & The Ex Post Facto Law) The Restitution Policy enacted in 2016, DAI POLICY#309.45.02, Wis.Stat., 301.31, 301.32 or ACT 355 do not give the DOC the authority to charge 50% to those who were sentenced before 2016. This is theft in it’s finest form by the department of corrections (Fox Lake). The saddest part about This is, the Circuit Courts is agreeing with the embezzlement of money from the patients here at Fox Lake. So, if you were sentenced before 2016 and the DOC is charging you 50% or more for Restitution , exercise your 1st. & 14th. Amendment Rights When you file your petition.
THE GUARDS ARE MAD THEY HAVE TO WEAR A MASK:
I am on unit-6-C here at fox lake, wear these guards are mad they too have to wear a mask. To keep is 100% with you, there’s no way that the Covid-19 can get into Fox Lake unless the Staff/Guards bring it into this gated community.
REAUMEL MARSH July 15th
Myself and the other inmates at FLCI are being stressed to (and for many of us beyond) the point of misery. We are now required to wear facemasks in all buildings. On the outset, this doesn’t seem too bad. However, when you look at this from all aspects, it puts UNNECESSARY restrictions on ourselves and our living environments. There is NO Covid-19 amongst the inmate population.
At Fox Lake each of the Units has approximately 168 inmates and four Wings. Only the 42 inmates living on a given Wing can use that day room and are separated from the rest of the Unit. We can no longer sit in our own day rooms without masks despite the fact that 42 of us share the same phones, microwave, toilets, urinals, showers, hot water dispenser and kiosk. The restriction would’ve been easier to take if we could use the day room without wearing a mask. In the outside community, you don’t have to wear a facemask in your living room if you do not wish. Individual day rooms are an extension of OUR home as it is the equivalent of a living room, not an area shared with the whole Unit.
We do fire drills so that in the event of an actual fire, we know exactly what to do and exactly where to go. We do tornado drills for precisely the same reasons. The same standards should be used in this “Covid-19 drill” that govern fires and tornadoes, namely, that until we get ACTUAL Covid-19 outbreaks within our community we should conduct ourselves as usual. And in the event that we DO get an outbreak, we can rely on the training we received from the FLCI administrators.
Anonymous.
About 2weeks maybe 3 as ago from 7/17/20 the lift outside the main kitchen broke the hydraulic fluid hose shaped and release all the fluid on the ground after the problem was fixed they left the hydraulic fluid stay were it was and drain into the ground which will end up into the drinking water and still to this day has not been cleaned up . Also in the main kitchen you are around loud machines that affect your hearing they are supposed to provide you with ear plugs for free, instead they said ” if you want ear plugs go to h.s.u ” where we have to pay 7.50 .
Programs at fox lake : I do not see how it is right for an institution to force you to take a program that is NOT ordered by when you were sentenced . the social worker’s here are not licensed to say any one needs these program’s, and if you refuse to take these programs you are punished and retaliated against with vuna and is illegal, the reason they want everyone one in these program’s is because every person that completed the program they get paid for . If they are not court ordered you do not have to take them .
Canteen : the canteen prices are out of control .it’s robbery at its finest . A lot of people can not afford canteen any more while it was in house they had prices that everyone could afford , now that we no longer have in-house canteen they are charging prices that are marked up 200 % with out prices you would more than likely pay on the street sometimes a lot more , so people that are getting 60% or more taken from there money that can’t afford much of anything not to mention they take the same 10% ,60% or even more from your gift money how is that right ???
I agree that fox lake correctional does one thing really well they hold you here and won’t let any one go. This is a death trap ,they want you to fail , they will not send people to minimum unless you bend over backwards for then even then you probably won’t get any were , the release account max is $5,000 dollars there is no way to reach that goal and have a chance when you get out without going to a minimum.
The pay rates that Madison has set will never get you there, it is Slave labor at its finest . How is it right that we get paid 28 cents hr and do more work than the staff that is hired from the street that makes 100% more than we will ever see ,and are held to a higher standard than they are …..
Fox Lake needs to have the Environmental protection agency here , they need the federal government to come and do an audit on them , and have someone do something about the unhealthy water we drink.