Hello, how y’all doing out there? This is Fauluch Bigsby, the author of God Uses Gangsters. Today, I want to talk about how the institutional inspectors here in the prison system work. Okay. First off, we have what’s known as a grievance process, which is our due process to file complaints inside prisons. So, if something was to happen: your property come up missing, somebody steal your stuff, you get assaulted, the police do something wrong, you’re not get adequate health care, anything that happens, we have what’s known as an ICR, informal complaint resolution.
Now, each prison has an inspector, right? And then, they have a chief inspector that’s in central office, which is considered [unclear]. Now, the way it works is you file the complaint. The first level, it goes to the people that you’re complaining on, so they can defend themselves to say whatever it is, and you have to articulate what the complaint is, what it’s about, and you’re supposed to cite a policy or a rule violation to what makes this legitimate. Now, that mentioned properly before the complaint section. Then, if they do not find a resolution on the first level, you appeal it to the inspector. The inspector is, by law, supposed to investigate, talk to witnesses, gather the evidence, and to see who’s at fault. And if you don’t like his resolution, then you appeal it to central office, which goes to the last level, which is the chief inspector’s office. Then if you don’t like what the chief inspector says, then you can apply the Ohio Revised Codes of Laws and Policies that’s set forth by the United States Constitution, and you can go to small claims.
Now, here’s the problem. This is the reason why I brought this about; because in the ideal world this would mean that we have a due process and a way to make complaints and to safeguard ourselves from things that happen in prison. The problem is that the inspectors—now I can only speak in my travels, in the places I’ve been. I’ve been to Lebanon. I’ve been to Lucasville. I’ve been to Toledo. I’ve been to Mansfield. I’ve been to Marion. I’ve been to Richland. I’ve been to Allen Correctional. I’ve been to all those prisons in the state of Ohio—and every time, each inspector I’ve ever met has the same moral compass: it’s to protect the institution, not do the right thing. In fact, inmates like to call them institutional protectors, not inspectors. They like to play with the words because they do anything they can to falsify documents. Now, specifically, I want to talk about Richland so you understand something that’s recent and current, so we’re not digging up old things.
So, the way that this inspector here works is you file a complaint, and since it’s done on computer now, he would erase it from the computer system and send it to the type section, or remove it completely to where there’s no record of it. And then he would come and tell you, basically, if you continue to file a complaint, he would threaten your life. He would say that they’re going to set you up, or so forth. This was done by the inspector at this prison in Richland, and he does it to multiple people. It’s not just a me thing. It’s an everybody thing. Now, the reason why I bring this up — because the fundamental rights, as I said last week on my last show — were rooted in due process in America. Every American citizen, no matter if he’s incarcerated or what, should have the right to speak his mind and to grieve any grievance. Our first amendment right says we have the right to regress all grievances. There’s no balance, there’s no fairness, there’s nothing if we don’t have a chance to be able to articulate the things that have happened to us, and there’s no way to correct the injustice if we don’t get this process.
In the state of Ohio, right now, the way it works, all the inspectors are connected together. They all look out for each other: they all lie, cheat, and steal. And then once you get to court, the courts will believe the statement that’s wrote by the inspector. And the way that they do it is, whenever you go to court, the person that violated your rights and did the things wrong, are the same people. They get to represent themselves in court and do the investigation.
So, therefore, if, hypothetically speaking, Inspector Rose was the one that did the investigation, and he was to say that the things did not happen the way that you said, but you have evidence, the courts will still go on his statement and not review the evidence and just take it under good faith, and that is a problem. We no longer should believe what anybody says. We should always articulate the facts to where people can review them and see the evidence. We no longer can take somebody’s word, because that’s denying due process. With this, I just want you guys to understand the things that we go through because it doesn’t just happen to us in prison; this is what’s happening in society.
Our citizens in the state of Ohio are not getting a fair due process. I have families upon families that have contacted me that’s been screwed over by the government and have nowhere to go. There’s multiple attorneys that I know that have stolen people’s money, have botched cases, signed contracts and refused to go to court after they’ve been paid, and the Attorney Generals and the courts don’t make them uphold this in this state. It’s time for those to step up and to make a change, and it starts with you. So, with that, I just want you to know that this is the process, this is how it’s done, and the only way that we can correct it is if we write legislation, we come together, and we start making them do their jobs. I don’t know other than that what we can do other than to remove the people in office and put good people in office. Other than that, this is Faluch Bigsby, and I’m signing off. God bless.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
