First and foremost, me and my fiancé, William Thomas McCallum Jr.-founder of Behindthewallstalk.com and Frankie Maria Faulk-co founder gladly appreciate this opportunity given to us to allow our voices to be heard in a major way. I have been incarcerated for two decades now and the issues I am going to point out in this letter is my honest opinion on how we can improve and create a safer and healthier environment for the residents as well as staff and administration in the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
The Administrative Remedy Procedure is a pross available to the residents for the complaints they have upon these issues I will be bringing to your attention throughout this letter and personal situations pertaining to their health and wellbeing. Although with the process of this procedure a lot of residents are afraid to use it in fear of retaliation by staff and administration. Not in the physical sense of using excessive force but hindering them from getting a job or enrollment into a particular class that will help them earn the gain time credits needed to be placed at their minimum sentence date and/or promotion of custody level. There are instances like the ones I’ve experienced where I was emergency transferred to another facility for the cover up of a grievance I filed. The Administrative Remedy Procedure is an in-house process throughout step1 and step 2, then going to the grievance resolution board in Raleigh, being step 3 the final step. Through step 1 and step 2, staff and administration will work together to manipulate this process. The need for transparency (honest and open: not secretive: free from pretense or deceit) is imperative and we can gain that by step 1 going to the Regional Director and the grievance being filed on the NCDAC website for citizens in society to see and keep up with the process of the responses given by staff and administration as well as the remedy to resolve the grievance.
Professionalism (the skill, good judgment and polite behavior that is expected from a person who is trained to do a job well: the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person) is an attitude characterized by your demeanor in which how you deal with people and not just showing up to work, but the actual engagement with the residents, hearing their concerns, helping them and working with them to create the best outcome possible. This meaning of professionalism is not the experience we gain when dealing with staff and administration. They make it seem as if we’re inconveniencing them to do their job, officers have bad attitudes, case managers do not respond to requests for information forms, and it seems as if their supervisors could care less if they’re performing their duties in a professional manner or not. Not all are bad, but the majority will overshadow the ones that do care. This is something that needs to be addressed, because positive attitudes from staff and administration will create a positive environment.
The cleanliness of these prisons, specifically the bathrooms, showers, air ducts and vents, is terrible. The showers have mold, which is harmful to the resident’s health. It must be treated and cleaned in order to be removed, but the Unit Managers will only have guys come in and paint over the mold, which it will only eat through neglecting to leave us in a harmful predicament. It needs to be treated and cleaned by someone trained to deal with fungus. The air ducts and vents are rarely cleaned out, forcing us to constantly inhale dust particles. Every other week, the air ducts and vents need to be cleaned out by maintenance. Also, the chemicals given to the janitors to clean the dorms and other areas of the prison are not efficient enough to get the job done. Clorox is the main product that needs to be used when not just cleaning the bathrooms and showers, but the phones, microwaves, water fountains etc., because every resident has access to these appliances and bacteria and germs will fester if not cleaned properly. The janitors are only given a long-handled scrub brush to clean the showers along with green pads and must use a mop bucket to throw water. There are small pressure washers in maintenance that the janitors should be able to use to clean and rise the showers with.
The quality and quantity of the food being served in the cafeteria was good once upon a time. We used to get quarter leg chicken every Sunday, long fish every Saturday, Liver and onions every Thursday and throughout the week it would be pizza, real hamburgers, hot dogs with all the toppings, corn dogs, spaghetti, fresh fruit and vegetables. Breakfast used to be the best meal with real eggs and the portions throughout breakfast, lunch, and dinner were nice sizable portions to the point of fulfillment. You wouldn’t have to spend much on commissary. Now, the portions are so small, the vegetables are always overcooked, no fresh fruit hardly, quarter leg chicken only once a month and a different patty every day. The best meal they serve now is the chef’s salad. It forces you to buy meals out of the commissary when there’s nothing that is healthy or nutritional in it besides mackerel, tuna, peanuts, and trail mixes which are products high in sodium. The chips, soups, and cakes all lead to high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. These guys are young being diagnosed with heart diseases and diabetes at an alarming rate, all because of what they’re subject to eating. There needs to be a dietitian at every prison as there used to be and there needs to be a healthier choice of meals in the commissary.
Security Risk Group. The NCDAC has a mission statement of rehabilitating (to teach to live a normal and productive life: to bring someone back to a good condition: to restore or bring to a condition of health or useful and constructive activity) all residents within this system, which means that all residents should receive equal treatment with equal opportunities to reach this goal and objective since we were all punished for the crimes we committed and given the sentences we got for our punishment. But prison officials have taken it upon themselves to punish us even more with labels and restrictions that now give them what they feel is their right to target and harass us. I am SRG level 3 and all SRG residents are limited to only janitor jobs inside the dorm, not able to participate in certain classes, 2 phone calls a week, only immediate family members on visitation list which the visits will be behind the glass with no contact. So, with no jobs available and no classes to participate in, we’re not able to earn gain time credits which is the only way for us to work towards our minimum on our sentences as all the other residents are able to do so. Our phone calls are limited, and we have no contact with our family and friends. This is dehumanizing and it creates hopelessness (unable to be changed: unable to be helped or improved: having no expectation of good or success: incapable of redemption or improvement: incapable of solution, management, or accomplishment) amongst SRG residents and we are subjected to be housed on unassigned units. So, what now can you expect from the guys that have no hope? Assaults are going to occur amongst themselves and on staff, knives are going to be made for protection, they’re going to orchestrate ways to getting cell phones in so they can speak to their family and friends, get drugs in to make money, because they can’t get a job to purchase the necessities from commissary and due to the fact that they have nobody on their visitation list they are not able to have money placed in their accounts. If you take these restrictions off the table SRG, you’ll then be creating equal opportunity and hope (to want something to happen or be true and think that it could happen: desire accompanied by expectation of obtainment: the chance that something good will happen: desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment) which will also bring about a major decrease in assaults amongst residents and on staff, a decrease in knives being made, and a decrease in cell phones and drugs being smuggled in these prison. Give the residents a chance to do the right thing and I know for a fact that they will not disappoint you! How do I know, because “I AM” one of these residents!
Thank you for your time, and I “HOPE” that we can work together to resolve these issues and create a safer and healthier environment for the residents as well as staff and administration in the NCDAC! I pray that you have a wonderful day, life, and career!
Mr. William Thomas McCallum Jr.
I (Frankie Maria Faulk) would like to add on dates of emails that was sent about the issues that William is speaking about in his letter to you. Just to show you that we have been bringing awareness to try to gain awareness and help get rectifications on these problems including filing the necessary grievances to follow the proper chain of command. A lot of the time the emails were not responded to and if there was a response, it was just to give a response because nothing came of it for the residents, or William was transferred to a different facility to silence him. Even spoke with the news about the violence at Scotland Correctional because for one they reached out to us and for two we have already complained about the hostile environment at this facility. I can say if you are in every email that I have sent out to bring awareness to these unfortunate situations but here are some dates and reasons for the emails:
1. December 10th,2023 Reintroducing House Bill 625, sentence reduction reform.
2. February 24th, 2024, sentence reduction reform.
3. February 29th, 2024 contacted Warden Parson about mail issues and the unprofessionalism of Captain Gauze, no response. (Scotland CI)
4. March 5th-8th 2024, contacted Mr. Parson about the Unit Manager of Tan 2 D Dorm. That email was also addressed to Mr. Trask the Regional Director and some of the others as well. No response (Scotland CI)
5. March 11th, 2024, both assistants of Danny Britt and Garland Pierce responded to the email, these emails between the 5th-8th were about the inhumane conditions and violence. No response. During this time William was transferred to Southern CI
6. April 5th, 2024, Second Chance Month an email for Todd Ishee about SRG. No response
7. May 9th, 2024, we spoke with the news about Scotland Correctional. https://borderbelt.org/stabbings-highlight-issues-at-scotland-correctional/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0EE7VU5urw2DESgmhfuLq5BEOHuFB-fDgPCc3ZNj9oBsr4ak4VLxEgP5k_aem_su2zQ_wcQ0vmhl5AlAmEVg
8. May 22nd-23rd 2024, we had to report harassment by the SRG Sgt. Martin at Southern CI
9. June 4th, 2024, the Warden Henry Nordan responded to the email defending SRG Sgt. Martin
10. August 17th, 2024 emailed Kelli Harris and Dr. Gary junker about the food issues within the NCDAC.
11. August 19th, 2024, we sent an email with a list of issues surrounding the NCDAC facilities and conducted a survey of thoughts on North Carolina’s prison system called “We the People” and that is when Mr. Ager reached out for the meeting.
Needless to say, that most of our emails go without responses and there have been a few times that I have received information and feedback from someone who works outside of the facilities, but it ends up being a conversation of where we are negotiating human rights and with me fighting for them because they are violating the 8th Amendment rights these men. Thank you for your time.
Ms. Frankie Faulk