Digger
03-21-2002, 06:08 AM
By: Michael G Santos
10/12/2001
The Federal Bureau of Prisons demonstrates its power by severely punishing those who make
three-way phone calls.
Within the first few weeks of his confinement, Ronald Paul, a young prisoner at Ft. Dix, received a difficult lesson in the callousness of the federal prison system's disciplinary procedure.
In 1999, just after Ronald was incarcerated, he used one of the telephones designated for inmate use. He tried to contact his attorney to learn about the status of his case. Unfortunately, his attorney's office was not accepting Ronald's collect calls -- a common problem for indigent prisoners. Ronald got around the collect call problem by calling his sister and having her place a three-way call to the attorney. Much to Ronald's surprise, he learned that three-way calls represent a serious infraction of prison rules.
Ronald, being new to the prison system, did not know that three-way calls were prohibited. He'd just come into the system from a world where every manner of communicating has become easier. He never thought a three-way phone call would present a problem.
Ronald was called to the Lieutenant's office. The lieutenant read Ronald his Miranda warning, then issued him a disciplinary infraction for unauthorized use of the telephone. It came at the absolute worst time for Ronald. He'd just been convicted and sentenced to a ten-year prison term. It's a long sentence for anyone, but especially hard for a young man of 28 who was leaving a five-year old child behind. The lieutenant told Ronald that his was a serious offense and that it would have to be reviewed through a disciplinary hearing.
Before Ronald received his disciplinary hearing, however, he was transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center-where he was being held when he made the call -- to another hold facility at Otisville, New York. After he settled into his new facility, he went before his Unit Team for a disciplinary hearing.
The Unit Team members immediately told Ronald that the disciplinary infraction was of such a high magnitude that they couldn't hear it; the matter had to be sent before a disciplinary hearing office (DHO). Ronald may have been new in the prison system, but he knew that DHO hearings were reserved for the most serious offenses. He couldn't believe he was going to have to proceed through this procedure for making a three-way phone call to his attorney.
The DHO finally called Ronald before him. "You've been charged with the unauthorized use of the telephone. Specifically, you made a three-way call. How do you plead?
The abrupt manner of the hearing caught Ronald by surprise. He tried to explain that he was calling his attorney and didn't know that making three-way calls was against the rules.
"Did you make the three-way call," the officer demanded. "Yes, but I was . . ., "Ronald began before being cut off by the brusque DHO.
"I find you guilty!" the officer pronounced. I'm sentencing you to 90 days loss of telephone. 90 days loss of commissary privileges. 90 days loss of visiting privileges. Now get out of here!"
Ronald was shocked that he was being punished so severely for what seemed like a simple, trivial matter. Who would have thought a three-way telephone call was such a serious offense? He had just been torn away from his family and was beginning to serve a dreadfully long sentence. Now he wouldn't even be able to talk with his family members, much less visit with them for 90 days. The beginning of his prison term had just been made more difficult.
About 70 days later, Ronald was transferred again, this time to Fort Dix, the prison to which he was designated to serve his sentence. He had not used the telephone for over two months and desperately wanted to communicate with his family. He had been writing letters to his five-year old daughter, but he didn't think she understood why her father had left her, or why he stopped calling. Fortunately, he thought, only about three more weeks remained before his sanction would end and he'd be able to resume contact with his family.
Then surprising thing happened. Ronald received a personal identification number for the telephone system int the mail together with a form on which Ronald was supposed to list the phone number he wanted to call through the inmate telephone system. Ronald completed the form, inserting the telephone numbers of his family members. But he didn't expect his telephone account to be activated until his disciplinary sanction expired. The day after he turned the form in, however, he picked up the phone to see whether his account had been activated. It was.
Ronald reasoned that the sanction he received at his previous institution must have died when he left that facility. If it had not, his phone account would not have been activated, right? Wrong!
Ronald made a call to his daughter. The inmate phone system only allows prisoners to make 15-minute calls, and only in 75 minute intervals.
When Ronald heard his daughter's voice, he felt her love pour through the line. He'd been confined for over two months with strangers and this was his first family contact since his sanction was imposed. He listened to her for the full 15 minutes, then, when enough time had elapsed for his account to become available again, he called back.
It was so wonderful talking with his family again. He told them that he'd been transferred to Fort Dix and that he had been missing them terribly. His family immediately made plans to visit him the following weekend. Ronald closed his conversation by promising his daughter that he'd never stop calling her again.
The next day, Ronald was ordered to report to the Lieutenant's Office. Not again! The lieutenant read him his Miranda rights before serving Ronald with another disciplinary infraction for making an unauthorized call. A second offense. Ronald pleaded that he didn't make a three-way call; he just called his daughter. The lieutenant told Ronald he'd have to appear before the DHO because he had used the phone while two-weeks still remained on his sanction.
The DHO then called Ronald. He read him the disciplinary infraction and asked Ronald how he pleaded. Ronald said he only called his daughter because the phone was activated and he reasonably assumed that he was therefore authorized to use it. The DHO unmercifully said "Guilty!" He then said he was sentencing Ronald:
"15 days in segregation," the DHO ordered. Ronald tried to explain that he was new in the system. While Ronald was still pleading, the DHO said "and 27 days loss of good time." Ronald asked for leniency, for consideration of the circumstances before he was cut off again. "And I'm taking away your commissary privileges for one year." Ronald urged the DHO not to separate him from his family further. "And I'm taking away your visiting privileges for one year." Ronald implored the DHO to listen to him. "I'm suspending your telephone privileges for one year." Ronald tried to talk, but before he could say anything else, he was dismissed and ordered out of the DHO's office. Christmas was less than two weeks away.
Ronald therefore spent his first year in prison without being able to visit or talk with his family. He hasn't been able to purchase shoes, athletic clothing, food, or anything from the commissary that might have brought some relief from the desolate life of a prisoner. Indeed, Ronald's punishment prohibited him form even buying cosmetics -- soap, toothpaste, or vitamins. He lived on prison gruel and government-issued supplies.
Ronald's daughter, who is now six, aches to feel her father's embrace, or just to hear his voice. He writes to her, but he knows the sanction has damaged his relationship with the child.
This time, Ronald's sanction ends in December of 2000. It's been a rough first year in prison. All this suffering for Ronald and his family as punishment for making a three-way phone call. Shame on federal prison administrators for abusing their awesome power by inflicting such draconian sanctions on helpless prisoners.
You may contact Ronald directly by writing him at the following address:
Ronald Paul
#45791-054 / Bldg. 5703-2
Box 2000
Fort Dix, NJ 08640
10/12/2001
The Federal Bureau of Prisons demonstrates its power by severely punishing those who make
three-way phone calls.
Within the first few weeks of his confinement, Ronald Paul, a young prisoner at Ft. Dix, received a difficult lesson in the callousness of the federal prison system's disciplinary procedure.
In 1999, just after Ronald was incarcerated, he used one of the telephones designated for inmate use. He tried to contact his attorney to learn about the status of his case. Unfortunately, his attorney's office was not accepting Ronald's collect calls -- a common problem for indigent prisoners. Ronald got around the collect call problem by calling his sister and having her place a three-way call to the attorney. Much to Ronald's surprise, he learned that three-way calls represent a serious infraction of prison rules.
Ronald, being new to the prison system, did not know that three-way calls were prohibited. He'd just come into the system from a world where every manner of communicating has become easier. He never thought a three-way phone call would present a problem.
Ronald was called to the Lieutenant's office. The lieutenant read Ronald his Miranda warning, then issued him a disciplinary infraction for unauthorized use of the telephone. It came at the absolute worst time for Ronald. He'd just been convicted and sentenced to a ten-year prison term. It's a long sentence for anyone, but especially hard for a young man of 28 who was leaving a five-year old child behind. The lieutenant told Ronald that his was a serious offense and that it would have to be reviewed through a disciplinary hearing.
Before Ronald received his disciplinary hearing, however, he was transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center-where he was being held when he made the call -- to another hold facility at Otisville, New York. After he settled into his new facility, he went before his Unit Team for a disciplinary hearing.
The Unit Team members immediately told Ronald that the disciplinary infraction was of such a high magnitude that they couldn't hear it; the matter had to be sent before a disciplinary hearing office (DHO). Ronald may have been new in the prison system, but he knew that DHO hearings were reserved for the most serious offenses. He couldn't believe he was going to have to proceed through this procedure for making a three-way phone call to his attorney.
The DHO finally called Ronald before him. "You've been charged with the unauthorized use of the telephone. Specifically, you made a three-way call. How do you plead?
The abrupt manner of the hearing caught Ronald by surprise. He tried to explain that he was calling his attorney and didn't know that making three-way calls was against the rules.
"Did you make the three-way call," the officer demanded. "Yes, but I was . . ., "Ronald began before being cut off by the brusque DHO.
"I find you guilty!" the officer pronounced. I'm sentencing you to 90 days loss of telephone. 90 days loss of commissary privileges. 90 days loss of visiting privileges. Now get out of here!"
Ronald was shocked that he was being punished so severely for what seemed like a simple, trivial matter. Who would have thought a three-way telephone call was such a serious offense? He had just been torn away from his family and was beginning to serve a dreadfully long sentence. Now he wouldn't even be able to talk with his family members, much less visit with them for 90 days. The beginning of his prison term had just been made more difficult.
About 70 days later, Ronald was transferred again, this time to Fort Dix, the prison to which he was designated to serve his sentence. He had not used the telephone for over two months and desperately wanted to communicate with his family. He had been writing letters to his five-year old daughter, but he didn't think she understood why her father had left her, or why he stopped calling. Fortunately, he thought, only about three more weeks remained before his sanction would end and he'd be able to resume contact with his family.
Then surprising thing happened. Ronald received a personal identification number for the telephone system int the mail together with a form on which Ronald was supposed to list the phone number he wanted to call through the inmate telephone system. Ronald completed the form, inserting the telephone numbers of his family members. But he didn't expect his telephone account to be activated until his disciplinary sanction expired. The day after he turned the form in, however, he picked up the phone to see whether his account had been activated. It was.
Ronald reasoned that the sanction he received at his previous institution must have died when he left that facility. If it had not, his phone account would not have been activated, right? Wrong!
Ronald made a call to his daughter. The inmate phone system only allows prisoners to make 15-minute calls, and only in 75 minute intervals.
When Ronald heard his daughter's voice, he felt her love pour through the line. He'd been confined for over two months with strangers and this was his first family contact since his sanction was imposed. He listened to her for the full 15 minutes, then, when enough time had elapsed for his account to become available again, he called back.
It was so wonderful talking with his family again. He told them that he'd been transferred to Fort Dix and that he had been missing them terribly. His family immediately made plans to visit him the following weekend. Ronald closed his conversation by promising his daughter that he'd never stop calling her again.
The next day, Ronald was ordered to report to the Lieutenant's Office. Not again! The lieutenant read him his Miranda rights before serving Ronald with another disciplinary infraction for making an unauthorized call. A second offense. Ronald pleaded that he didn't make a three-way call; he just called his daughter. The lieutenant told Ronald he'd have to appear before the DHO because he had used the phone while two-weeks still remained on his sanction.
The DHO then called Ronald. He read him the disciplinary infraction and asked Ronald how he pleaded. Ronald said he only called his daughter because the phone was activated and he reasonably assumed that he was therefore authorized to use it. The DHO unmercifully said "Guilty!" He then said he was sentencing Ronald:
"15 days in segregation," the DHO ordered. Ronald tried to explain that he was new in the system. While Ronald was still pleading, the DHO said "and 27 days loss of good time." Ronald asked for leniency, for consideration of the circumstances before he was cut off again. "And I'm taking away your commissary privileges for one year." Ronald urged the DHO not to separate him from his family further. "And I'm taking away your visiting privileges for one year." Ronald implored the DHO to listen to him. "I'm suspending your telephone privileges for one year." Ronald tried to talk, but before he could say anything else, he was dismissed and ordered out of the DHO's office. Christmas was less than two weeks away.
Ronald therefore spent his first year in prison without being able to visit or talk with his family. He hasn't been able to purchase shoes, athletic clothing, food, or anything from the commissary that might have brought some relief from the desolate life of a prisoner. Indeed, Ronald's punishment prohibited him form even buying cosmetics -- soap, toothpaste, or vitamins. He lived on prison gruel and government-issued supplies.
Ronald's daughter, who is now six, aches to feel her father's embrace, or just to hear his voice. He writes to her, but he knows the sanction has damaged his relationship with the child.
This time, Ronald's sanction ends in December of 2000. It's been a rough first year in prison. All this suffering for Ronald and his family as punishment for making a three-way phone call. Shame on federal prison administrators for abusing their awesome power by inflicting such draconian sanctions on helpless prisoners.
You may contact Ronald directly by writing him at the following address:
Ronald Paul
#45791-054 / Bldg. 5703-2
Box 2000
Fort Dix, NJ 08640