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.

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.

TDCJ inmate medical tax - update info

I know, 2 posts in a single day, but some things are important to talk about.

I previously blogged about the new law in Texas that allows TDCJ to charge inmates a fee (or TAX, seeing as inmate families are the ones who generally put the money into the inmate trust fund accounts) of $100 every year, for medical care. This fee is to be taken directly from the inmate's trust fund as soon as the inmate initiates a medical call. If the inmate does not have $100 in their account, TDCJ will take 50% of every deposit into the inmate's account until the $100 has been paid for that year.

TDCJ have posted notices in units across the state to inform inmates of the change. You can read the poster information HERE in English and if you prefer Spanish or want to download and print for someone who does, then the Spanish version is here.

I'd be interested to hear how others are planning to make the payments - in a single sum or by allowing TDCJ to take half of any deposit made? Does your inmate intend to make more visits to medical now that they will have to pay so much more?

TDCJ inmate medical tax becomes a reality

Just when you thought Texas couldn't get any meaner, the inmate medical care tax (House Bill 26, full text of Engrossed version Bill here) has been passed into law. The main portion of the Bill comes into effect on the 91st day after the end of the 82nd Legislature, which is roughly the end of September.

The basics are:

• Inmates will no longer be charged the current $3 per visit for seeing medical staff
• Any inmate requiring medical attention after the end of September 2011 will have to pay a $100 fee, annually, from their trust fund account.
• From September 2015, the $3 medical visit fee will be reinstated - it is not clear whether this is on top of the $100 fee or instead of.
• Common over-the-counter medications will be made available for inmates to purchase via the commissary store

Now let's remember something here folks; TDCJ inmates do not get paid any money at all for the work that they have to do. Texas is about the only state in the USA that does not pay for inmate labour. The money that is deposited into each inmate's trust fund (which earns zero interest for the inmate but you can bet earns plenty for the State) comes almost exclusively from friends and family supporting the inmate financially.

These friends and family are already feeling the pinch, with trying to cover the costs of visits, phone calls, looking after children with only 1 wage coming in instead of 2 etc. Now the State of Texas has decided to levy a new TAX on inmate friends and family to cover the cost of medical care.

This is not the same as a free-world individual paying for medical insurance. The free world individual has a choice of which insurance company to sign up with, a choice of how much they are willing to pay, and usually a choice of what services they want to include in their cover. The free world individual can then work and earn money in order to cover those payments.

The inmate's family has no say in how much the TAX will be, no say on what services will be included in the cover, and no say on who provides those services. Additionally, the inmate's family are very likely to be working and paying taxes to the State which are supposed to be covering the costs of incarceration already. This means that they are being TAXED TWICE for the same thing!

The Bill states that no inmate can be denied medical care if they do not have the funds to pay for it. So the families have a Hobsons choice of either finding the money and hoping the inmate can remember to not spend it all before they might need to see a medic (not always easy when many TDCJ inmates only get a statement of account once a month, but can visit commisarry twice a month and may not be aware of any money deposited between statements), or not depositing any money at all into the inmate's trust fund and risk not having phone calls, letters or the inmate going without hygiene supplies or extra clothing such as panties for the female inmates who are only issued with 2 pairs every 4 months.

For me, I am already taxed way more on my income by my own English government than most Americans. Usually if I spend money on items in the US I can claim back the tax I pay when I leave the country. This, however, is a tax that I will not be able to claim anything back for. They may call it a "fee", but if it walks like a tax, looks like a tax and craps all over everyone like a tax, then I think it is safe to call it a TAX.

So either my husband being taxed without representation (because inmates cannot vote) if they say the momey belongs to him, or I am (because I don't get to vote in Texas either) if the money I put on his books belongs to me. Either way, there seems to be very little anyone can do about it until the next round of elections, by which time anyone not connected with TDCJ will have forgotten all about it.

And this is the kind of system that David Cameron was spewing the virtues of on the evening news last night, when he did a huge U-turn on his Justice Minister Ken Clarke and announced that incarceration was his preferred method of dealing with those who break the law. Well, it works for Texas, California, Florida, Indiana and Alabama doesn't it....

TDCJ inmate trust funds, medical bills, phones and families who pick up the pieces

For those who don't know, Texas has a round of law-making every 2 years called the Legislative session. It's also when the public agencies like TDCJ get their funding for the following 2 years decided. Sometimes good things come out of the Lege, like the TDCJ Inmate Phone Bill that was passed a couple of years ago which allowed Texas to join every other state in America by allowing the inmates to make calls on a pre-paid or collect call basis. The Phone Bill could have gone so much further in its provision, but just having Texas stumble into the 20th century (yes, 20th) was an achievement for all who had campaigned long years for this privilage.

This year, belts must be tightened. Texas owes a shed-load of cash (try around $27 billion according to the Texas Tribune) and every department is expected to make big savings. This could in part be because Texas does not have a state income tax. However, given the nature of Texan hostility to any kind of centralised government particularly when it comes to taxes, it would probably cost Texas more to collect the money along with the associated incarceration costs that would almost certainly be a result.

TDCJ is again in the spotlight. Lawmakers are having to work out if they can continue to lock people up in the numbers to which they have become accustomed over the past 20 years, without spending any more money on the whole incarceration, parole and probation machine. Indeed, can they continue, while at the same time making significant savings. Everything is up for discussion it seems, from closing a prison or two (now seeming to be unlikely despite the prime city centre location of Central Unit which was flagged as the most likely to go) to prison officer's subsidised housing, to raising the number of minutes inmates are permitted to use on the phones per month, and last week the latest suggestion: inmates should pay $100 per year from their trust funds to cover medical costs.

This latest suggestion has so many flaws, yet having been proposed by State Representative Jerry Madden many would assume that he had given the subject considerable thought when penning his House Bill 3386 (currently pending in committee). The Austin Statesman's reporter Mike Ward was quoted on the Grits For Breakfast blog (one of the best places to get the lowdown on Texas' incarceration antics):

"The revised bill also calls for each imprisoned convict to be charged a $100 annual fee to cover the cost of their health care instead of the current charge of $3 per visit to a prison doctor.

That change could bring in about $13.5 million over two years, according to an internal memo.

While an earlier version of the plan did not detail how the fee would be collected, the revised bill allows prison officials to take the $100 from inmates' trust fund accounts — either the full amount if it's in the account, or half of any deposits into the account until the $100 is paid.

At present, prison officials said that more than half of the state's 154,000 convicts have trust funds containing more than $100.

The revised bill will also double the number of minutes prison convicts are allowed to use prison pay phones each month, from 240 minutes to 480. Madden said that change, if approved, is expected to raise $2.9 million more per year than the nearly $6 million expected under current rules.

The rewritten bill would also allow some over-the-counter medicines — aspirin, ointments and other medications for upset stomach and pain relief — to be sold through prison commissaries for the first time.

Under current policy, prison clinics dispense the over-the-counter drugs for free to convicts."

There are a lot of ifs and buts surrounding this bill, particularly the costings/savings. The reporter, along with most in the Legislature, talks as if the inmates trust fund money just appears there delivered by fairies. Inmates in TDCJ (apart from a small handful at a private unit) do not get paid any money at all for the work they have to do unless medically excused. If the inmate refuses to work, they receive a punishment that usually invoves being placed in Ad Seg (23-hour a day cell confinement, restricted commissary priviledges and no phone use). Any money that an inmate has in their trust fund is placed there by friends and family.

While I am in no way against paying one's way, personal responsibility, or the need for everyone to pitch in when finances are short, this is in effect a tax on families of inmates. It is also, in many cases, unneccesary as not every inmate uses the medical facilities while incarcerated. 

It is often the case that when a man goes to prison (and it is by far, usually men who do go to prison) the family they leave behind loses it's main bread-winner. The wife/partner/girfriend often has to take up the slack by taking an extra job, moving to smaller/cheaper accommodation, trading down her vehicle for something cheaper to run, and in many cases taking on children full-time as well. Some move in with friends or family, or take in a lodger, because they cannot cover all their bills by themselves. They try to be careful with the phone minutes, knowing how easy it is to rack up a high bill. They also try to put a few dollars into the inmate's trust fund regularly so that letters can still be written and received, hygiene supplies bought, and perhaps college classes attended. 

Now, according to this Bill, half of what they give to the inmate could be taken by the state for something the inmate may never use.  

In a state so anti-taxation, the prospect of taxation as punnishment for the wrong-doing of someone else is firmly on the table. And if the money in the inmate's trust fund account is considered to be theirs, taxation without representation anyone?