Certainly not as long as it is taking me to purchase the flat I live in from my landlord.
We started this process at the end of May, and I have already had to serve notice on the landlord for missing a legal timed deadline for one portion of the transaction process. My landlord is a social landlord, and I'm buying under the Right to Buy scheme - mainly because of the threat by the Conservative government to make workers pay full market rent on social housing properties. Commercial rents here are more than twice what I currently pay, and on the property I live in would take approximately half my income each month if that were to happen. A mortgage, with the RTB discount, is roughly the same as my current rent. The choice is clear.
What is not clear is why it took my landlord almost 14 weeks to provide me with a valuation of the property, and why it has taken since the end of May for them to finally confirm this week that there is no asbestos in the loft space (I have an upstairs flat). It has so far taken them 3 weeks to put together the transfer documents to send to my solicitor (and even she has started calling this a 'saga'!), and they still have not sent them.
The landlord also refuses to tell me whether a wall I want to remove is a load-bearing wall in advance of the completion of sale. It wont make any difference to me buying the flat, but my solicitor advised me to try and get the confirmation in advance of completion. Now that they have confirmed there is no asbestos, I can get my own builder to check, but it makes me very wary of how long they will take when I'm a leasholder to give permission for the building work to be done. My builder says I should allow 3 weeks for the building and then to fit a new kitchen, and I've saved a couple of weeks holiday from work this year to cover that period, but our holiday year runs from April to March and at this rate the work wont get done before next summer. I could do with a few days away right now, but daren't use any more holiday just in case the sale is suddenly completed and we can get going with the building work.
Why do we make these things so difficult in this country? I work in customer service and if I had delayed something in the way the landlord has, I'd have lost my job by now.
Showing posts with label bureaucracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bureaucracy. Show all posts
Saturday, 29 October 2016
Saturday, 20 August 2016
Will the September TDCJ inmate strike change anything?
Some people may say that I shouldn't be blogging about this. Some may say that it could put hubby at risk of intimidation or retaliation by the prison guards or administration. So let me start by saying two things very clearly:
1. Hubby has no intention of taking part in the planned inmate strike on 9 September 2016, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have an opinion on it or discuss it.
2. Intimidation and retaliation are just other words for bullying, and if there is one thing I detest more than people touching things that don't belong to them, it's bullies. They only have power if you let them, and by not talking about something like this, you give them power.
OK, now that's out of the way, lets get to the subject at hand: the proposed inmate strike on 9 September. This is a follow-up, and in some cases, ongoing action, from the April strikes that took place in at least 5 TDCJ prisons and several others across America. The reasons for the protest and action are many - when you have around 2 million people affected directly by something, you are unlikely to get a single number one issue. But Texas is unusual in that it does not pay its inmates any money at all for the work that they are obliged to do (don't turn up for your work detail in TDCJ, you'll catch a case and further punishment which can include being placed in Ad Seg, loss of other 'priviledges' such as the already limited recreation time, etc).
Now I do get the argument put forward by many in Texas that inmates get a number of things 'for free' while in prison that they would have to pay for in the freeworld. These include food, a roof over their head, a bed, clothes, running water (from the walls if not from a tap, and you probably wouldn't want to drink it anyway given the levels of arsenic in some areas). I also get that these are people who have been found guilty or plead guilty (two things that do not necessarily mean a person IS guilty by the way) and are in prison as punishment. But just as TDCJ is fast becoming the dumping ground for mentally ill individuals, the Texas public and lawmakers have a somewhat schizophrenic relationship with prisons and inmates (and their families).
First, there is absolutely no such thing as a free anything in Texas (or anywhere else). Just because the inmate does not pay directly in cash for the food, bed, roof, clothes, etc, doesn't make it free. Either the family pay by sending money that is then used to cover some of the medical costs or communication costs or food and other items from the commissary, or EVERYONE ELSE in Texas who pays taxes is paying for it all. And for many, that includes the inmate right up to the day they find themselves in jail.
In a state so adverse to paying personal income tax or any other kind of tax, doesn't it strike you as odd that very few Texans question the amount of their tax that contributes to the monster machine that is TDCJ with it's more than 100 prisons and around 140,000 inmates?
If TDCJ paid a dollar an hour - dammit, even a dollar a day - to inmates who worked, then the $100 annual medical charge (inmates who are indigent are not denied medical attention - I wont call it 'care') would be a little easier to swallow, because it would indeed be coming from the inmate's own funds. But given that inmates do not get paid, it is not the inmate who then pays for the medical charge: it's the friends and family of the inmate who are already paying through their taxes, and are then being told that they will pay TWICE through the money they send the inmate.
It's not just the money, or lack of, that is an issue in Texas. The convoluted and downright deliberate lack of will to assign many inmates any credit or 'good time' if they do behave themselves, is clogging up the system. It is causing (along with the dysfunctional BPP system) inmates to remain in prison long after they make that mind shift from reprobate to remorseful and wanting to give something back to society. The inability of the system to see beyond a crime to the inmate, to measure that inmate against them self rather than against an outdated perception of what an inmate should be, or to see prison as an undesirable millstone around the neck of a community has lead to certain parties within TDCJ and the TX legislature working tirelessly to keep as many inmates in prison as possible just to keep the prison machine going as it is.
Given the size of TDCJ, one possible reason for not paying inmates to work could be that there simply would not be enough 'jobs' to go round. It almost certainly suits some sections of the administration that so many TDCJ inmates are excused work because of 'medical' reasons - when these individuals could easily take part in computer-based occupations (no, not the Internet or unrestricted email), building and repairs, modern farming (rather than the plantation slavery that has men weeding fields on their knees with their hands in the TX summer) and any number of other things that would.... oh, I remember, we don't want the prison population to fall too low do we, otherwise some good ol' boys might have to be let go. Better to keep those inmates in prison until they are too old or sick to contribute as much as they would like to society, so that if by some miracle they do get paroled, it will only be a matter of time before they roll back through the picket gate again.
So will the planned strike change anything?
In short, no I don't think it will - beyond making life even more uncomfortable for any inmates not only involved, but also just in the same prisons as the action-takers. I understand the need to feel in control of ones destiny and to rise up against tyranny, but I really don't think this kind of action will achieve that.
What might go some way to achieving it is for the friends and families of the inmates to stop taking this laying down. Stop taking on the shame of your inmate's crime - let the inmate carry that, and walk in liberation with your head up to that polling booth and vote out the people who are standing in the way of change. Stand for local government yourself, then state government. TALK about this with people, don't let the bullies think they can do what they like and get away with it. Educate yourself, learn the law and use it, start blogs, newspapers, radio shows, join the TIFA, become active. Don't do your inmate's time for them, use the time to make the situation fairer for all now and all who come after. It can be done, you only have to look outside of the US to see that penal systems do not have to be run along the same lines as gulags.
1. Hubby has no intention of taking part in the planned inmate strike on 9 September 2016, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have an opinion on it or discuss it.
2. Intimidation and retaliation are just other words for bullying, and if there is one thing I detest more than people touching things that don't belong to them, it's bullies. They only have power if you let them, and by not talking about something like this, you give them power.
OK, now that's out of the way, lets get to the subject at hand: the proposed inmate strike on 9 September. This is a follow-up, and in some cases, ongoing action, from the April strikes that took place in at least 5 TDCJ prisons and several others across America. The reasons for the protest and action are many - when you have around 2 million people affected directly by something, you are unlikely to get a single number one issue. But Texas is unusual in that it does not pay its inmates any money at all for the work that they are obliged to do (don't turn up for your work detail in TDCJ, you'll catch a case and further punishment which can include being placed in Ad Seg, loss of other 'priviledges' such as the already limited recreation time, etc).
Now I do get the argument put forward by many in Texas that inmates get a number of things 'for free' while in prison that they would have to pay for in the freeworld. These include food, a roof over their head, a bed, clothes, running water (from the walls if not from a tap, and you probably wouldn't want to drink it anyway given the levels of arsenic in some areas). I also get that these are people who have been found guilty or plead guilty (two things that do not necessarily mean a person IS guilty by the way) and are in prison as punishment. But just as TDCJ is fast becoming the dumping ground for mentally ill individuals, the Texas public and lawmakers have a somewhat schizophrenic relationship with prisons and inmates (and their families).
First, there is absolutely no such thing as a free anything in Texas (or anywhere else). Just because the inmate does not pay directly in cash for the food, bed, roof, clothes, etc, doesn't make it free. Either the family pay by sending money that is then used to cover some of the medical costs or communication costs or food and other items from the commissary, or EVERYONE ELSE in Texas who pays taxes is paying for it all. And for many, that includes the inmate right up to the day they find themselves in jail.
In a state so adverse to paying personal income tax or any other kind of tax, doesn't it strike you as odd that very few Texans question the amount of their tax that contributes to the monster machine that is TDCJ with it's more than 100 prisons and around 140,000 inmates?
If TDCJ paid a dollar an hour - dammit, even a dollar a day - to inmates who worked, then the $100 annual medical charge (inmates who are indigent are not denied medical attention - I wont call it 'care') would be a little easier to swallow, because it would indeed be coming from the inmate's own funds. But given that inmates do not get paid, it is not the inmate who then pays for the medical charge: it's the friends and family of the inmate who are already paying through their taxes, and are then being told that they will pay TWICE through the money they send the inmate.
It's not just the money, or lack of, that is an issue in Texas. The convoluted and downright deliberate lack of will to assign many inmates any credit or 'good time' if they do behave themselves, is clogging up the system. It is causing (along with the dysfunctional BPP system) inmates to remain in prison long after they make that mind shift from reprobate to remorseful and wanting to give something back to society. The inability of the system to see beyond a crime to the inmate, to measure that inmate against them self rather than against an outdated perception of what an inmate should be, or to see prison as an undesirable millstone around the neck of a community has lead to certain parties within TDCJ and the TX legislature working tirelessly to keep as many inmates in prison as possible just to keep the prison machine going as it is.
Given the size of TDCJ, one possible reason for not paying inmates to work could be that there simply would not be enough 'jobs' to go round. It almost certainly suits some sections of the administration that so many TDCJ inmates are excused work because of 'medical' reasons - when these individuals could easily take part in computer-based occupations (no, not the Internet or unrestricted email), building and repairs, modern farming (rather than the plantation slavery that has men weeding fields on their knees with their hands in the TX summer) and any number of other things that would.... oh, I remember, we don't want the prison population to fall too low do we, otherwise some good ol' boys might have to be let go. Better to keep those inmates in prison until they are too old or sick to contribute as much as they would like to society, so that if by some miracle they do get paroled, it will only be a matter of time before they roll back through the picket gate again.
So will the planned strike change anything?
In short, no I don't think it will - beyond making life even more uncomfortable for any inmates not only involved, but also just in the same prisons as the action-takers. I understand the need to feel in control of ones destiny and to rise up against tyranny, but I really don't think this kind of action will achieve that.
What might go some way to achieving it is for the friends and families of the inmates to stop taking this laying down. Stop taking on the shame of your inmate's crime - let the inmate carry that, and walk in liberation with your head up to that polling booth and vote out the people who are standing in the way of change. Stand for local government yourself, then state government. TALK about this with people, don't let the bullies think they can do what they like and get away with it. Educate yourself, learn the law and use it, start blogs, newspapers, radio shows, join the TIFA, become active. Don't do your inmate's time for them, use the time to make the situation fairer for all now and all who come after. It can be done, you only have to look outside of the US to see that penal systems do not have to be run along the same lines as gulags.
Sunday, 19 April 2015
Immigration, without the hysteria
Did you watch the Opposition Debate on the BBC last Thursday? For my American and other non-Brit readers, the UK will be voting in a new government on May 7th, and the whole of our media has gone election crazy.
Though 4 of the 5 leaders tried to stick to the topics as they were presented, it wasn't long before Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) was blaming immigration for all of the UK's current woes. It was good to see the other leaders rally together, and present an almost united front to oppose UKIP's far right theology, but all too many people get hysterical on the topic of immigration and I think it needs some careful unpicking to get to the roots.
The news coverage of the boatloads of migrants from north Africa crossing the Mediterranean Sea and landing in Italy, and the migrants waiting at Calais in France for a chance to jump under a lorry's axle or inside its load to get onto either a ferry or through the Chunnel surely shows the desperation and the lengths that these people are prepared to go to for a better life. Some British newspapers have given too many column inches to some extreme right-wing views this week. I can't claim to have the same readership, but I can put forward a different view.
UKIP, by Farage's own admission, would drastically reduce the UK's overseas aid budget. They see it as handing over money to people in other countries with no real benefit to the UK. They are misguided.
The purpose of the overseas aid budget is to reduce immigration. If we can help these developing and struggling countries tackle some of their social issues, by giving them aid in a variety of forms, their populations are less likely to want to leave. Our pounds sterling go much further when spent in African countries to help educate children, provide safe drinking water and sanitation, or assist with housing and health programmes, than it does when spent on people who actually make it across our borders and then ask for help.
UKIP want the UK to leave the EU, so that we don't have to accept European migrants. European migration works for all European member countries, not just those in the east. You may not want to go and live in Poland or Slovakia or Bulgaria, but your children might especially if they decide to study higher education in a European country. Many young Brits already go to France, Germany and the BeNeLux to study at university level: if you have to pay a fee here at home, then why not pay a similar amount in a different country and have some extra experience to add to your CV at the end of your studies as well?
And what about when you retire, and the British summers just don't give you the amount of sun that you would like. Moving to Spain, the south of France or Portugal has long been the option of British retirees, who take their state pensions with them. If we leave the Euro Zone, you wont be able to take your state pension with you, and your medical care wont be covered either. Does it still sound like a good idea?
"They come here and take our jobs" How many times have we heard that over the last 100 years? It's not a new complaint, and you can go back further than 100 years and still see it in historical records, if perhaps not using those exact words. It's also not just uttered by Brits; in countries all around the world, an influx of "others" usually creates a backlash with a similar sentiment. It's convenient, but it's normally not true.
Migrants want to work, it's the driving force behind the risks they take to get to their chosen destination. They want to work, earn some money and then send a portion of it back to their families in their home country. Some want to work and save so that when they return home, they will be able to buy a home, perhaps with a bit of land, to support themselves and their families. Typically, Poles tend to stay in the UK for just 2 or 3 years before returning home. They are fiercely patriotic for their own country, and have no intention of staying in the UK indefinitely.
So what are these jobs that the migrants are taking from under the noses of our young men (who generally are the ones complaining the loudest)? I accept that immigrants can be found in all employment sectors, but immigrants usually fill gaps in our employment market that Brits can't or wont fill themselves. Bus drivers, dentists, cleaners, daffodil pickers. Don't blame the immigrant for obtaining the job; ask why the employer didn't give the job to a Brit - could it be the attitude that some work is beneath us, or the level of English is better in a Polish student than in a native speaking English man or woman?
Housing, schools and our health system are undoubtedly struggling at the moment. It is easy to blame that on immigration, as if a single factor could account for all the ills in our society. We know we have been building the wrong kinds of housing in the wrong areas for decades, yet we have done very little about it. Selling off council housing stock and then wilfully preventing those councils from re-investing in building more housing with the proceeds is one of the main reasons why there is so little social housing today. That's not the fault of immigrants, that's the fault of a middle aged white woman.
Schools, particularly primary schools, have fewer places because the planners didn't take into account social mobility across Europe, and because there are not enough teachers. Why would anyone want to be a teacher in a British school today when they will spend most of their time on paperwork and coaching children to jump through hoop after hoop of tests, for very little pay or recognition? Neither of those things are the fault of immigrants.
Our health service would simply grind to a halt if we were to sack all of the immigrants working in it. From GPs and surgeons to cleaners and ancillary staff and every post in between, immigrants working alongside nationals do an amazing job with the resources available to them.
So what can we do? We are an island, with finite space to fill with housing. Austerity has taken a significant chunk out of the social welfare system, and many people are still finding things tough despite being told that we've turned a corner and prospects are improving. The first thing we should do is stop the hysteria. We need to talk about immigration calmly and sensibly, without demonising the immigrants and making them scapegoats for our own political failings and short-sightedness over the past decades.
As someone who loves to travel and would quite like to live and work in another country one day, I would be a hypocrite if I said we should close our borders. More than that, I'd be stupid and unrealistic. Make something hard to get hold of and you immediately increase the demand. Our streets are not paved with gold, and we need to do more overseas to ensure people know that.
We could:
But just stop with the name-calling and rhetoric that is not dissimilar from the Nazi ravings of last century. We are better than that.
Though 4 of the 5 leaders tried to stick to the topics as they were presented, it wasn't long before Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) was blaming immigration for all of the UK's current woes. It was good to see the other leaders rally together, and present an almost united front to oppose UKIP's far right theology, but all too many people get hysterical on the topic of immigration and I think it needs some careful unpicking to get to the roots.
The news coverage of the boatloads of migrants from north Africa crossing the Mediterranean Sea and landing in Italy, and the migrants waiting at Calais in France for a chance to jump under a lorry's axle or inside its load to get onto either a ferry or through the Chunnel surely shows the desperation and the lengths that these people are prepared to go to for a better life. Some British newspapers have given too many column inches to some extreme right-wing views this week. I can't claim to have the same readership, but I can put forward a different view.
UKIP, by Farage's own admission, would drastically reduce the UK's overseas aid budget. They see it as handing over money to people in other countries with no real benefit to the UK. They are misguided.
The purpose of the overseas aid budget is to reduce immigration. If we can help these developing and struggling countries tackle some of their social issues, by giving them aid in a variety of forms, their populations are less likely to want to leave. Our pounds sterling go much further when spent in African countries to help educate children, provide safe drinking water and sanitation, or assist with housing and health programmes, than it does when spent on people who actually make it across our borders and then ask for help.
UKIP want the UK to leave the EU, so that we don't have to accept European migrants. European migration works for all European member countries, not just those in the east. You may not want to go and live in Poland or Slovakia or Bulgaria, but your children might especially if they decide to study higher education in a European country. Many young Brits already go to France, Germany and the BeNeLux to study at university level: if you have to pay a fee here at home, then why not pay a similar amount in a different country and have some extra experience to add to your CV at the end of your studies as well?
And what about when you retire, and the British summers just don't give you the amount of sun that you would like. Moving to Spain, the south of France or Portugal has long been the option of British retirees, who take their state pensions with them. If we leave the Euro Zone, you wont be able to take your state pension with you, and your medical care wont be covered either. Does it still sound like a good idea?
"They come here and take our jobs" How many times have we heard that over the last 100 years? It's not a new complaint, and you can go back further than 100 years and still see it in historical records, if perhaps not using those exact words. It's also not just uttered by Brits; in countries all around the world, an influx of "others" usually creates a backlash with a similar sentiment. It's convenient, but it's normally not true.
Migrants want to work, it's the driving force behind the risks they take to get to their chosen destination. They want to work, earn some money and then send a portion of it back to their families in their home country. Some want to work and save so that when they return home, they will be able to buy a home, perhaps with a bit of land, to support themselves and their families. Typically, Poles tend to stay in the UK for just 2 or 3 years before returning home. They are fiercely patriotic for their own country, and have no intention of staying in the UK indefinitely.
So what are these jobs that the migrants are taking from under the noses of our young men (who generally are the ones complaining the loudest)? I accept that immigrants can be found in all employment sectors, but immigrants usually fill gaps in our employment market that Brits can't or wont fill themselves. Bus drivers, dentists, cleaners, daffodil pickers. Don't blame the immigrant for obtaining the job; ask why the employer didn't give the job to a Brit - could it be the attitude that some work is beneath us, or the level of English is better in a Polish student than in a native speaking English man or woman?
Housing, schools and our health system are undoubtedly struggling at the moment. It is easy to blame that on immigration, as if a single factor could account for all the ills in our society. We know we have been building the wrong kinds of housing in the wrong areas for decades, yet we have done very little about it. Selling off council housing stock and then wilfully preventing those councils from re-investing in building more housing with the proceeds is one of the main reasons why there is so little social housing today. That's not the fault of immigrants, that's the fault of a middle aged white woman.
Schools, particularly primary schools, have fewer places because the planners didn't take into account social mobility across Europe, and because there are not enough teachers. Why would anyone want to be a teacher in a British school today when they will spend most of their time on paperwork and coaching children to jump through hoop after hoop of tests, for very little pay or recognition? Neither of those things are the fault of immigrants.
Our health service would simply grind to a halt if we were to sack all of the immigrants working in it. From GPs and surgeons to cleaners and ancillary staff and every post in between, immigrants working alongside nationals do an amazing job with the resources available to them.
So what can we do? We are an island, with finite space to fill with housing. Austerity has taken a significant chunk out of the social welfare system, and many people are still finding things tough despite being told that we've turned a corner and prospects are improving. The first thing we should do is stop the hysteria. We need to talk about immigration calmly and sensibly, without demonising the immigrants and making them scapegoats for our own political failings and short-sightedness over the past decades.
As someone who loves to travel and would quite like to live and work in another country one day, I would be a hypocrite if I said we should close our borders. More than that, I'd be stupid and unrealistic. Make something hard to get hold of and you immediately increase the demand. Our streets are not paved with gold, and we need to do more overseas to ensure people know that.
We could:
- Allow people to come here, but not give them financial support in the form of social housing or benefits. Make it clear that if you have nowhere to stay and no money to live on when you arrive, you'll be sent home straight away. This might not be a popular move, but it seems the most sensible to me, and is one that plenty of other countries work with.
- If an immigrant commits a crime, send them home straight away at the start of their sentence, rather than insisting they serve all their time at our expense and then trying to find them to send them home once they have been released.
- Possibly introduce a new tax rate for immigrants, so they pay slightly more for the first 5 years of their stay. Also introduce a slightly higher business tax rate for those companies who employ a higher percentage of foreign nationals. Only slightly higher for both though.
- Do more overseas to improve the locations from which the greater numbers of migrants are arriving. Some are fleeing poverty and war, and we can do something about both of those. We need to implement education programmes that do not paint the UK as a financial utopia, but give a realistic view of how hard it can be to live here with very little money.
- Work within Europe to create a fairer dispersal of immigrants. It is not fair to expect Italy to accommodate everyone who happens to land on their shores, but equally we can't take everyone who wants to come here.
- Encourage more people to return home, or migrate onwards. We already know many people intend to return home after a few years, so we could make this an easier option for them, assisting with travel costs rather than assisting with living costs while they are here.
- Encourage more Brits to expand their horizons and work, study and live overseas. It's not something often talked about in immigration debates, but it could be a real benefit to the UK to have citizens who are outward thinking and have a better understanding of our place in the world. We have always been a nation of travellers and explorers, and we could use the European migration possibilities to our advantage instead of only ever criticising them.
But just stop with the name-calling and rhetoric that is not dissimilar from the Nazi ravings of last century. We are better than that.
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Elderly, cold, hungry and alone
There is an elderly chap, we'll call him Joe, who spends most of his days in a small room. Like many others of his generation, Joe has outlived his parents, siblings and even some younger members of his extended family. Friends drifted away many years ago.
Joe tries to make ends meet by being creative. He has a little enterprise where he makes twine from scraps that other people discard, and the twine is useful to occasional interested parties. But making the twine is getting harder as Joe's fingers are developing arthritis, and his eye sight isn't what it used to be. Joe doesn't complain; no one would listen if he did and he prefers to keep himself to himself these days.
Getting up at 3am every day for breakfast is getting harder, especially in the winter. The thermal underwear he was given a few years ago by someone passing through is full of holes but it is still one of his prized possessions. But Joe dare not stay in bed and miss a meal - he doesn't have the means of making a snack to keep him going until the next meal time rolls around, whenever that might be. After breakfast, Joe sits by the window looking out at the sleet falling from a grey sky not too dissimilar from the walls surrounding him. He wonders how many more winters he will see, and whether any will be from the other side of the glass and grey walls. What will happen if his sight goes completely? Will they move him away from his familiar surroundings that he can navigate now if he needed to, to somewhere "more suitable" but completely unfamiliar?
You out there reading this, are you thinking "there are charities who can help Joe"? Unfortunately, Joe is just one of thousands of inmates in America's prisons serving a long sentence with little to no chance of parole. Joe's crime was committed decades ago, when he by his own admissions was "young and stupid". No one got killed, but criminals had to be made examples of. Even if Joe was able to apply for parole, he would not meet the requirements of having a stable address and prospects of employment to parole out to. He is in a catch 22 situation that is only partly of his own making.
This is not a European stereotypical call for all inmates to be released. Some of us over here are more sensible than that, and clearly there are some inmates who continue to pose a threat to themselves or others regardless of their mental or physical age. But they are not the majority.
TDCJ is one of the few corrections agencies that have an official age designation for "geriatric inmates". You may find it hard to believe that it is the age of 55. Prison can preserve a body or accelerate its demise. TDCJ recommend around 450 inmates for early medical parole every year, and yet fewer than 1/8 of those inmates are approved by the Board or Pardons and Paroles (BPP). The BPP believe that it is better to keep these individuals inside a prison and have the tax payer fund their increasing medical bills, rather than release them into a community where the remaining friends, family and social support networks are often willing and able to help.
My husband knows a number of Joes in his prison. We help where we can, but the system discourages inmates from sharing, selling or giving away physical items. My husband officially became a geriatric inmate himself recently and we have another 10 years to hang on before we get to ride the parole roller coaster. In a country that prides itself on opportunity, there is a large pool of unproductive but willing labour at the country's disposal. Imagine, instead of 2 million inmates sucking the life out of the country's finances, what if there were even 1 million less of them and 1 million more contributing to the economy even in a small way and paying some of their own medical bills. Maybe not the land of the free, but more the land of the hard working repentants?
Joe tries to make ends meet by being creative. He has a little enterprise where he makes twine from scraps that other people discard, and the twine is useful to occasional interested parties. But making the twine is getting harder as Joe's fingers are developing arthritis, and his eye sight isn't what it used to be. Joe doesn't complain; no one would listen if he did and he prefers to keep himself to himself these days.
Getting up at 3am every day for breakfast is getting harder, especially in the winter. The thermal underwear he was given a few years ago by someone passing through is full of holes but it is still one of his prized possessions. But Joe dare not stay in bed and miss a meal - he doesn't have the means of making a snack to keep him going until the next meal time rolls around, whenever that might be. After breakfast, Joe sits by the window looking out at the sleet falling from a grey sky not too dissimilar from the walls surrounding him. He wonders how many more winters he will see, and whether any will be from the other side of the glass and grey walls. What will happen if his sight goes completely? Will they move him away from his familiar surroundings that he can navigate now if he needed to, to somewhere "more suitable" but completely unfamiliar?
You out there reading this, are you thinking "there are charities who can help Joe"? Unfortunately, Joe is just one of thousands of inmates in America's prisons serving a long sentence with little to no chance of parole. Joe's crime was committed decades ago, when he by his own admissions was "young and stupid". No one got killed, but criminals had to be made examples of. Even if Joe was able to apply for parole, he would not meet the requirements of having a stable address and prospects of employment to parole out to. He is in a catch 22 situation that is only partly of his own making.
This is not a European stereotypical call for all inmates to be released. Some of us over here are more sensible than that, and clearly there are some inmates who continue to pose a threat to themselves or others regardless of their mental or physical age. But they are not the majority.
TDCJ is one of the few corrections agencies that have an official age designation for "geriatric inmates". You may find it hard to believe that it is the age of 55. Prison can preserve a body or accelerate its demise. TDCJ recommend around 450 inmates for early medical parole every year, and yet fewer than 1/8 of those inmates are approved by the Board or Pardons and Paroles (BPP). The BPP believe that it is better to keep these individuals inside a prison and have the tax payer fund their increasing medical bills, rather than release them into a community where the remaining friends, family and social support networks are often willing and able to help.
My husband knows a number of Joes in his prison. We help where we can, but the system discourages inmates from sharing, selling or giving away physical items. My husband officially became a geriatric inmate himself recently and we have another 10 years to hang on before we get to ride the parole roller coaster. In a country that prides itself on opportunity, there is a large pool of unproductive but willing labour at the country's disposal. Imagine, instead of 2 million inmates sucking the life out of the country's finances, what if there were even 1 million less of them and 1 million more contributing to the economy even in a small way and paying some of their own medical bills. Maybe not the land of the free, but more the land of the hard working repentants?
Thursday, 25 December 2014
Out with the old and in with the new - VATMOSS
Anyone in the EU who sells digital files should now be aware of the changes in VAT legislation that come into force on 1 January 2015. There are details on HMRC's website.
This has had a big impact on my plans for developing the knitting patterns that I have so far designed. I currently sell them on Etsy, as Folksy does not provide a platform for digital downloads. However, Etsy has been extremely tardy in its information to sellers and only a few days ago announced that it would not be handling the VAT on behalf of European sellers as it believes that is our responsibility. Unfortunately, HMRC and the rest of the EU disagree.
In short, I cannot comply with the EU directive by myself. It would mean collecting 2 non-conflicting items of evidence for the purchaser's address, and storing them for 10 years on an EU approved secure server, as well as submitting VAT returns every 3 months covering all of my sales (not just the digital patterns). Up to this point, the VAT threshold has been £81,000 for small businesses; when you make less than that each year you are not required to register for VAT. From 1 January 2015, there will be no threshold for digital sales, and the EU is hoping to extend this to physical items as early as 2016.
For micro businesses across the EU this is a disaster. There are several petitions which you can sign on Change.org. The EU-wide petition is here: Change.org EU petition for suspension of VAT changes and you can read up on the comments on Twitter using the #VATMOSS hashtag. Other seller platforms such as Ravelry and Folksy have been meeting with HMRC over the past couple of weeks to bring to HMRC's attention how the changes will impact small and micro businesses. It is sad, but not surprising, that the EU commissioners did not thoroughly investigate the impact since the changes were first announced in 2007.
However badly the directive has been constructed, it will still come into law in a few days time. This means I have had to re-think how I sell my knitting patterns now and in the future. I have been looking at other platforms - some that currently focus on ebook sales as the VAT directive affects them too. I'm now feeling more positive than I was a week ago; I have a platform I can use who will also handle the VAT on my behalf, and it has spurred me on to continue to design and develop more patterns and offer them in different formats.
Until I have my own website, I will list my patterns for sale here on my blog, under the Hare's Moon page over on the right. The link will take the buyer through to Payhip.com where you can purchase the pattern simply and easily using PayPal. I will also be working on collections of patterns, rather than single items. These will be for sale via Payhip and by CD mailed to you. Stay tuned for the release of these pattern collections later in 2015.
This has had a big impact on my plans for developing the knitting patterns that I have so far designed. I currently sell them on Etsy, as Folksy does not provide a platform for digital downloads. However, Etsy has been extremely tardy in its information to sellers and only a few days ago announced that it would not be handling the VAT on behalf of European sellers as it believes that is our responsibility. Unfortunately, HMRC and the rest of the EU disagree.
In short, I cannot comply with the EU directive by myself. It would mean collecting 2 non-conflicting items of evidence for the purchaser's address, and storing them for 10 years on an EU approved secure server, as well as submitting VAT returns every 3 months covering all of my sales (not just the digital patterns). Up to this point, the VAT threshold has been £81,000 for small businesses; when you make less than that each year you are not required to register for VAT. From 1 January 2015, there will be no threshold for digital sales, and the EU is hoping to extend this to physical items as early as 2016.
For micro businesses across the EU this is a disaster. There are several petitions which you can sign on Change.org. The EU-wide petition is here: Change.org EU petition for suspension of VAT changes and you can read up on the comments on Twitter using the #VATMOSS hashtag. Other seller platforms such as Ravelry and Folksy have been meeting with HMRC over the past couple of weeks to bring to HMRC's attention how the changes will impact small and micro businesses. It is sad, but not surprising, that the EU commissioners did not thoroughly investigate the impact since the changes were first announced in 2007.
However badly the directive has been constructed, it will still come into law in a few days time. This means I have had to re-think how I sell my knitting patterns now and in the future. I have been looking at other platforms - some that currently focus on ebook sales as the VAT directive affects them too. I'm now feeling more positive than I was a week ago; I have a platform I can use who will also handle the VAT on my behalf, and it has spurred me on to continue to design and develop more patterns and offer them in different formats.
Until I have my own website, I will list my patterns for sale here on my blog, under the Hare's Moon page over on the right. The link will take the buyer through to Payhip.com where you can purchase the pattern simply and easily using PayPal. I will also be working on collections of patterns, rather than single items. These will be for sale via Payhip and by CD mailed to you. Stay tuned for the release of these pattern collections later in 2015.
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Xenophobia
The dictionary defines xenophobia as follows:
"Intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries:"
By chance this week I have learned of the changes that TDCJ have made to the procedures for visitation across all units effective from 1 March 2014. The full document can be found here TDCJ Visitation Changes (the jump from the TDCJ Hompage is currently not active).
While I appreciate that some of these things will make visitation easier for a lot of people, particularly the inclusion of nephews and nieces in the "close relative" catagory for contact visits, there are other things that make it much more difficult for those travelling a long way for visitation - not just from overseas, but anywhere more than 300 miles away.
The item that affects me the most is the new requirement for the visitor ID to have an address that matches the TDCJ records for that person. For the past 8 years, my passport has been adequate ID but that does not contain my address details. I do not drive, so I do not have a European driving licence. I would offer a utility bill, as that is usually accepted here in the UK as proof of address, but as TDCJ do not permit those overseas to register for the inmate phone service it would seem unlikely that a bill would be accepted for anything else. One would think that my flight details might also be proof that I do indeed still live all the way over here and will be returning after the visit, but I don't hold out much hope of that either - considering most TDCJ staff I have known over the years admit to having never been out of the state let alone out of the country and look at my passport as something wierd and unknown, expecting them to understand what a flight print out is is probably pushing things too far.
The only way over this particular hurdle appears to be for me to get a provisional driving licence, at the £50 fee (pushing the cost overall of this visit over the £1000 mark). The DirectGov website says the licence is issued within one week - I hope so because I fly out in 4 weeks time and TDCJ gave no warning that the rules would be changing like this.
I know TDCJ are not there for my convenience. But there does appear to be a consistent level of general ignorance about anything that happens outside of Texas when it comes to making any rules at all. It is also starting to appear as xenophobia when you look at the following:
There is a question about what items would make visiting with children easier, but the way it is worded you can only respond to that if you actually have children. As anyone who visits TDCJ units knows, when children are in the visit room it affects everyone else there, so why should I not also be able to say that providing colouring pencils and paper would be a good idea?
Question 10 says: Do you communicate with the offender by letter, email (JPay) or phone before a visit?
The answer options are:
Finally, the last field on the survey asks for suggestions on how the unit can make visitation more enjoyable. I started typing my response, but the character limit is only around 200 - not nearly enough to mention the things I would like to, such as maybe sometimes using the outside seating at my husband's unit which has never been used in the 8 years he has been there. The staff at the unit are usually polite and efficient, even when their equipment doesn't work properly, and I have no issue with them at all. It's the TDCJ Administration that appear to be bunkered down in Austin and Huntsville like a bunch or Preppers, desperate to keep everyone out and everyone in, both at the same time.
And to top it all, when I hit the "submit" button, I get an error message. I have emailed the webservice team about all of this, but you know, I'm not Texan, so I'm not holding out for a response any time soon.
"Intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries:"
By chance this week I have learned of the changes that TDCJ have made to the procedures for visitation across all units effective from 1 March 2014. The full document can be found here TDCJ Visitation Changes (the jump from the TDCJ Hompage is currently not active).
While I appreciate that some of these things will make visitation easier for a lot of people, particularly the inclusion of nephews and nieces in the "close relative" catagory for contact visits, there are other things that make it much more difficult for those travelling a long way for visitation - not just from overseas, but anywhere more than 300 miles away.
The item that affects me the most is the new requirement for the visitor ID to have an address that matches the TDCJ records for that person. For the past 8 years, my passport has been adequate ID but that does not contain my address details. I do not drive, so I do not have a European driving licence. I would offer a utility bill, as that is usually accepted here in the UK as proof of address, but as TDCJ do not permit those overseas to register for the inmate phone service it would seem unlikely that a bill would be accepted for anything else. One would think that my flight details might also be proof that I do indeed still live all the way over here and will be returning after the visit, but I don't hold out much hope of that either - considering most TDCJ staff I have known over the years admit to having never been out of the state let alone out of the country and look at my passport as something wierd and unknown, expecting them to understand what a flight print out is is probably pushing things too far.
The only way over this particular hurdle appears to be for me to get a provisional driving licence, at the £50 fee (pushing the cost overall of this visit over the £1000 mark). The DirectGov website says the licence is issued within one week - I hope so because I fly out in 4 weeks time and TDCJ gave no warning that the rules would be changing like this.
I know TDCJ are not there for my convenience. But there does appear to be a consistent level of general ignorance about anything that happens outside of Texas when it comes to making any rules at all. It is also starting to appear as xenophobia when you look at the following:
- International postage stamps are not available through commisarry at many units, meaning inmates must use 3 inland stamps and pay more than is required for the service
- Inmates are not permitted to call friends and family overseas, and those people living overseas (meaning, outside of the USA, excluding Alaska and Hawaii) are not permitted to registered their phone for the Inmate Telephone Service
- Visitors must obtain photo ID with a current address included - something that is not required in many other countries including Britain.
- Every weekend
- More than twice per month
- Once per month
- When I am able to but not on a consistent basis
There is a question about what items would make visiting with children easier, but the way it is worded you can only respond to that if you actually have children. As anyone who visits TDCJ units knows, when children are in the visit room it affects everyone else there, so why should I not also be able to say that providing colouring pencils and paper would be a good idea?
Question 10 says: Do you communicate with the offender by letter, email (JPay) or phone before a visit?
The answer options are:
- Always
- Sometimes
- Never
Finally, the last field on the survey asks for suggestions on how the unit can make visitation more enjoyable. I started typing my response, but the character limit is only around 200 - not nearly enough to mention the things I would like to, such as maybe sometimes using the outside seating at my husband's unit which has never been used in the 8 years he has been there. The staff at the unit are usually polite and efficient, even when their equipment doesn't work properly, and I have no issue with them at all. It's the TDCJ Administration that appear to be bunkered down in Austin and Huntsville like a bunch or Preppers, desperate to keep everyone out and everyone in, both at the same time.
And to top it all, when I hit the "submit" button, I get an error message. I have emailed the webservice team about all of this, but you know, I'm not Texan, so I'm not holding out for a response any time soon.
Monday, 27 January 2014
New year, same strangeness
Just when you think you've heard it all before, TDCJ come up with a new one.
Recently there was a power cut at hubby's unit, which in itself is not unusual. They normally have secondary generators, as you would expect for a prison, that kick in if the main supply is interrupted. Apparently the power cut, or possibly the cause of the cut, damaged the water treatment equipment. Hubby says that there were notices put up around the unit warning the inmates not to drink unboiled water until further notice.
A sensible precaution you would think. Except TDCJ inmates are prohibited from having any equipment that actually boils liquid (also a sensible precaution, before anyone thinks I am against it).
Now, I'm all for encouraging self-responsibility. I understand that this is an unusual and unplanned incident and that inmates have the choice whether to drink water provided in their cells or not. And it is not the middle of summer, thank goodness. But surely it would have been even more sensible to draft in supplies of bottled water until the treatment equipment had been fixed, just to reduce the risk of contamination-related illness? If TDCJ can stump up $4000 for each new recruit who makes it through training and works on a short-staffed unit, surely there is a bit of cash there for a few gallons of water that is safe to drink.
And stranger yet, the letter in which hubby was informing me of all this appeared to spend 7 days in the mailroom before making it out of the gate to be franked.
Recently there was a power cut at hubby's unit, which in itself is not unusual. They normally have secondary generators, as you would expect for a prison, that kick in if the main supply is interrupted. Apparently the power cut, or possibly the cause of the cut, damaged the water treatment equipment. Hubby says that there were notices put up around the unit warning the inmates not to drink unboiled water until further notice.
A sensible precaution you would think. Except TDCJ inmates are prohibited from having any equipment that actually boils liquid (also a sensible precaution, before anyone thinks I am against it).
Now, I'm all for encouraging self-responsibility. I understand that this is an unusual and unplanned incident and that inmates have the choice whether to drink water provided in their cells or not. And it is not the middle of summer, thank goodness. But surely it would have been even more sensible to draft in supplies of bottled water until the treatment equipment had been fixed, just to reduce the risk of contamination-related illness? If TDCJ can stump up $4000 for each new recruit who makes it through training and works on a short-staffed unit, surely there is a bit of cash there for a few gallons of water that is safe to drink.
And stranger yet, the letter in which hubby was informing me of all this appeared to spend 7 days in the mailroom before making it out of the gate to be franked.
Saturday, 12 October 2013
Using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut
TDCJ has outdone itself yet again when imposing new rules on inmate correspondence.
Two things have found their way to me this week relating to the new inmate correspondence rules for TDCJthat come into
effect next March.
The first is that apparently, from then on, the only place that friends and family can purchase stationary for inmates will be eComm Direct, the "new" online vendor for TDCJ. I predicted this would happen a few months ago, and now it has. I feel bad for the small businesses around Texas that had previously been approved by TDCJ to supply stationary like the Texas Prison Bookstore and Rosie's Graphics.
The other item is about things you cannot send to an inmate:
11. Contains an altered photo.
"Altered Photo” is an image with content in violation of this policy that has been edited, including, but not limited to, by removing or changing the contents of the image with a computer software program or other means
.
I don't think they realise how badly worded that statement is - or if they do, then it is a Draconian measure that could lead to the mailrooms denying all photos because they could not be sure if they had been "altered" or not. Altered must surely include cropping a photo, as well as adding text as I often to do the copies of our visit photos that my husband and I get, just to put the date and our names on the front so he can send them on to family and friends.
If they don't want people to send naked photos with stars or other shapes blocking out the naughty bits, then fine, say so. But this will affect a lot of people who innocently just want to tidy up a photo, and perhaps obscure someone's face (like a child) and then send it to the inmate. Equally, the "or other means" at the end would potentially also include cutting a photo with scissors or even writing the inmate's name and number on the back of it. Whoever came up with this new rule obviously has far too much time on their hands!
It could however, be more insidious than that. It could be that someone in TDCJ thinks that women should not pose naked for photographs - even if the crucial bits are obscured - even if they are sending them to their husbands. It could be that TDCJ are trying to change the behaviour of people who are otherwise outside its control. Or it could just be that someone has put a CO's wife's head on the body of someone else in a compromising position and caused a major fight somewhere.
But the most useful piece of information they could have included is not there at all - what exactly constitutes a "package" as far as TDCJ is concerned?
Two things have found their way to me this week relating to the new inmate correspondence rules for TDCJ
The first is that apparently, from then on, the only place that friends and family can purchase stationary for inmates will be eComm Direct, the "new" online vendor for TDCJ. I predicted this would happen a few months ago, and now it has. I feel bad for the small businesses around Texas that had previously been approved by TDCJ to supply stationary like the Texas Prison Bookstore and Rosie's Graphics.
The other item is about things you cannot send to an inmate:
11. Contains an altered photo.
"Altered Photo” is an image with content in violation of this policy that has been edited, including, but not limited to, by removing or changing the contents of the image with a computer software program or other means
.
I don't think they realise how badly worded that statement is - or if they do, then it is a Draconian measure that could lead to the mailrooms denying all photos because they could not be sure if they had been "altered" or not. Altered must surely include cropping a photo, as well as adding text as I often to do the copies of our visit photos that my husband and I get, just to put the date and our names on the front so he can send them on to family and friends.
If they don't want people to send naked photos with stars or other shapes blocking out the naughty bits, then fine, say so. But this will affect a lot of people who innocently just want to tidy up a photo, and perhaps obscure someone's face (like a child) and then send it to the inmate. Equally, the "or other means" at the end would potentially also include cutting a photo with scissors or even writing the inmate's name and number on the back of it. Whoever came up with this new rule obviously has far too much time on their hands!
image from: Google
But the most useful piece of information they could have included is not there at all - what exactly constitutes a "package" as far as TDCJ is concerned?
Saturday, 2 March 2013
TDCJ/eComm Direct care packages - chocolate teapots?
For weeks now I have been looking at the eComm Direct website to see if there was anything I could purchase for my husband. He doesn't eat a lot of junk food, and I was hoping to just get a few things that he would normally get for himself. One of those things is coffee.
Americans drink a lot of coffee. TDCJ inmates drink a lot of it too. I thought maybe that was why the eComm site never has any available, that it just kept selling out too fast for me to see it. Imagine my surprise then to be told on a forum a few weeks back by someone who claims to work for TDCJ, that they would not order extra supplies of coffee to be delivered to the unit commissary stores "because it might go stale". We're not talking premium freshly ground coffee beans here folks, the coffee available to inmates is your average cheap and cheerful instant stuff, sometimes freeze-dried and sometimes powdered. I took a look at my jar of coffee in the kitchen; the best before date is 2 years from now. That person was seriously trying to tell me that TDCJ thought they might not sell the coffee they had ordered within 2 years.
Another of the items that seems to be missing for no good reason is deodorant. Apparently it is a very scarce commodity at many TDCJ units at the moment. OK so it's not a food item, and it's not essential to life, but how much more dignity can a system deliberately remove from an individual? Yes you can have your visits but you're going to smell and your family might think twice about visiting again..... I can see the mindset of TDCJ at work here.
I was talking to a friend who has penpals in other US states a while ago, and mentioned that TDCJ has a care package programme now. She asked what kind of things we could buy and I told her only what is already available to the inmates through commissary. Her response, "What's the point of that?" Honestly, I don't know what the point is, besides dividing inmates into those who have people on the outside purchasing for them and those who don't. I've wondered if it might be a way of TDCJ to electronically gather information about who is interacting with the inmates, and possibly electronically take a portion of deposits before they reach the inmate, but TDCJ isn't usually that up to date.
The comments I've had on previous posts on this blog relating to the eComm system seem to be as dissatisfied with the "service" as we are. Hubby has told me not to bother with it, simply because if his commissary is out of stock by the time his order comes to be filled, he wont get what I've asked for anyway and is unlikely to want something I haven't ordered.
But what really gets me is the sheep mentality out there of people who say we should be thankful that we now have this service. They say we shouldn't complain in case there are retaliations again the inmates, or that a second-rate service that looks like it was designed 20 years ago might be withdrawn. I'm not going to be thankful for something that is as useful as a chocolate teapot.
Americans drink a lot of coffee. TDCJ inmates drink a lot of it too. I thought maybe that was why the eComm site never has any available, that it just kept selling out too fast for me to see it. Imagine my surprise then to be told on a forum a few weeks back by someone who claims to work for TDCJ, that they would not order extra supplies of coffee to be delivered to the unit commissary stores "because it might go stale". We're not talking premium freshly ground coffee beans here folks, the coffee available to inmates is your average cheap and cheerful instant stuff, sometimes freeze-dried and sometimes powdered. I took a look at my jar of coffee in the kitchen; the best before date is 2 years from now. That person was seriously trying to tell me that TDCJ thought they might not sell the coffee they had ordered within 2 years.
Another of the items that seems to be missing for no good reason is deodorant. Apparently it is a very scarce commodity at many TDCJ units at the moment. OK so it's not a food item, and it's not essential to life, but how much more dignity can a system deliberately remove from an individual? Yes you can have your visits but you're going to smell and your family might think twice about visiting again..... I can see the mindset of TDCJ at work here.
I was talking to a friend who has penpals in other US states a while ago, and mentioned that TDCJ has a care package programme now. She asked what kind of things we could buy and I told her only what is already available to the inmates through commissary. Her response, "What's the point of that?" Honestly, I don't know what the point is, besides dividing inmates into those who have people on the outside purchasing for them and those who don't. I've wondered if it might be a way of TDCJ to electronically gather information about who is interacting with the inmates, and possibly electronically take a portion of deposits before they reach the inmate, but TDCJ isn't usually that up to date.
The comments I've had on previous posts on this blog relating to the eComm system seem to be as dissatisfied with the "service" as we are. Hubby has told me not to bother with it, simply because if his commissary is out of stock by the time his order comes to be filled, he wont get what I've asked for anyway and is unlikely to want something I haven't ordered.
But what really gets me is the sheep mentality out there of people who say we should be thankful that we now have this service. They say we shouldn't complain in case there are retaliations again the inmates, or that a second-rate service that looks like it was designed 20 years ago might be withdrawn. I'm not going to be thankful for something that is as useful as a chocolate teapot.
Friday, 24 August 2012
It's not what you know, but who you know - and TDCJ wants to know too
A few months ago, TDCJ started telling its officers that if they had people on their personal Facebook accounts who were currently under parole or probation conditions, or who had been incarcerated in the past, then the officers would have to delete those individuals from their Facebook account. TDCJ rules state that TDCJ staff are not permitted to associate with any offenders or their families.
More recently, TDCJ has been saying to officers that it requires their Facebook log in details so that TDCJ can check to see who might be on their friends list.
TDCJ is saying to its employees that they cannot "associate" with any of those people (anyone). How easy do you think that is to comply with? Especially if by "associate with", TDCJ means "go to the same church as", or "use as a babysitter", or even "teach your children at school". And what if TDCJ should find out about someone on the officer's Facebook page, when the officer does not actually know themselves that that person is related to an inmate for example. Can TDCJ trample over an individual's privacy by telling the Officer what they have found? It would appear so.
This would be funny if it weren't so serious. TDCJ is an agency with a high level of staff turn-over, poor retention rates, an inability to attract enough new recruits, and one that continually advertises for new staff in Nigeria. And yet it is determined to reduce its current staff base even further by carrying out a witch-hunt for anyone who might just be connected in some way to those horrible, nasty, criminals who would surely murder each and every one of us in our beds if they were ever to be released (except around 70,000 do get released each year and fewer are returning to TDCJ year on year).
How far will TDCJ go with their policy? Will they eventually insist that an officer moves house because their next-door-neighbour's cousin's son has just been sent to prison? Will they start looking further back into an individual's family history to see if any of their ancestors were ever incarcerated back in the day when inmates were lucky to leave TDCJ alive (though it wasn't called TDCJ back then, there are still some in the agency who mourn the loss of their perceived power to inflict physical abuse on inmates who weren't "respectful" enough).
I see a lot of officers complaining about how they are now treated worse than the inmates. I have a small amount of sympathy when it comes to the foibles of the administration and petty rules that hinder rather than help keep officers and inmates safe. But I have no sympathy for them when they complain about having to be searched when they enter the unit. That's no different to friends and family of inmates, and officers have collectively looked down on us with scorn for long enough. They usually say that we choose to be there supporting our inmates, so we should just suck it up. Well, now it's their turn to suck it up, because they choose to work there. Perhaps they should try some reverse psychology and see it as keeping themselves safe from those who would happily bring in weapons for inmates to use.
By keeping officers and those related to inmates separate, TDCJ are operating a divide and rule policy. Keep the two sides at arm's length, don't allow either to educate the other that the stereotypes are not true, keep everyone in the dark, and TDCJ can just keep doing what it always does: spending tax-payer's (that's officers' AND inmates families') money without having to be fully accountable for how much and what it spends it all on. The old red herring of "reduced public safety" is peddled liberally by TDCJ, and yet if 70,000 inmates are already released each year without mass violence on the streets of Texas, how safe is TDCJ actually keeping the public right now?
But the point really is this: TDCJ cannot afford to keep alienating its current officers and expect them to keep sucking it up. TDCJ needs staff, but can't afford to pay for them. They either need to raise some more money (hello? International phone calls? extended visits where the family pays a premium? a care package system that actually gets off the ground?), or they need to reduce the number of inmates so they can operate with a lower staff count. Doing nothing is not an option; the lessons of Ruiz should not have to come back to haunt TDCJ again.
More recently, TDCJ has been saying to officers that it requires their Facebook log in details so that TDCJ can check to see who might be on their friends list.
TDCJ is saying to its employees that they cannot "associate" with any of those people (anyone). How easy do you think that is to comply with? Especially if by "associate with", TDCJ means "go to the same church as", or "use as a babysitter", or even "teach your children at school". And what if TDCJ should find out about someone on the officer's Facebook page, when the officer does not actually know themselves that that person is related to an inmate for example. Can TDCJ trample over an individual's privacy by telling the Officer what they have found? It would appear so.
This would be funny if it weren't so serious. TDCJ is an agency with a high level of staff turn-over, poor retention rates, an inability to attract enough new recruits, and one that continually advertises for new staff in Nigeria. And yet it is determined to reduce its current staff base even further by carrying out a witch-hunt for anyone who might just be connected in some way to those horrible, nasty, criminals who would surely murder each and every one of us in our beds if they were ever to be released (except around 70,000 do get released each year and fewer are returning to TDCJ year on year).
How far will TDCJ go with their policy? Will they eventually insist that an officer moves house because their next-door-neighbour's cousin's son has just been sent to prison? Will they start looking further back into an individual's family history to see if any of their ancestors were ever incarcerated back in the day when inmates were lucky to leave TDCJ alive (though it wasn't called TDCJ back then, there are still some in the agency who mourn the loss of their perceived power to inflict physical abuse on inmates who weren't "respectful" enough).
I see a lot of officers complaining about how they are now treated worse than the inmates. I have a small amount of sympathy when it comes to the foibles of the administration and petty rules that hinder rather than help keep officers and inmates safe. But I have no sympathy for them when they complain about having to be searched when they enter the unit. That's no different to friends and family of inmates, and officers have collectively looked down on us with scorn for long enough. They usually say that we choose to be there supporting our inmates, so we should just suck it up. Well, now it's their turn to suck it up, because they choose to work there. Perhaps they should try some reverse psychology and see it as keeping themselves safe from those who would happily bring in weapons for inmates to use.
By keeping officers and those related to inmates separate, TDCJ are operating a divide and rule policy. Keep the two sides at arm's length, don't allow either to educate the other that the stereotypes are not true, keep everyone in the dark, and TDCJ can just keep doing what it always does: spending tax-payer's (that's officers' AND inmates families') money without having to be fully accountable for how much and what it spends it all on. The old red herring of "reduced public safety" is peddled liberally by TDCJ, and yet if 70,000 inmates are already released each year without mass violence on the streets of Texas, how safe is TDCJ actually keeping the public right now?
But the point really is this: TDCJ cannot afford to keep alienating its current officers and expect them to keep sucking it up. TDCJ needs staff, but can't afford to pay for them. They either need to raise some more money (hello? International phone calls? extended visits where the family pays a premium? a care package system that actually gets off the ground?), or they need to reduce the number of inmates so they can operate with a lower staff count. Doing nothing is not an option; the lessons of Ruiz should not have to come back to haunt TDCJ again.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Hidden bureaucratic costs of TDCJ (where some of those Texas tax dollars are spent)
There has been a lot of talk about TDCJ saving money by closing Central Unit this year, and reducing costs in TDCJ education and treatment programmes. What you rarely hear about is how TDCJ could trim expenditure by reviewing and improving its current archaic bureaucracy.
Hubby had a hotpot, bought legally, which broke in November 2010. He had got it when he first arrived at his current unit, 5 years ago. Hotpots are the inmate's means of heating water to make coffee and warming up pre-cooked food pouches.
When the hotpot broke, he threw it out, because to keep it would risk him getting a minor case for having something that had been altered (ie, something that was no longer working). He went to commisarry to order a new one, and was informed that he would have to trade in his old broken one. Obviously, he no longer had it. So he had to request that the original property slip from 4 years previous be sent to the Commisarry clerk, because no hotpot would be issued until they had proof that he had already had one.
Hotpots can take a while to be delivered, just like radios and other large items.
Every time Hubby went to commisarry, he asked if his hotpot had arrived and was told no, up until April 2011 (5 months since his original request). Then the response became "Yes, but we need your original property slip and that's not here".
It wasn't there because Hubby had to authorise 10c (yes, 10 cents) to be deducted from his account by cheque from Huntsville, after the hotpot arrived and not before, to be sent to the main commisarry department in TDCJ by internal mail, before the commisarry clerk at Hubby's unit could issue the new hotpot. She could not deduct the 10c as part of the transaction, it had to be raised as a cheque and sent to another department.
Hubby finally got his new hotpot in May 2011.
TDCJ currently house around 150,000 inmates. Let's hope their hotpots dont all break at the same time, otherwise TDCJ will also be broke just from the expence of transporting those 10c cheques around the state.
Hubby had a hotpot, bought legally, which broke in November 2010. He had got it when he first arrived at his current unit, 5 years ago. Hotpots are the inmate's means of heating water to make coffee and warming up pre-cooked food pouches.
When the hotpot broke, he threw it out, because to keep it would risk him getting a minor case for having something that had been altered (ie, something that was no longer working). He went to commisarry to order a new one, and was informed that he would have to trade in his old broken one. Obviously, he no longer had it. So he had to request that the original property slip from 4 years previous be sent to the Commisarry clerk, because no hotpot would be issued until they had proof that he had already had one.
Hotpots can take a while to be delivered, just like radios and other large items.
Every time Hubby went to commisarry, he asked if his hotpot had arrived and was told no, up until April 2011 (5 months since his original request). Then the response became "Yes, but we need your original property slip and that's not here".
It wasn't there because Hubby had to authorise 10c (yes, 10 cents) to be deducted from his account by cheque from Huntsville, after the hotpot arrived and not before, to be sent to the main commisarry department in TDCJ by internal mail, before the commisarry clerk at Hubby's unit could issue the new hotpot. She could not deduct the 10c as part of the transaction, it had to be raised as a cheque and sent to another department.
Hubby finally got his new hotpot in May 2011.
TDCJ currently house around 150,000 inmates. Let's hope their hotpots dont all break at the same time, otherwise TDCJ will also be broke just from the expence of transporting those 10c cheques around the state.
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