Why on Earth would anyone want to return to solitary confinement? Especially someone who spent nearly 21 years trying to get out of solitary confinement?

 

    It's not that I "want" to return to solitary confinement; I would actually prefer not to return to solitary if I actually had better options.  The problem is; I don't have better options or opportunities and solitary would be preferrable to my current circumstances.

 

    In previous letters I described how TDCJ's asinine SPD Codz policy and officials’ indifference to its effects or fixing it, or even simply adhering to it, resulted in my two decades of solitary confinement as a ''gang member" simply because I was not eligible for the GRAD Program due to SPD Codes which restrict me from the G2/minimum custody status required for Phase-3 of the program...even though I was on minimum custody prior to solitary and after the incident resulting in the SPD Codes occurred.

 

    In January 2022, as part of our 14-day hunger strike, TDCJ officials finally agreed to fix the GRAD/SPD Code conflict.  It resulted in approximately 30 other inmates finally having an opportunity to be released from solitary.  (Several of them arrived at the program in classes after mine; one guy had been in solitary for 37 years and had accepted that that was where he would spend the remainder of his life.)

 

    In the immediate aftermath of that hunger strike, when we had the attention of officials, when these officials expressed their objective of institutional culture change, a willingness to be more receptive to solving problems and listening to inmates' problems a bit more, I was cautiously optimistic {a significant leap of faith for me)that things were finally starting to change.

 

    Yeahhhhh....so much for that.

 

    When I arrived at Ellis unit for the GRAD program, I asked unit officials about my SPD Codes and if, or how, they would affect my participation in Phase-3, and if any determination had been made to remove these SPD Codes? “Oh, we'll resolve that before you get to Phase-3.  for now, just focus on Phase~1."

 

    Fine.  I passed through Phase-1.  Toward the end of Phase-2 I reminded the program director about it.  "We will deal with that , just focus on finishing the program." 

 

    During the last week of classes on Phase-2 they gave us a list of all the educational and vocational programs available in TDCJ.  I asked if my SPD Codes would affect my ability to get an education and they told me that I could receive a special exception from State Classification.  I applied for the recently added Master's in Sociology and Behavioral Therapy, or as an alternative, the Associate's for Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor.  Just in case I wasn't accepted into those, my backup plan was to apply for vocational training in diesel mechanics, welding, industrial design, or automotive repair.

 

    Days before my class was due to be promoted to Phase-3, I was in the commissary line when people started telling me that the GRAD sergeant was looking for me.  I just knew it had to be bad news.  Sergeant McCullough found me, "I'm looking for an artist and everyone says:you're the best on the unit.  I need someone to paint murals on the GRADwings and classrooms."

 

    Uhhhh...ok.  Cool. Looks like I'll have a decent job on the unit artist crew doing something productive that I enjoy when I get to Phase-3 next week.  Maybe things are going to work out?

 

    At Unit Classification Committee, when we were promoted to Phase-3, one of the GRADofficers accompanied me into the hearing to request that I receive a job on the unit artist crew.  Meanwhile, the Major conducting the hearing was reading something on her computer with raised eyebrows and an expression of dismay.  I already knew what it was.

 

    "It's the SPD Codes, isn't it?"

    “Yes, " she nodded.

 

    Before she could go further I began pleading my case:  It was 24 years ago, I was 18 years old, I haven't had any serious incidents since then, I spent 20 years in solitary because of it, I haven't had a disciplinary case in almost 7 years, I'm 5 years from parole eligibility and all I want to do is get an education and go home. They told me they were going to fix this SPD code problem. The policy says it's supposed to be removed or downgraded after ten years.  The policy says decisions are to be made based on our entire record, not just that one event.

 

    As I pled my case, the major sat there slowly shaking her head.  When I was finished, she said, "I'm sorry.  If it was up to me I would give you any job and any housing assignment on the unit.  But I can't. Policy says you must be assigned to G4 custody."

 

    I muttered my frustration, "You've got to be kidding me."

    "Don't give up.  You're one step closer to where you want to be."

 

    Back on the wing,  my 15 classmates were anxious and excited, talking about what job and housing assignemnt they received.  They asked where I was going and why did I look so pissed off?  I told them.  All were in disbelief.

 

    When the move slips arrived, the GRAD officer handed mine over with an apology, "I'm sorry. This is really messed up.  I can't believe they're doing this to you.”

 

    Multiple GRADgroups are staggered so that there are 3 or 4 groups on the wing together.  Other SPD coded inmates who arrived in groups after mine were in disbelief, confused and angry.  In the following weeks they all continued to question the GRAD program director about it.  I questioned him about it.  His response was, "Just finish Phase-3 and we'll get it fixed."

 

    I knew that was a lie, just based on personal past experience when he was an assistant warden while I was at Estelle High Security (aka: Super Seg); he has always been good at feeding inmates aline of bullshit to string them along until he can push the problem onto someone else--the typical example of "leadership" in TDCJ, where problematic CID/Security administrators can retire then return under the Rehab Programs Division in a "new role" with the same mentality, but call it "culture change.”  Hooray for culture change!

 

***

 

  TDCJ, like most prisons, has a tiered classification system based on an immate's behavior, crime, criminal history, sentence length, and other factors.  In TDCJ, G1 is outside trustys who need little or no direct supervision;  these are people with short sentences for non-violent offenses.

 

    Custody level G2 is the avergae, well-behaved minimum custody inmate with a slave-labor job to earn work-time credit on their sentence and to procduce a profit for TDCJ and Texas Correctional Industries. They have access to educational, vocational, and rehabilitation programs; all day out-of-cell time (dayrooms and outside recreation); privileges such as e-comm/care packages sent by loved ones, and media content on jpay tablets (movies, tv shows, games, etc. for purchase).  G3 is basically the same as G2, except with a few restrictions on what jobs they are allowed to have and increased security or supervision because G3 inmates are serving life-without-parole or certain sexual predators serving sentences without parole.  G3 is also for anyone just starting sentences of 50 years or more who haven't served at least ten years, then they are eligible for G2.

 

    Then there is G4, what used to be called "medium custody." It is the most dysfunctional, chaotic, toxic, violent custody level in any TDCJ facility. It is full of people who are chronic disciplinary problems but haven't yet done anything violent enough (or been caught at it) to be placed into long-term solitary...err, I mean administrative segrega...err, I mean, (*enthusiastic voice of culture change*) "to become a contented resident of Restrictive Housing!" They are just sneaky enough to avoid getting caught at enough serious misbehavior to be sent to G5/Close Custody. (G5 is tightly controlled.  It's almost like solitary except with a cellmate but with fewer privileges.  And after 6 months they get promoted back to G4.)  Consider that prison is where fuckups go; now imagine a wing where all the worst fuckups among fuckups in prison end up...yeah....Now consider that they are denied access to all programs or education or rehab and have nothing to occupy their time.  Yeah.  That sounds like a wonderful idea!  And TDCJ has been doing that for decades.  Because... well...hooray for culture change!

 

    G4 is prohibited from education and vocational training and nearly all rehab programs (the only one available is a 6 week "Life skills" program).  They do not have jobs (thus, not allowed to earn work time credits).  No ecomm/care-packages even for the ones who behave.  No media content on tabléts.  We are lucky to receive a couple hours of outside recreation every week or two, adn although we are supposed to receive two hours of dayroom time per day, they often cancel that with the excuse of "staff shortage."  When the doors do open for meals or pill-window (to receive medications because, well, no surprise that many of these guys are on psych meds), it turns into a chaotic madhouse of officers chasing, cajoling, threatening, and playing hide-and-seek looking for inmates and trying to get everyone back into their cells.

 

    Officers are so frustrated and burned out and overworked that they don't even bother writing disciplinary reports because most of these inmates don't care about that; they are already maxed out on restrictions.  The result of that is that we are constantly on "23:59 lockdown,” i.e., 23 hours and 59 minutes, because after 24 hours the unit needs approval from the regional director's office to continue it.  So, to conceal the problems from upper-level administration, we do 23:59 on lockdown, get a couple meals, then start another 23:59.  We go three or four days without showers or out-of-cell time.

 

    THAT is the environment I was assigned to after more than 20 years in solitary; after helping obtain positive changes and opportunities for others; after completing their highly touted GRAD Program; after decades of good behavior...all because I escaped from a county jail 25 years ago as a teenager?  Because the same old cultural mentality of perpetual punishment remains in TDCJ: when all you have is a hammer, and the only tool you select is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail.  The same old institutional culture of ignoring or concealing problems, of refusing to even admit that a problem exists, or refusing to do anything that might jeopardize their next promotion if they try to fix a problem at the ire of their superiors.

 

    Ponder this: Under TDCJ's Classification guidelines, someone can be released from prison today, become a serial sexual predator and rape a dozen children then kill a police officer during arrest; but when they arrive in TDCJ they are classified as a G3 inmate with the same privileges as minimum custody.  But, under the SPD code policy, someone who escaped from jail or assaulted a guard decades ago, with decades of good behavior since then, is indefinitely punished and restricted to the punitive confinement G4 and prohibited from rehabilitation or educational programs.

 

    Yeah....that makes complete sense.  Completely rational.  And the fact that I am making this argument, they are more likely to place more restrictions on G3 rather than fix the SPD Code policy. Hooray for culture change!

 

***

 

    So, on October 10, 2022, while the rest of my GRAD classmates went to the relatively civilized and structured environment of G2, I went to the dysfunctional and chaotic madhouse of G4...to readjust to being around people again after two decades in solitary confinement.  Because...yeah, that sounds like a wonderful recipe for successful resocialization and reintegration.  Whoever thought of that idea deserves a promotion!

 

    While my classmates passed by in the hallway on their way to Phase-3 programs, I watched from the windows of G4...because I was now no longer eligible for any of those programs due to assignment to G4.  Because...well..yeah, ok.  Sure, that makes sense.  One day you're eligible for programs, the next day you aren't.  No, you didn't do anything, we're just a bunch of lazy idiots who are incapable of acting rationally or fixing a problem even when it is staring us in the face.  Are they really that dumb?  That spineless?  Or simply just that brainwashed into the intitutional culture of irrational idiocy in pursuit of absolute authority and punishment?

 

    Once I was on G4, it was extremely difficult--to say the least--to adjust to being around people again.  Phase-1 GRAD is essentially the same as solitary except there is a TV in the cell that comes on a few hours a day to watch program-related videos and you're allowed to go to the dayroom with one other person in the same cage with you.  Phase-2 of GRAD has its own wing and everyone is coming out of seg or returning to TDCJ on new sentences and trying to avoid returning to seg.  We're all trying to adjust and nearly everyone is "old school," with old school codes of conduct and respect from the days when disrespect had serious and immediate consequences.  Something as seemingly insignificant as stepping on someone's shoes or bumping into them without saying "excuse me" was enough to get your head split open. For the most part, Phase-2 is an easy adjustment because almost everyone is respectful, courteous, and has a lot to lose if they fail.  Nobody wants to return to the box. The difference between moving from Phase-2 GRADto Phase-3 on G4 is the equivalent of moving from the suburbs of Topeka, Kansas to South Central Los Angeles circa 1988 at the apex of gang and crack-epidemic violence...except in here it is ''paper crack." (Various unknown chemicals sprayed on paper that is mailed in then smoked.)

 

    It took weeks before I could tolerate the dayroom for more than an hour or two without feeling mentally and physically exhausted from the stress of constant hyper-vigilance and sensory overload.  Every little annoyance began to pile up: people bumping into me without apology, stepping on my shoes, a filthy dopefiend cellmate, officers yelling and cussing at everyone, and a whole host of other annoyances.  I was on the verge of exploding on someone until a guy I made friends with explained that this was not the same prison I remembered; the culture has changed.  Now, inmates are so oblivious {or strung out on psych meds or papercrack) that they don't even realize what they are doing, that they are being disrespectful, and if you do anything to them then you are getting slam dunked to G5 or back to seg.  It's not worth it...but I'm beginning to wonder if maybe it is worth it to return to seg?  Yeah...hooray for culture change.

 

    A week or so after moving to G4 I received denial forms from the Rehab and Programs Division informing me that I am not eligible for any of the college or vocational programs I applied for:  due to custody level restrictions.  So much for that "special exception from State Classification.”  Then again, TDCJ has always been adept at feeding inmates lies and false hope.  Hooray for culture change.

 

    I met approximately a dozen other inmates stuck on G4 due to SPD Codes that made no sense or should have been removed years ago according to policy.  Some didn't even know a policy existed or what it said or had never even received a review hearing for it.  Brent assaulted a guard 16 years ago after the guard was cussing at him and spit in his face.  By policy his SPD Code should have expired after ten years.  Now, he is a few months away from release with no education, no job skills, no rehabilitation, and no idea what he is going to do.  Adan assaulted a guard in a juvenile facility when he was 15 years old.  He discharged that sentence, returned 5 years later at 31 years old with a 4 year sentence for drug possession...and the SPD codes were resumed: straight to G4.  Ernesto walked away from a trusty camp at a prison in North Dakota years ago, discharged that sentence and moved to Texas for work.  He has a 2 year sentence for drug possession.  Upon entering TDCJ he was assigned an SPD code and sent to G4.  When he was granted parole and required to attend a parole-voted mandatory pre-release program, the assistant warden at Ellis unit said, "I don't care about your parole.  I'm not lifting your SPD code.  You're not going to that program."  So, instead of spending holidays with his family, Ernesto spent the holidays in prison, on G4.

 

    Wow...I had no idea that a warden, or assistant warden, has the authority to override the Parole Board?!  wellll...it turns out, that after a little research, THEY DON'T!  Texas Government Code §493.026 states that "the department may not prohibit a parole panel from requiring an inmate to participate in and complete a treatment program operated by the department before the inmate is released on parole."  Soooo...apparently, either TDCJ officials don't know the law or they don't care about the law.  But, hey, what else is new?  TDCJ has a long sordid history of ignoring laws or trampling even the basic limited rights of inmates.  Culture change?  yeah.. rah-rah.  Whatever.

 

    Not being one to simply accept it and do nothing, but still foolishly clinging to faint-but-fading optimism (or maybe just stubborn defiance?), I helped others write grievances to challenge the problem.  Of course, the TDCJ inmate grievance system is a ridiculous, hollow charade but it is a perfunctory formality we must exhaust.  I wrote and organized a petition to executive level officials clearly explaining the problem.  I included the SPD Code problem in a GRAD Program evaluation that STGMO officials requested me to write as a way to suggest improvements to the program for other inmates.  Nada.

 

    The constant questioning by my classmates, other classes, and other SPD inmates in GRAD--some of whom threatened to quit the program and return to seg rather than go to G4--prompted the unit GRAD program director to call his boss and tell her that I was instigating problems.

 

    "Instigating problems?"  yeah...because that's the way TDCJ has ALWAYS been: identifying a problem and trying to get it resolved by proposing rational solutions is their definition of "instigating problems."  In the distorted logic of any authoritarian regime; If we say there are no problems, then there are no problems; and if you say there are problems,  then YOU are the problem and you must be silenced! Da, Komrade! 

 

Culture change? hmmm...can someone please find my party kazoo? It's the one with a hole in it so it sounds kinda sad and the streamer needs a dose of the little blue pill. but, hooray for culture change!

 

    To be fair, not every officail in TDCJ pretends (?) to be an idiot in search of a village.  Some of them actually do have a brain that works and want to solve problems.  The problem with that is that they are outnumbered or outranked by the ones who refuse to acknowledge that problems even exist, or that there may be better ways of dealing with those problems.

 

So, the unit GRAD program director called his boss at the STG Management Office, Eva Shiver, who in turn called her boss, STG Programs director Christina Hinojosa, whom I've had two previous conversations with and who strikes me as one of the rare TDCJ officials who actually wants to not only identify problems, but find rational or even unorthodox solutions to those problems.  Her reaction was, "um...no. I know this guy, he doesn't want to create problems, he wants to solve problems."

 

    They arrived at the unit to meet with me and three other SPD inmates still on Phase-2, and the unit GRADprogram director to discuss the SPD problem and other GRAD issues.  During the meeting, Ms. Shiver said, ''yeah, now that I've met you, I see that you aren't trying to cause problems, you're trying to help solve problems." They promised to help get it fixed.

 

    The following day, the unit GRAD director pulled me into a meeting with everyone's boss: Rehab Programs Division Director Carter...who also happened to be the senior warden when I was at Estelle High Security at the same time that the unit GRADdirector had been the assistant warden there before he "retired."  Great to see that the good ol' boy network of TDCJ is still going strong and taking care of their own.  (Can I get a round-of-applause for culture change?  Please?  Even if it's just a sarcastic slow-clap with an exaggerated eyeroll? much better...)  Director Carter acknowledged the problem and that it needs to be fixed, possibly with a special SPD Step-down Program similar to GRAD or the Cognitive Intervention Transition Program. ..you know, something they can get funding for?  Because it's not like prisons are a state-run business or anything???

 

    That was October 2022.  And sure, bureaucracy moves slow.  But it's not like the third or fourth highest ranking officials in TDCJ can just pick up a phone and call someone and say, “hey, can you take a look at this and maybe fix it within the existing policy?" Nawww...that would require too much thought and initiative.

 

    For the next two months I pestered the unit GRAD director about it.  His response was that they were working on it and would fix it after I graduated the program.  To be fair, he didn't specify how long after I graduated...so, technically, it's not like he was really lying to me.  Was it?  But again, I knew he was full of more bullshit than the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  I considered quitting the program a few days before graduation and returning to seg/solitary in protest.  But, what would that solve?  I figured I should at least keep trying to change it so others don't have to slog through the same shit.  So, I played along and began pestering the unit warden about it at every opportunity.  She promised to look into it, just finish phase-3 and they will fix it after I graduate....yea, you mean after I complete the program and contribute to the positive statistics necessary to continue funding the program?  ohhh, sorry.  Does that sound too cynical for a happy resident witnessing TDCJ's "culture change?"  hooray for...whatever the fuck this is.

 

    My GRADclass had its graduation ceremony on December 17...and I remained on G4. The inmate Grievance forms the SPD guys filed were either returned unprocessed as not a girevable issue" or some other asinine or irrelevant excuse.  Our petitions and letters to officials went unanswered.  So, basically, officials did what they've always done: give inmates the runaround, make empty promises, and string us along until they can push the problem onto someone else to repeat the process.  YEAH! Hooray for culture change!  heyyy...why do all the pointy party hats have D-U-N-C-E scrawled on them?

 

   Everyone looked at me, as if I'm some sort of leader or something?  "Now what do we do?"

 

    Well, from past experience it seems like the only thing that gets their attention or accomplishes anything is a hunger strike.  So, on January 2, six of us started a hunger strike.  A few of the SPD guys are elderly and have health problems that prevented their participation (but, yeah, they are still a serious security threat?). A few wouldn't even try.  And it's difficult to convince any other G4's to join or expect them to possess the willpower or self-discipline to endure a hunger strike because. ..um, hell-loooo, "discipline problems” are why they are on G4! Even though one of our demands was access to rehab and educational programs for ALL of G4, not just SPD inmates, as long as basic criteria were met.  (And I'm still wondering how someone who wants access to education is a security risk?)

 

    On the first day of our hunger strike a captain spoke with us to ask why we were on hunger strike and what we hoped to accomplish. ..as if none of us had ever filed a grievance, written letters or petitions, or spoken with officials and they were all completely blindsided by this temper tantrum.  At least he was polite about it.

 

    The next day it was both majors and an assistant warden.  They weren't as polite. The one most visibly irritated and argumentative was the same major who pretended to be so apologetic when she assigned me to G4 ("I would give you any job or housing assignment on the unit if I could...").  But,--no surprise--it's not the first time I've been lied to by someone in a TDCJ uniform.  At this point I'm convinced that "effective lying skills" is a job requirement in TDCJ.  Nor is it the first time that I've had an official glare at me with undisguised fury and contempt; only now I thoroughly enjoy it.

 

    "THIS ISN'T THE CORRECT WAY TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS!!!"

 

    oh, really? asks the defiant little imp between my ears before I begin explaining how wrong she is.  "What is the proper way to solve our problems?  Because there are only three options for prisoners:

 

    "One; grievances, letters, and petitions to officials.  We tried that and it failed.  All you do is ignore us.

 

    "Two;  we create disturbances by refusing to leave the chowhall, sitting down in the hallways, refusing to rack up, which requires pepperspray and use-of-force, or we assault your officers, and we end up with disciplinary cases and it justifies any punishment you inflict upon us.  So, realistically, that is not a viable option.

 

    "Three; a hunger strike.  Because TDCJ refuses to address a problem until it becomes a crisis and they are forced to deal with the problem.  A hunger strike creates the crisis that forces you to address the problem and it is nonviolent and protected under the First Amendment so you can't punish us for it."

 

    They have no rebuttal for a well-reasoned argument such as that.  They proceed to accuse me of being the ''ringleader,' as if that means anything?  Then they ask why we are doing this and what we hope to accomplish. As if they don't know the problem? As if we've never filed a grievance, wrote to them, or spoken with them about it? Either they are pretending to be incompetent idiots, or they truly are incompetent idiots.  There is no other logical explanation.

 

    The next day we met with the senior warden, Angela Chevalier.  At least she doesn't pretend to be an idiot, nor is she incompetent.  She had each of us write down our grievances and objectives, said that recommendations would be made to remove SPD codes for those who were eligible, and expand access to education and rehab programs for G4.  As a warden, that is all she has the authority to do.  It is enough to convince a few others to end their hunger strike (she also resolved a few other minor individual issues for them).  I politely thanked her for what she was able to do but informed her that I would remain on hunger strike until I spoke with someone who had the authority to fix the policy because this isn't just a problem on one unit, it is systemwide and it affects everyone with SPD codes.  She also understands and acknowledges it is my right to continue if I choose.  I continued with two others, Joel and David.  Three days later I was transferred to Wynne Unit.  I suppose I was lucky that I went straight to Wynne Unit.  David was transferred the next day, before completing Phase-3 or graduating, and went to three different units over the next 3 months before landing here at Wynne.