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| https://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/sheriff/news-press-releases/polk-county-jail-excelled-in-four-critical-inspections/ |
Hey America, welcome back! It's July, and an update that will be completed AFTER July 4th (my release date) can be found below, after the usual asterisks For those that didn't read last months' fare, we were in the middle of slamming the Polk County Jail, where I have been unlawfully detained for the 4th time in over a year and 3 months now. is this the last time, you ask? Oh hell no. No, I will be out now doing Iowa probation for 2, possibly 3 years, more if they violate me. When a violation happens (and it WILL happen), it will be the only time. After that, I will ask that my probation be revoked, so that I don't end up in jail longer than the intended year that I was originally sentenced to receive. There will be no 2nd violation. Instead, I will go to jail to do the remainder of my sentence (one year, minus the time I've done already), in order to be finally free of the corruption in this state and all it entails. I will, prior to that first violation, do as much (legal) damage to mine enemies as possible before they slam me up again, trust that. The first order of business will be to maximize viewership of both America's Deadly Sins and, particularly, blog the 2nd, "Iowa, and more importantly, Des Moines, Iowa" which can be found HERE:
Again, if you don't feel like sticking around for the Polk County Jail roast to follow, skip on down under the stars (the asterisks at the bottom of the article, remember?) below. Someone is bound to read this drivel, that I promise. Do I look worried to you? 'Cause I'm not.
Now, where were we...Oh yeah - A Day In The Life. Whose life, you ask? Why, mine, of course. Add me to around 16,000 other inmates in only this county in only this state, in only one year, and you just begin to see the true problems, not only with the judiciary that puts us here, but with the entire prison system itself. i'll just say this folks - if you're not convinced of the issues with jail and prison after this mini-series (due to extend for another 2 articles following this one), then you may just be that asleep, that brain-jacked or that stupid, after all.
For those of you wondering if you should come back for August and September, or just reach for the stars every month hereafter? In August, we'll talk about the ridiculous things we Iowans are arrested for and their related Iowa Code sections, and add to that the fraudulent things the police, the courts and the D.O.C. (Department of "Corrections") are doing to make sure these charges stick to you, and keep you comin' back for more, later down the pike...whether you plead out or go to trial to try and beat them. In September, we'll be covering state and federal prisons, and all the "out-inmate" options: The Fort, Bridges, work release, probation, parole, etc...and why none of these programs work; but are instead just there to bring in more money for the state from the Federal Government...and your pocketbooks, inadvertently.
This article, in following the previous one, will discuss in full detail every moment, awake or asleep, of life in the Polk County Jail, the variables that factor into that life, and what we endure...day in, day out, month after month; for what could very well be years, if you're waiting for the Feds to come and get you. If you need the preamble (from June), it's just one article down, on this same page. But first, let's go over a few key points in preface to this:
CHAIN OF COMMAND
The chain of command is fairly easy and predictable, and is color-coded there for better understanding. the C.O.'s in tan shirts are our "den mothers", the "low men on the totem pole." These folks are half responsible for checking us in, classifying us, answering questions (that we may or may not get an answer to) and making sure we are given what little they are allowed to give us. They do the very least, and are, almost literally paid baby-sitters. Very well paid paid baby-sitters, but baby-sitters, none the less.
Next, we have the inmate workers; dressed in lime green and dark grey. Over them are "The gray shirts,", on the same level as the "tan" shirts. These C.O.'s are in charge of the inmate workers AND their own special pod. Generally the same 6-8 people oversee the worker pod. The workers get 2 days of discharged time for every 10 days they work, are not charged the $60 a day for room and board that the rest of the populace are, and can eat as much jail food as they want to...yum yum. Oh, I feel it's important to mention that the worker pod is not for everyone, like it is in most prisons; no, they are very picky on who they have work for them. If you have even been CHARGED with a violent crime...not convicted, CHARGED....you can't work for the jail. If you don't get along with everyone like an angel...you can't work for the jail. If you've had discipline problems (didn't roll over and go b-a-a-a-a...like you should), you can't work for the jail. C'mon guys....maybe you have discipline problems BECAUSE NO ONE CAN WORK OFF THE TIME THEY'RE IN, YA THINK? Unless you're a 5th degree shoplifter, chances are you won't be working for the jail. Work should be a requirement. Otherwise, you just sit around and think of stupid things to do...mainly because there isn't anything to do.
Fun flies when you're doing time, right?
On quite another plane altogether is the last of the bottom-dwellers, the "Red Team". These are the jail's official "bouncers." They're called when folks threaten to hurt themselves or others...or when they ARE hurting themselves or others. They're also called in if the C.O. on duty deems it necessary, and to handle other duties as well, such as shake-downs and moving prisoners around the jail.
All of these lower folks fall under a predictable chain of command. Sergeants (in black dress shirts) oversee all the lower C.O.'s. Above them are three lieutenants and a captain, in white dress shirts. Above the white shirts is the Chief Jailer (someone I've never seen....Joe somebody or other), and above him is the figurehead sheriff, who obviously never is involved in any aspect of the jail, whether running it or overseeing it....Bill McCarthy, the mystery sheriff...who I imagine knows about as much about this jail as you do...or did, after I get finished with you.
JAIL GIVENS
Also worth mentioning are the "Givens" of everyday life at the Polk County Jail: 3 shift changes, 3 mealtimes, 3 pill distribution times, a wake-up and a beddy-bye time.
Monday, North 8 Pod
Unless you need to go to the restroom or get a drink of the nasty water, you cannot get up between 10:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. If you wake up early, you are forced to remain in your cell. Most C.O.'s won't do anything for you until the lights come on. The lights come on at 5:30, and breakfast happens at 6:00 a.m. As you may (or may not) remember, razors can be gotten between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. Breakfast will not begin until all razors are returned to the C.O., and all inmates are seated. You are awakened if still asleep.
"Breakfast" consists of a cup of cereal, 2 slices of bread, a small squeeze packet of peanut butter, and a restaurant-sized packet of jelly, always mixed fruit or grape flavored. Once or twice a month, you'll get a single egg with your breakfast, or a half of a banana. The cereal is either frosted flakes, honey-nut Cheerios, or Hy-Vee Fruit Loops. Also given you is a half of a gallon of OJ and a half of a gallon of milk per 6 inmates (which evens out to around 8 oz. of each per inmate...if everyone is being kind and generous, and if everyone is using only the brown 8 oz. cups that were given you, instead of the 16 oz. soup cups) From what I've gathered, this breakfast costs the jail an average of $.19 cents per inmate per day. I believe it. Even if the price tag were a dollar a day, considering I'm paying Polk County $60 for "room and board" at this jail (in addition to the $142 per inmate per day that the Federal Government is paying them to keep us there as long as possible) I should be getting waffles, an omelet and breakfast in bed.
Instead, I am ordered to remain seated 'til the cart holding our 64 trays, stacked lovingly on top of each other; comes by, and the C.O. allows our table to get up and get it. Bunk #'s 1-10 are ordered to clean up the mess, and must tell the C.O. what chore they'd like to do: tables, sweeping, mopping, dust pan or trash.
After breakfast, court go'ers are called to leave around 6:45 a.m. At this point in time, we will be taking the first of many detours we'll be taking in this article, in order to cover this little pleasure in greater detail.
Anyone attending court between 8-10:30 a.m. leaves the PCJ at 6:45 a.m. You are waist and wrist cuffed before moving to the front of the jail to await transport.
Some of us will be attending court right here in the jail, as most would after they are booked in within 24 hours of being arrested). In this case, you simply stay put. you appear in front of the judge at the jail or at the Polk County courthouse, fully chained (with leg cuffs as well, if you're going to the courthouse). If you have to attend court at the courthouse (without a jury present), you are kept in full chains (foot, waist and wrist) until you arrive back at the PCJ. If your court time is one of the first to take place, you may get lucky enough to be back for lunch at the jail (if you prefer to call that lucky, anyway). If not, lunch at the old jail (where you are taken to wait for your hearing) consists of a 10 oz. carton of milk, and a "triple-decker" sandwich. Between bread pieces one and two are a single piece of meat. Between bread pieces 2 and 3 is a single piece of processed cheese. Yum....ME!!
Fortunately, if you are to appear in front of a jury, you're allowed to wear dress clothes and not required to wear chains. If this is the case, then why not all of the time? I would think the line to a suspect would be a lot more direct for a sheriff if less people are present, so why do chains need to be on for jury-less hearings? Wouldn't a defendant be a lot more dangerous if there were more people in the room? I would imagine so! I'm sure the number of times a defendant goes off on a tangent is more so with a room full of people, added to the danger to them becoming hostages. Anyway...
Let's get back to the PCJ.
After breakfast, you are allowed to move around until shift change. you are then ordered back to your bunk until the new C.O. comes on, around 7;45 a.m. The phones come on at 8:00 a.m. (after you're allowed to move around again).
Now, let's take detour #2, the phone fun. When you get to your first "Barney Land" pod (see the first part of this series, from June), if you want to use their phones, you need to register to use them, using voice recognition. One of the biggest ways the prosecution in Polk County gets you is through their access to your phone calls (and the numbers you call), your visits, and your use of their mail system. Every letter going out (not addressed to a lawyer or a judge) is read. Every letter coming in is opened. Every phone call and visit is now monitored, recorded, and can now be used against you in a court of law. They consider every phone call you make like an interrogation now, and read you your Miranda rights...both to you, and to your caller. Should you have a conversation with your wife (which used to be known as 'marital privilege') or are your own lawyer (pro-se, meaning any conversations you might have about your case with someone would be "work-product privilege") no longer matters now. A judge will now say that if you use their phone to make phone calls, you now subject yourself to them going against you. So what they're really saying is, the rights you have on the outside (or used to have anyway...even then I wonder) you don't have in jail, you have no rights at all; as well as NO OTHER WAY to communicate with anyone on the outside. They say "if you use the jail's phone" like you have another choice. You don't. Your choice is use their phones, and quite possibly get in more trouble (or get others in trouble)...or don't communicate with your loved ones at all. Nice right? Don't forget this: Local phone calls (which just went up AGAIN before my release) are now $3.00 each. In other areas or area codes in Iowa, I've seen phone calls run as high as $4.00 to connect...and $.45 a minute...NO JOKE. Anything else anywhere in the country? $.21 a minute. Somebody in Iowa's makin' money hand over fist, hmm??
Back to the main highway.
At 9-9:30 a.m. you are woke up again for "Med Pass". Shit! Another detour? So soon?
Yes kids, it's Medical. Now, when you are "fishbowl" bound, you see Medical, right away (after you sit there for about 12 or better hours, I mean). This visit's on the house. After this, you're charged $5-$10 for each time they have to come and see you (they come 3 times a day anyway...so why are you charged at all?) To get them to return, you have to fill out a "Kite." Now wait a minute...a kite...we mentioned this in my last article, and promised to address this, didn't we? Well, buckle your seats again. We're already detoured, so I suppose now we're going to have to 4-wheel it off the road this time.
A "kite" is a request you make of the jail...simple as that. Whether for medical, for a law book, a haircut, or for medical...whatever, a kite is a request of the jail to do something for you; but yeah, you guessed it, nothing is ever this simple at the Polk County Jail, or Polk County, period.
Being someone who has (now) had personal experience about this "award-winning" jail and its operations, let me now tell you how kites and their elevated parents, 'Grievances', really work out.
If your request is an easy one, has a definite "No" answer, and doesn't involve a C.O. or their superiors, you receive an answer almost immediately. If you're deathly ill or dying, you should get a response sometime in 24 hours (In case you're wondering if I'm joking, I don't believe I am). If your kite or grievance involves a difficult staff member or is tough for them to handle (or, in contrast, makes your life better or easier in any way), it might never be addressed.
When I first discovered kites and grievances (more of those things you have to figure out on your own), I spent 5 whole days filling out 10 kites a day, asking for the same 10 things...for experimental purposes. out of those 50 kites I put in (after waiting nearly 2 weeks for the first response to come in...these come in your "mail" when they're answered) 4 requests happened in a normal time span (I was allowed to visit the "Law Library...a small room with some law books in it and a computer that doesn't have spell check or the internet on it on which you can design legal documents, I received a law book I asked for nearly 3 weeks after the kites asking for it, etc.), 2 "No" answers for the simple things, and the other 44 were never addressed, in any way shape or form. Later, I wrote a letter to the Sheriff (The Captain of the Jail?) and the Captain responded back stating that all 50 of my kites had been addressed. By whom and how are still a great mystery to all, to this day.
The next step up from kites are "Grievances." These are more likely to get results, but not if:
1. The C.O. you have a problem with (the reason for the majority of grievances are about them, and they are the ones who enter your grievance in the computer) is still on duty and won't submit it or enter it into the computer (that said, how would you know if he ever did?)
2. In involves something that's wrong with the jail or its staff, wrongdoing against you by the staff or involves the direct violation or deprivation of your rights, or
3. It is entirely too difficult to address or helps you in any way.
Lastly, there are 2 steps above these, but as it has been discovered by me, these are almost the exact same thing: Writing to the Chief Jailer (Joe Simon), whom no one has ever seen, or even knows if he exists; and writing to the Sheriff himself...and he doesn't write you back, the Captain of the C.O.'s does...so why bother?
One more thing about kiting and grievances, and I'm done, I swear. Not long ago, I kited for a box for my papers, during the 2nd half of my 5 month stint in the PCJ (I had been out for 2 weeks and had to go back after sentencing, remember?). Now, keep in mind, I had a box during the first 3 months of my stay - I had filed 200 plus pieces of evidence in my case, and they told me time and time again to just kite for one; and I got one. This time around, I had quite a stack going, but when the C.O. got around to addressing it this time, he said I didn't have enough paper to warrant having a box, and that my stack would have to just keep getting bigger. Towards the end of the same day, someone decided that it would be funny to take the majority of my stack and put it under the door of the locked "Blue Room". I finally was told where they were, and got them back, but until that time, I of course thought they had been stolen. Because of this, and because I had, the same day, been denied a box earlier, I asked for a grievance form to make my displeasure with this known.
Prior to your receiving a grievance form, the C.O. on duty (the one you may very well have a problem with) has been given the power to decide whether your grievance is deserved, and whether the thing or person that you have a problem with is a "Grievable offence". According to their own rule book, it shows a grievance to be defined as "an official statement of a complaint over something believed to be wrong or unfair." Now, I don't know about you, but that tells me that just about EVERYTHING is a grievance, to you....isn't it? How then should the C.O. be involved? Worse yet, the C.O. himself could be the problem...couldn't he? So how is it right that he should be able to decide if your problem should be complained about at all? 'Nuff said.
Anyway, after filling out a grievance, I was told that boxes weren't issued to inmates...which is funny, since I was known as "Bruce, the Box" for almost 3 months. I was denied the box. I grievanced again, and explained that I had one before, and, when I had kited for one previously, a couple of weeks before that, I was told that I didn't have enough papers to get the box...that no one issues to inmates. How, I asked, could I be denied something that they didn't issue? He stated, in answer to this one, that the matter had already been decided...box denied. Great huh?
Let's move back to Medical.
After you "see" medical, you are then, more than likely, placed on some sort of medicine, and are now the unwitting participant in "Med-Passes"; once, twice or three times a day. This shouldn't concern anyone not receiving meds...but it does. Evidently, someone did something wrong to a nurse, to the cart with the meds on it, or to the meds themselves, because now the entire pod is required to "bunk-up" every time the med cart arrives, unless you're receiving some...whether there are 20 people getting meds..or even just one.
The first time, the biggest one, happens at 9:-9:30 a.m, just after being sent to your bunks 2 hours earlier for the first shift change.
At 11:00 a.m., the phones go off again, because phone calls are usually 20 minutes, and lunch comes at 11:30. So? Let's do lunch.
Lunch consists of not a whole lot that resembles what others might call "food." The closest meal to real food is a taco tray. This holds true for dinner trays as well. The average dish resembles a goulash or mish-mash of noodles, rice, veggies and or "meat". The jail has a set menu spanning 6 weeks. Almost all the food served you is either processed, fake, canned, or pressed, and has no obvious nutritional value whatsoever. If you have nothing extra you've bought from the commissary to eat, you can count on being hungry again after each meal, usually within the hour. Lunch trays have a single sugar-free drink packet on them, which only flavors an 8 oz. glass of water...tops. Drinking straight water here isn't a viable option.
Besides your "main" and "drink", you get one veggie-style side, 2 pieces of bread and butter (only one with certain meals) and a "fruit" desert.
So much for lunch....yuchy.
After lunch, Bunks 1-10 clean again, and the phones come back on at 12 p.m.
Now is probably the best time for a shower. Before this can happen, it's probably best that you soap up and scrub the shower floor, move off the nasty clothes of others that are hung here to dry off (for those who don't like the awful smell of laundered clothing, or if it's been forever since laundry has last been around), and chase of the 20 or so black flies that have nested around the shower area.
After being oogled at for 20 or so minutes, there's another shift change (bunk-up!) at 3:30, another med-pass between 4 and 4:30 (bunk up!), the phones go off at 5, and din-din is called at 5:30 p.m. Care to join us?
Tonight, we're having 4 processed meatballs and fake mashed potatoes for the main; canned green beans, 2 slice of bread and butter, apples for one desert...and apple crisp (with the same apples) for the 2nd desert. The difference between lunch and dinner? You get one extra dessert...even if it's using the same thing as the other desert. Interesting.
By the way, it's said that Lunches and Dinners run around $.59 cents a head. That and the $.19 cent breakfast sure makes me feel better about the $202 dollars a day this jail gets for having me here every 24 hours; $60 of that coming out of my pocket. I think there are hotels with real beds that'll treat me about 10 times better for less money.
Between 6;30 and 8:30 p.m., my mail arrives. You know what that means...it's time for another detour.
My mail, before it's received, has already been opened and read. Any 'contraband' is removed (i.e., extra blank paper, internet related printouts, suggestive pictures, pictures over 4"x 6", any pictures over your allowed 5 pictures, stick-up notes, lipstick kisses, etc.). When you send mail out, it is not to be sealed, so it can also be read, the only exceptions being a letter to a judge or your attorney (I'm not sure how they keep track of who your attorney is, but evidently they always must know). Legal mail (mail from the court, or mail from "an" attorney, not necessarily yours) is not read...but certified mail is signed for by the jail, and is also read, no matter what it is.
Mail must go out or come to you whenever they feel like doing it, because some mail has taken as long as a week to get to who I've sent it to; the same applies to things mailed to me. Some mail never arrived, either way.
Back to the main road.
At 10 p.m., bunks 1-10 clean the place again, and the phone goes off 'til 8:00 a.m. At 10:15 you are chased back to your bunks again, and at 10:30 the lights go out for good. Talk after this, and you may get wrote up, moved to another pod, or worse.
For the remainder of the week, we'll only discuss the differences for each day. One given, a different series of bunk numbers is told to clean each day.
Tuesday, North 8
Between 5:30 and 7:00 a.m., you can sign up to have a phone call made to your attorney...if you know who your attorney even is (this is not likely for most), what their phone number is, or if you can even get them to come and see you...at all. More than most never hear from their "attorneys" (mostly court-appointed ones) until they go to court for the first time. After they meet them, they generally won't see them again until their next appearance. Tuesday is also laundry day; one of two you have every week (remember, you're only allowed to have a full set of 2 outfits...and one of those will not get changed out on laundry day, because you have to wear a set to be in the laundry line). Here, you're required to "bunk-up" again, or a very long line might be allowed, where you stand and wait to get your clothes. A gray shirted clothes Nazi stands close to the line to make sure you don't receive any more clothes than you're allowed to have.
Wednesday, North 8
After breakfast today, you'll start cleaning for your once-a-week inspection...or not. I think we might be due for another detour.
Now, if your pod was actually filled with 64 polite, cleanly, respectful, as well as respectable inmates, this would easily be the most simple thing to happen during your stay. Prior to your inspection, right after breakfast, if every one of the 64 inmates in your pod were to pick one thing to clean for 5 minutes, it would be all over, and everyone could go back to bed at 6:15 or so. What happens instead is, 5 or six inmates who are fanatically cleanly, clean the entire pod for everyone else, while the rest of the pod sleeps; and cleaning goes on by these same five or six inmates all the way until the whistle blows at 8:00 to 8:15. Usually, the more lazy of the inmates are the ones that cause the pod to lose their inspection, as well as whatever privileges the whole pod gets if they are "basic standards met" or the winners.
There are only two "motivations" (if you should desire to call them that) to win an inspection. One, is that, on Saturday, you'll get a Little Debbie's Honey Bun (that's usually gone in around 3 to 4 bites) and an 8 oz. lemonade. The other, if you're fortunate enough to have cash on your books, happens on Saturday night. There will come, to your pod, a "Chuckwagon", where you'll be given the opportunity to purchase massively over-priced items from the commissary that aren't on their usual menu, and they will be prepared on the spot. Wow. A box of Mike & Ike's that you can pick up at the Dollar Tree for a dollar is $2.50. A bag of Microwave popcorn that probably costs them around $.40 cents is $1.40 a bag. A large Kit-Kat or Hershey's chocolate bar is $3.65, and a 6.2 once rib sandwich or a cheeseburger is a whopping $5.75...about the price of a complete value meal at any fast food restaurant...for a lone microwave sandwich. You would think that, at that price, the condiments would be free...but if you want ketchup or mustard, it's $.10 cents a package. In case it isn't obvious as yet, commissary is a HUGE source of inmate income for the jail.
Winners of these inspections are so obviously spread around. If it isn't your week to win, anything will be produced to make sure you don't win it, in order to keep people thinking that they're worth cleaning to win out. pods who still refuse to clean lose movie, TV and other privileges...so it's best to hope that you have fanatics who insist on cleanliness, or you might lose out on all your privileges.
My feelings on inspections are a lot like they are on the subject of food. At $60 a day (that I'm charged for room and board, let alone the $142 a day they get for keeping me here from the Feds), this pod should clean itself, I should be lying on sickeningly soft mattresses with 2 pillows and chocolates on them in the morning, and should be served steak at least once a week. Instead, 6 days and 23 hours out of the week, I'm tripping over paper towel balls (that people miss the garbage cans with when they shoot for the can); I step in puddles of missed piss in waffled flip-flop patterns, and I have to scoop massive piles of hair out of sinks before I'm able to wash my hands in them. The only time a pod is truly clean is for around an hour, between 8-9 a.m., on Wednesdays.
Thursday, North 8
The attorney call list goes back up again, and you can now order the Des Moines Register for the upcoming week at $1.27 a day (M-Sat) and $1.74 for Sunday. This is also commissary delivery day, and detour time again.
Now, in the last article, we discussed the ordering and the pricing of commissary from the kiosks in fairly decent detail; but in order to give you a complete picture, we need to add some key facts and describe the delivery.
Commissary is not controlled by the jail, it's a separate company. Therefore, problems with commissary are handled....by commissary. For those of you not yet sure what that means, if your order doesn't add up; if you don't receive your order, or if it comes a cay late or you're due a refund, the jail is conveniently not responsible, nor will it help you with any issues you might have with them or your order.
If you get your bag, and $20 worth of items don't show up, refunds are made when commissary feels like making them. If you miss your order (if you're at court, or in a class) when they arrive, you won't get the order that day, you will have to wait until they make re-deliveries, as many as 4 days later.
Now, in my opine, if you spend money, and you don't like what you bought, refunds are available to you almost immediately, upon presenting your receipt and your problem with what you bought. Why should you have to wait, because you're in prison? If anything, you should get it even faster, I would think, that way you could immediately spend it on something else that makes the jail more money than anyone else, like $3 local phone calls....sheesh.
One of the favorite things I hear from staff...kind of a last word type of thing, when they can't think of anything else intelligent to say; when we inmates complain about anything that happens at the jail; ...is "bail out and go home..."...or, another favorite, "don't get arrested". Really? How grown up is that? A. Like we beg to get arrested. How about you stop making up all these ridiculous statutes and ways to get arrested, and maybe we won't have to be treated like children. B. Some of us....AREN'T GUILTY, or SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ARRESTED AT ALL. What about those people? Did they have a choice? C. As for bailing out, when I was first arrested, my bail was $70,000, supposedly for (allegedly) making some phone calls to someone and threatening them, from 85 miles away...in a different county, with no car to make good on them. I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. If you happen to have $7,000 dollars lying around the house I could borrow (that you will never get back, by the way), in addition to a house that you would have to put up as collateral as a guarantee that I'll show up for court to get sentenced for my crimes, I'll be most happy to "Bond out and go home." I didn't think you did. Then SHUT UP ALREADY.
Sorry....lost my mind for a moment. I'm back, honest.
Laundry shows up again. You get no more clean clothes until Monday this time.
Friday, North 8
Friday's differences are only that re-deliveries are done by commissary, and that there's a movie on at 8...for those that passed inspection. Those that didn't won't even have TV that night.
Saturday, North 8
Movie is at 8 p.m. again today...Extra commissary snack packs could be coming today, or on Friday, depending on how busy commissary is. Those "lucky" winners of the inspection will be getting their honeybuns and lemonade today, and the "Chuckwagon" shows at around movie time.
Sunday, North 8
Nothing happens today. Nada. Zero. Zip. Today is spent wishing Monday would hurry up and get here, so something will finally happen again.
And this, dear readers, is your life in the Polk County Jail...day in, day out, weeks and months (and even years, for fed inmates) even. Same ol' Song and Dance. The only thing that changes are the faces...and even then, this is never a given. One man leaves, another man enters.
Join us again next month. You know why....so....let's DO IT! :D
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Well I'm free...and I'm not going for probation. Sorry kiddies, I am not doing this...but I am getting a nice one month break from jail. On the 18th of August I will, once again, go before Judge Blink, and be sentenced to what could be an additional 8 more months in the Polk County "Polkie." Gee, I can't wait. The good news is this...once this is over, it's ALL over, and I can move out of this state and fight my fight unfettered...and without worry of retribution by Polk County. They will NEVER AGAIN know where I am, nor will they ever again find me...but exposure of their crimes, as promised, will continue until...well, you know what :D
This article, in following the previous one, will discuss in full detail every moment, awake or asleep, of life in the Polk County Jail, the variables that factor into that life, and what we endure...day in, day out, month after month; for what could very well be years, if you're waiting for the Feds to come and get you. If you need the preamble (from June), it's just one article down, on this same page. But first, let's go over a few key points in preface to this:
CHAIN OF COMMAND
The chain of command is fairly easy and predictable, and is color-coded there for better understanding. the C.O.'s in tan shirts are our "den mothers", the "low men on the totem pole." These folks are half responsible for checking us in, classifying us, answering questions (that we may or may not get an answer to) and making sure we are given what little they are allowed to give us. They do the very least, and are, almost literally paid baby-sitters. Very well paid paid baby-sitters, but baby-sitters, none the less.
Next, we have the inmate workers; dressed in lime green and dark grey. Over them are "The gray shirts,", on the same level as the "tan" shirts. These C.O.'s are in charge of the inmate workers AND their own special pod. Generally the same 6-8 people oversee the worker pod. The workers get 2 days of discharged time for every 10 days they work, are not charged the $60 a day for room and board that the rest of the populace are, and can eat as much jail food as they want to...yum yum. Oh, I feel it's important to mention that the worker pod is not for everyone, like it is in most prisons; no, they are very picky on who they have work for them. If you have even been CHARGED with a violent crime...not convicted, CHARGED....you can't work for the jail. If you don't get along with everyone like an angel...you can't work for the jail. If you've had discipline problems (didn't roll over and go b-a-a-a-a...like you should), you can't work for the jail. C'mon guys....maybe you have discipline problems BECAUSE NO ONE CAN WORK OFF THE TIME THEY'RE IN, YA THINK? Unless you're a 5th degree shoplifter, chances are you won't be working for the jail. Work should be a requirement. Otherwise, you just sit around and think of stupid things to do...mainly because there isn't anything to do.
Fun flies when you're doing time, right?
On quite another plane altogether is the last of the bottom-dwellers, the "Red Team". These are the jail's official "bouncers." They're called when folks threaten to hurt themselves or others...or when they ARE hurting themselves or others. They're also called in if the C.O. on duty deems it necessary, and to handle other duties as well, such as shake-downs and moving prisoners around the jail.
All of these lower folks fall under a predictable chain of command. Sergeants (in black dress shirts) oversee all the lower C.O.'s. Above them are three lieutenants and a captain, in white dress shirts. Above the white shirts is the Chief Jailer (someone I've never seen....Joe somebody or other), and above him is the figurehead sheriff, who obviously never is involved in any aspect of the jail, whether running it or overseeing it....Bill McCarthy, the mystery sheriff...who I imagine knows about as much about this jail as you do...or did, after I get finished with you.
JAIL GIVENS
Also worth mentioning are the "Givens" of everyday life at the Polk County Jail: 3 shift changes, 3 mealtimes, 3 pill distribution times, a wake-up and a beddy-bye time.
Monday, North 8 Pod
Unless you need to go to the restroom or get a drink of the nasty water, you cannot get up between 10:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. If you wake up early, you are forced to remain in your cell. Most C.O.'s won't do anything for you until the lights come on. The lights come on at 5:30, and breakfast happens at 6:00 a.m. As you may (or may not) remember, razors can be gotten between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. Breakfast will not begin until all razors are returned to the C.O., and all inmates are seated. You are awakened if still asleep.
"Breakfast" consists of a cup of cereal, 2 slices of bread, a small squeeze packet of peanut butter, and a restaurant-sized packet of jelly, always mixed fruit or grape flavored. Once or twice a month, you'll get a single egg with your breakfast, or a half of a banana. The cereal is either frosted flakes, honey-nut Cheerios, or Hy-Vee Fruit Loops. Also given you is a half of a gallon of OJ and a half of a gallon of milk per 6 inmates (which evens out to around 8 oz. of each per inmate...if everyone is being kind and generous, and if everyone is using only the brown 8 oz. cups that were given you, instead of the 16 oz. soup cups) From what I've gathered, this breakfast costs the jail an average of $.19 cents per inmate per day. I believe it. Even if the price tag were a dollar a day, considering I'm paying Polk County $60 for "room and board" at this jail (in addition to the $142 per inmate per day that the Federal Government is paying them to keep us there as long as possible) I should be getting waffles, an omelet and breakfast in bed.
Instead, I am ordered to remain seated 'til the cart holding our 64 trays, stacked lovingly on top of each other; comes by, and the C.O. allows our table to get up and get it. Bunk #'s 1-10 are ordered to clean up the mess, and must tell the C.O. what chore they'd like to do: tables, sweeping, mopping, dust pan or trash.
After breakfast, court go'ers are called to leave around 6:45 a.m. At this point in time, we will be taking the first of many detours we'll be taking in this article, in order to cover this little pleasure in greater detail.
Anyone attending court between 8-10:30 a.m. leaves the PCJ at 6:45 a.m. You are waist and wrist cuffed before moving to the front of the jail to await transport.
Some of us will be attending court right here in the jail, as most would after they are booked in within 24 hours of being arrested). In this case, you simply stay put. you appear in front of the judge at the jail or at the Polk County courthouse, fully chained (with leg cuffs as well, if you're going to the courthouse). If you have to attend court at the courthouse (without a jury present), you are kept in full chains (foot, waist and wrist) until you arrive back at the PCJ. If your court time is one of the first to take place, you may get lucky enough to be back for lunch at the jail (if you prefer to call that lucky, anyway). If not, lunch at the old jail (where you are taken to wait for your hearing) consists of a 10 oz. carton of milk, and a "triple-decker" sandwich. Between bread pieces one and two are a single piece of meat. Between bread pieces 2 and 3 is a single piece of processed cheese. Yum....ME!!
Fortunately, if you are to appear in front of a jury, you're allowed to wear dress clothes and not required to wear chains. If this is the case, then why not all of the time? I would think the line to a suspect would be a lot more direct for a sheriff if less people are present, so why do chains need to be on for jury-less hearings? Wouldn't a defendant be a lot more dangerous if there were more people in the room? I would imagine so! I'm sure the number of times a defendant goes off on a tangent is more so with a room full of people, added to the danger to them becoming hostages. Anyway...
Let's get back to the PCJ.
After breakfast, you are allowed to move around until shift change. you are then ordered back to your bunk until the new C.O. comes on, around 7;45 a.m. The phones come on at 8:00 a.m. (after you're allowed to move around again).
Now, let's take detour #2, the phone fun. When you get to your first "Barney Land" pod (see the first part of this series, from June), if you want to use their phones, you need to register to use them, using voice recognition. One of the biggest ways the prosecution in Polk County gets you is through their access to your phone calls (and the numbers you call), your visits, and your use of their mail system. Every letter going out (not addressed to a lawyer or a judge) is read. Every letter coming in is opened. Every phone call and visit is now monitored, recorded, and can now be used against you in a court of law. They consider every phone call you make like an interrogation now, and read you your Miranda rights...both to you, and to your caller. Should you have a conversation with your wife (which used to be known as 'marital privilege') or are your own lawyer (pro-se, meaning any conversations you might have about your case with someone would be "work-product privilege") no longer matters now. A judge will now say that if you use their phone to make phone calls, you now subject yourself to them going against you. So what they're really saying is, the rights you have on the outside (or used to have anyway...even then I wonder) you don't have in jail, you have no rights at all; as well as NO OTHER WAY to communicate with anyone on the outside. They say "if you use the jail's phone" like you have another choice. You don't. Your choice is use their phones, and quite possibly get in more trouble (or get others in trouble)...or don't communicate with your loved ones at all. Nice right? Don't forget this: Local phone calls (which just went up AGAIN before my release) are now $3.00 each. In other areas or area codes in Iowa, I've seen phone calls run as high as $4.00 to connect...and $.45 a minute...NO JOKE. Anything else anywhere in the country? $.21 a minute. Somebody in Iowa's makin' money hand over fist, hmm??
Back to the main highway.
At 9-9:30 a.m. you are woke up again for "Med Pass". Shit! Another detour? So soon?
Yes kids, it's Medical. Now, when you are "fishbowl" bound, you see Medical, right away (after you sit there for about 12 or better hours, I mean). This visit's on the house. After this, you're charged $5-$10 for each time they have to come and see you (they come 3 times a day anyway...so why are you charged at all?) To get them to return, you have to fill out a "Kite." Now wait a minute...a kite...we mentioned this in my last article, and promised to address this, didn't we? Well, buckle your seats again. We're already detoured, so I suppose now we're going to have to 4-wheel it off the road this time.
A "kite" is a request you make of the jail...simple as that. Whether for medical, for a law book, a haircut, or for medical...whatever, a kite is a request of the jail to do something for you; but yeah, you guessed it, nothing is ever this simple at the Polk County Jail, or Polk County, period.
Being someone who has (now) had personal experience about this "award-winning" jail and its operations, let me now tell you how kites and their elevated parents, 'Grievances', really work out.
If your request is an easy one, has a definite "No" answer, and doesn't involve a C.O. or their superiors, you receive an answer almost immediately. If you're deathly ill or dying, you should get a response sometime in 24 hours (In case you're wondering if I'm joking, I don't believe I am). If your kite or grievance involves a difficult staff member or is tough for them to handle (or, in contrast, makes your life better or easier in any way), it might never be addressed.
When I first discovered kites and grievances (more of those things you have to figure out on your own), I spent 5 whole days filling out 10 kites a day, asking for the same 10 things...for experimental purposes. out of those 50 kites I put in (after waiting nearly 2 weeks for the first response to come in...these come in your "mail" when they're answered) 4 requests happened in a normal time span (I was allowed to visit the "Law Library...a small room with some law books in it and a computer that doesn't have spell check or the internet on it on which you can design legal documents, I received a law book I asked for nearly 3 weeks after the kites asking for it, etc.), 2 "No" answers for the simple things, and the other 44 were never addressed, in any way shape or form. Later, I wrote a letter to the Sheriff (The Captain of the Jail?) and the Captain responded back stating that all 50 of my kites had been addressed. By whom and how are still a great mystery to all, to this day.
The next step up from kites are "Grievances." These are more likely to get results, but not if:
1. The C.O. you have a problem with (the reason for the majority of grievances are about them, and they are the ones who enter your grievance in the computer) is still on duty and won't submit it or enter it into the computer (that said, how would you know if he ever did?)
2. In involves something that's wrong with the jail or its staff, wrongdoing against you by the staff or involves the direct violation or deprivation of your rights, or
3. It is entirely too difficult to address or helps you in any way.
Lastly, there are 2 steps above these, but as it has been discovered by me, these are almost the exact same thing: Writing to the Chief Jailer (Joe Simon), whom no one has ever seen, or even knows if he exists; and writing to the Sheriff himself...and he doesn't write you back, the Captain of the C.O.'s does...so why bother?
One more thing about kiting and grievances, and I'm done, I swear. Not long ago, I kited for a box for my papers, during the 2nd half of my 5 month stint in the PCJ (I had been out for 2 weeks and had to go back after sentencing, remember?). Now, keep in mind, I had a box during the first 3 months of my stay - I had filed 200 plus pieces of evidence in my case, and they told me time and time again to just kite for one; and I got one. This time around, I had quite a stack going, but when the C.O. got around to addressing it this time, he said I didn't have enough paper to warrant having a box, and that my stack would have to just keep getting bigger. Towards the end of the same day, someone decided that it would be funny to take the majority of my stack and put it under the door of the locked "Blue Room". I finally was told where they were, and got them back, but until that time, I of course thought they had been stolen. Because of this, and because I had, the same day, been denied a box earlier, I asked for a grievance form to make my displeasure with this known.
Prior to your receiving a grievance form, the C.O. on duty (the one you may very well have a problem with) has been given the power to decide whether your grievance is deserved, and whether the thing or person that you have a problem with is a "Grievable offence". According to their own rule book, it shows a grievance to be defined as "an official statement of a complaint over something believed to be wrong or unfair." Now, I don't know about you, but that tells me that just about EVERYTHING is a grievance, to you....isn't it? How then should the C.O. be involved? Worse yet, the C.O. himself could be the problem...couldn't he? So how is it right that he should be able to decide if your problem should be complained about at all? 'Nuff said.
Anyway, after filling out a grievance, I was told that boxes weren't issued to inmates...which is funny, since I was known as "Bruce, the Box" for almost 3 months. I was denied the box. I grievanced again, and explained that I had one before, and, when I had kited for one previously, a couple of weeks before that, I was told that I didn't have enough papers to get the box...that no one issues to inmates. How, I asked, could I be denied something that they didn't issue? He stated, in answer to this one, that the matter had already been decided...box denied. Great huh?
Let's move back to Medical.
After you "see" medical, you are then, more than likely, placed on some sort of medicine, and are now the unwitting participant in "Med-Passes"; once, twice or three times a day. This shouldn't concern anyone not receiving meds...but it does. Evidently, someone did something wrong to a nurse, to the cart with the meds on it, or to the meds themselves, because now the entire pod is required to "bunk-up" every time the med cart arrives, unless you're receiving some...whether there are 20 people getting meds..or even just one.
The first time, the biggest one, happens at 9:-9:30 a.m, just after being sent to your bunks 2 hours earlier for the first shift change.
At 11:00 a.m., the phones go off again, because phone calls are usually 20 minutes, and lunch comes at 11:30. So? Let's do lunch.
Lunch consists of not a whole lot that resembles what others might call "food." The closest meal to real food is a taco tray. This holds true for dinner trays as well. The average dish resembles a goulash or mish-mash of noodles, rice, veggies and or "meat". The jail has a set menu spanning 6 weeks. Almost all the food served you is either processed, fake, canned, or pressed, and has no obvious nutritional value whatsoever. If you have nothing extra you've bought from the commissary to eat, you can count on being hungry again after each meal, usually within the hour. Lunch trays have a single sugar-free drink packet on them, which only flavors an 8 oz. glass of water...tops. Drinking straight water here isn't a viable option.
Besides your "main" and "drink", you get one veggie-style side, 2 pieces of bread and butter (only one with certain meals) and a "fruit" desert.
So much for lunch....yuchy.
After lunch, Bunks 1-10 clean again, and the phones come back on at 12 p.m.
Now is probably the best time for a shower. Before this can happen, it's probably best that you soap up and scrub the shower floor, move off the nasty clothes of others that are hung here to dry off (for those who don't like the awful smell of laundered clothing, or if it's been forever since laundry has last been around), and chase of the 20 or so black flies that have nested around the shower area.
After being oogled at for 20 or so minutes, there's another shift change (bunk-up!) at 3:30, another med-pass between 4 and 4:30 (bunk up!), the phones go off at 5, and din-din is called at 5:30 p.m. Care to join us?
Tonight, we're having 4 processed meatballs and fake mashed potatoes for the main; canned green beans, 2 slice of bread and butter, apples for one desert...and apple crisp (with the same apples) for the 2nd desert. The difference between lunch and dinner? You get one extra dessert...even if it's using the same thing as the other desert. Interesting.
By the way, it's said that Lunches and Dinners run around $.59 cents a head. That and the $.19 cent breakfast sure makes me feel better about the $202 dollars a day this jail gets for having me here every 24 hours; $60 of that coming out of my pocket. I think there are hotels with real beds that'll treat me about 10 times better for less money.
Between 6;30 and 8:30 p.m., my mail arrives. You know what that means...it's time for another detour.
My mail, before it's received, has already been opened and read. Any 'contraband' is removed (i.e., extra blank paper, internet related printouts, suggestive pictures, pictures over 4"x 6", any pictures over your allowed 5 pictures, stick-up notes, lipstick kisses, etc.). When you send mail out, it is not to be sealed, so it can also be read, the only exceptions being a letter to a judge or your attorney (I'm not sure how they keep track of who your attorney is, but evidently they always must know). Legal mail (mail from the court, or mail from "an" attorney, not necessarily yours) is not read...but certified mail is signed for by the jail, and is also read, no matter what it is.
Mail must go out or come to you whenever they feel like doing it, because some mail has taken as long as a week to get to who I've sent it to; the same applies to things mailed to me. Some mail never arrived, either way.
Back to the main road.
At 10 p.m., bunks 1-10 clean the place again, and the phone goes off 'til 8:00 a.m. At 10:15 you are chased back to your bunks again, and at 10:30 the lights go out for good. Talk after this, and you may get wrote up, moved to another pod, or worse.
For the remainder of the week, we'll only discuss the differences for each day. One given, a different series of bunk numbers is told to clean each day.
Tuesday, North 8
Between 5:30 and 7:00 a.m., you can sign up to have a phone call made to your attorney...if you know who your attorney even is (this is not likely for most), what their phone number is, or if you can even get them to come and see you...at all. More than most never hear from their "attorneys" (mostly court-appointed ones) until they go to court for the first time. After they meet them, they generally won't see them again until their next appearance. Tuesday is also laundry day; one of two you have every week (remember, you're only allowed to have a full set of 2 outfits...and one of those will not get changed out on laundry day, because you have to wear a set to be in the laundry line). Here, you're required to "bunk-up" again, or a very long line might be allowed, where you stand and wait to get your clothes. A gray shirted clothes Nazi stands close to the line to make sure you don't receive any more clothes than you're allowed to have.
Wednesday, North 8
After breakfast today, you'll start cleaning for your once-a-week inspection...or not. I think we might be due for another detour.
Now, if your pod was actually filled with 64 polite, cleanly, respectful, as well as respectable inmates, this would easily be the most simple thing to happen during your stay. Prior to your inspection, right after breakfast, if every one of the 64 inmates in your pod were to pick one thing to clean for 5 minutes, it would be all over, and everyone could go back to bed at 6:15 or so. What happens instead is, 5 or six inmates who are fanatically cleanly, clean the entire pod for everyone else, while the rest of the pod sleeps; and cleaning goes on by these same five or six inmates all the way until the whistle blows at 8:00 to 8:15. Usually, the more lazy of the inmates are the ones that cause the pod to lose their inspection, as well as whatever privileges the whole pod gets if they are "basic standards met" or the winners.
There are only two "motivations" (if you should desire to call them that) to win an inspection. One, is that, on Saturday, you'll get a Little Debbie's Honey Bun (that's usually gone in around 3 to 4 bites) and an 8 oz. lemonade. The other, if you're fortunate enough to have cash on your books, happens on Saturday night. There will come, to your pod, a "Chuckwagon", where you'll be given the opportunity to purchase massively over-priced items from the commissary that aren't on their usual menu, and they will be prepared on the spot. Wow. A box of Mike & Ike's that you can pick up at the Dollar Tree for a dollar is $2.50. A bag of Microwave popcorn that probably costs them around $.40 cents is $1.40 a bag. A large Kit-Kat or Hershey's chocolate bar is $3.65, and a 6.2 once rib sandwich or a cheeseburger is a whopping $5.75...about the price of a complete value meal at any fast food restaurant...for a lone microwave sandwich. You would think that, at that price, the condiments would be free...but if you want ketchup or mustard, it's $.10 cents a package. In case it isn't obvious as yet, commissary is a HUGE source of inmate income for the jail.
Winners of these inspections are so obviously spread around. If it isn't your week to win, anything will be produced to make sure you don't win it, in order to keep people thinking that they're worth cleaning to win out. pods who still refuse to clean lose movie, TV and other privileges...so it's best to hope that you have fanatics who insist on cleanliness, or you might lose out on all your privileges.
My feelings on inspections are a lot like they are on the subject of food. At $60 a day (that I'm charged for room and board, let alone the $142 a day they get for keeping me here from the Feds), this pod should clean itself, I should be lying on sickeningly soft mattresses with 2 pillows and chocolates on them in the morning, and should be served steak at least once a week. Instead, 6 days and 23 hours out of the week, I'm tripping over paper towel balls (that people miss the garbage cans with when they shoot for the can); I step in puddles of missed piss in waffled flip-flop patterns, and I have to scoop massive piles of hair out of sinks before I'm able to wash my hands in them. The only time a pod is truly clean is for around an hour, between 8-9 a.m., on Wednesdays.
Thursday, North 8
The attorney call list goes back up again, and you can now order the Des Moines Register for the upcoming week at $1.27 a day (M-Sat) and $1.74 for Sunday. This is also commissary delivery day, and detour time again.
Now, in the last article, we discussed the ordering and the pricing of commissary from the kiosks in fairly decent detail; but in order to give you a complete picture, we need to add some key facts and describe the delivery.
Commissary is not controlled by the jail, it's a separate company. Therefore, problems with commissary are handled....by commissary. For those of you not yet sure what that means, if your order doesn't add up; if you don't receive your order, or if it comes a cay late or you're due a refund, the jail is conveniently not responsible, nor will it help you with any issues you might have with them or your order.
If you get your bag, and $20 worth of items don't show up, refunds are made when commissary feels like making them. If you miss your order (if you're at court, or in a class) when they arrive, you won't get the order that day, you will have to wait until they make re-deliveries, as many as 4 days later.
Now, in my opine, if you spend money, and you don't like what you bought, refunds are available to you almost immediately, upon presenting your receipt and your problem with what you bought. Why should you have to wait, because you're in prison? If anything, you should get it even faster, I would think, that way you could immediately spend it on something else that makes the jail more money than anyone else, like $3 local phone calls....sheesh.
One of the favorite things I hear from staff...kind of a last word type of thing, when they can't think of anything else intelligent to say; when we inmates complain about anything that happens at the jail; ...is "bail out and go home..."...or, another favorite, "don't get arrested". Really? How grown up is that? A. Like we beg to get arrested. How about you stop making up all these ridiculous statutes and ways to get arrested, and maybe we won't have to be treated like children. B. Some of us....AREN'T GUILTY, or SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ARRESTED AT ALL. What about those people? Did they have a choice? C. As for bailing out, when I was first arrested, my bail was $70,000, supposedly for (allegedly) making some phone calls to someone and threatening them, from 85 miles away...in a different county, with no car to make good on them. I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. If you happen to have $7,000 dollars lying around the house I could borrow (that you will never get back, by the way), in addition to a house that you would have to put up as collateral as a guarantee that I'll show up for court to get sentenced for my crimes, I'll be most happy to "Bond out and go home." I didn't think you did. Then SHUT UP ALREADY.
Sorry....lost my mind for a moment. I'm back, honest.
Laundry shows up again. You get no more clean clothes until Monday this time.
Friday, North 8
Friday's differences are only that re-deliveries are done by commissary, and that there's a movie on at 8...for those that passed inspection. Those that didn't won't even have TV that night.
Saturday, North 8
Movie is at 8 p.m. again today...Extra commissary snack packs could be coming today, or on Friday, depending on how busy commissary is. Those "lucky" winners of the inspection will be getting their honeybuns and lemonade today, and the "Chuckwagon" shows at around movie time.
Sunday, North 8
Nothing happens today. Nada. Zero. Zip. Today is spent wishing Monday would hurry up and get here, so something will finally happen again.
And this, dear readers, is your life in the Polk County Jail...day in, day out, weeks and months (and even years, for fed inmates) even. Same ol' Song and Dance. The only thing that changes are the faces...and even then, this is never a given. One man leaves, another man enters.
Join us again next month. You know why....so....let's DO IT! :D
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JULY 4TH UPDATE
Well I'm free...and I'm not going for probation. Sorry kiddies, I am not doing this...but I am getting a nice one month break from jail. On the 18th of August I will, once again, go before Judge Blink, and be sentenced to what could be an additional 8 more months in the Polk County "Polkie." Gee, I can't wait. The good news is this...once this is over, it's ALL over, and I can move out of this state and fight my fight unfettered...and without worry of retribution by Polk County. They will NEVER AGAIN know where I am, nor will they ever again find me...but exposure of their crimes, as promised, will continue until...well, you know what :D
