I found this today looking for information to post in the new subforum on military prison profiles: (for the record, I've heard first-hand of some of the abuse of discretion exercised by the person named in the article, but haven't personally experienced any problems)

Mailroom Violations at the USDB

For the long-term prisoner at the US Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the mail is often the sole ray of hope and sanity in his otherwise dismal existence. For the prisoner, it is a lifeline.

Since May, 2002, CAMI has been bombarded with letters and e-mails stating that this right (actually a privilege according to regulations) is being egregiously violated, on a wholesale basis, by the civilian administrator of the USDB mailroom, one Karen Skaggs, to such an extent that rebellion or riot is seriously feared by some family members, with possibly lethal consequences.

In fact, there have already been lethal consequences, as in the case of CPL Gary Shafto, whose appalling tailspin began in the mailroom at the hands of Skaggs and ended in his gruesome suicide in "the hole".

CAMI has delayed as long as possible in publishing this article so as not to compromise the legitimate efforts of prisoners and their families to correct these abuses. We had reason to expect that the highly regarded new Commandant (Col. Colleen L. McGuire) would act promptly.

To date, this has not happened.

Department of Defense (DoD) regulations are careful to define and protect the prisoner's mail rights. Perhaps recognizing that without them, many prisoners would simply go stark staring mad. This, of course, would not be conducive to good order and discipline—the military's only concern.

DoD Instruction 1325.7 "Administration of Military Correctional Facilities and Clemency and Parole Authority" states in part: "Mail privileges shall be as liberal as operating conditions permit. Restrictions or limitations on correspondence privileges must be approved by the correctional facility commander".

The USDB, however, has its own more restrictive rules. And they are so loosely worded that anyone in a position of control, such as the civilian Skaggs, can exploit them to her own ends.

One inmate family member lists the following recent violations of inmate mail policy:

"1. Letters being denied from friends. The DB's mailroom can make the decision which mail can and cannot be received by inmates.
2. Mail being delayed to the inmates by weeks!
3. Christian pen pals from CHURCHES being stopped!
4. Mail being misdirected, going to the wrong inmate!
5. Letters being read and decisions being made what WORDS can go in or come out from inmates and families!
6. Certified Mail - inmate signs for it, mailroom decides if inmate gets it or not! Their choice, have it destroyed or send it back!
7. Withholding LEGAL documents from the inmates! Not giving it to them and NOT returning them".

This list is typical of those recently received by CAMI and each point is borne out many times. Clearly there is a major problem here, and some of the family members are becoming seriously concerned about the potential reactions of affected prisoners.

Arbitrary delays in delivering mail simply inflict further suffering on the defenseless inmate AND his family!

Denial of privileged mail can derail a prisoner's appeal process. In one case in September through November 2000, THREE packages of important exculpatory documents were sent to a prisoner by his attorney. He received only one of them, and that had been remailed after being returned by the DB stating: "Attempted not known".

CAMI calls for Col. McGuire to immediately investigate and correct these abuses before any more preventable tragedies occur within the walls of the USDB.

If this person is in any way responsible for the atypical lack of response to my last 6 pieces of correspondence....

Lisa,

Any new news re: Ms. Skaggs? Sounds like the name fits :D .

Pam

In follow-up, I found this article. Granted, these articles are 2 years old now, but from the little I've heard, not much is different.

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Copyright © MMII-MMIV Citizens Against Military Injustice, August 16, 2002.

Mailroom Scandal Escalates

Despite numerous appeals to the Commandant from inmates and their family members, the scandalous violations of mailroom procedures at the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) continue unabated, and may even be worsening.

As revealed in the August 7 article on this subject, there is abundant evidence that the civilian mailroom supervisor (officially Chief of Inmate Services Branch), Karen Skaggs, is trampling DOD, Army and USDB regulations in what amounts to her own personal vindictive fiefdom within the prison.

To illustrate that this is not simply an accumulation of sour grapes from inmates and their families, a confidential informant within the walls has supplied the following item by item breakdown of ongoing regulatory violations. Note that the following is only a brief excerpt from twelve closely printed pages of specific violations of numerous regulations.

CAMI has no way to verify these allegations and cannot certify them, but they are consistent with the large volume of communications from a variety of credible sources on this subject, including USDB staff.

We quote (emphases added):

"Relating to USDB #65-1 Postal Policy (Inmate) - Mail Policy and Procedures

The provisions of this regulation apply to all military and civilian personnel involved in processing inmate mail at the USDB.

Paragraph 4-f states that 'privileged correspondence may be opened and inspected for contraband, without reading, only in the presence of the inmate by a USDB commissioned officer or warrant officer.' In practice, all privileged mail is opened up in front of the inmate. but there is no USDB commissioned or warrant officer present; all inspections are by civilian employees.

Paragraph 5-a(2) states that any correspondence that does not conform to regulations or contains unauthorized articles 'will be returned to the sender with a letter of explanation signed by the Postal Supervisor (Skaggs).' In practice there is no attempt to mail a letter to the sender as required by this regulation. In response to his question as to why, one inmate was told that it was "too much extra work" for the mailroom.

Paragraph 5-a(4) states that mail from 'appropriate appellate agency' is considered privileged correspondence and will be delivered and forwarded without inspection, except where there is reason to doubt its authenticity. In reality, all attorney privileged mail is inspected in front of the inmate.

Also in paragraph 5-a(4) it states that mail from civilian attorney counsel or individual military attorney counsel will be treated as privileged correspondence and will be delivered without inspection. Again, in fact, all attorney privileged mail is inspected in front of the inmate.

Paragraph 5-a(7) states that institutional distribution (i.e., internal memos, etc.) will not be placed in the mail receptacles. This is routinely violated as USDB 510's and even monthly ration sheets are placed in the receptacles exclusively designated for mail. It is interesting to note that this prohibition is actually underlined in the regulation, but it still goes on.

In paragraph 6-a it states: 'When considered necessary for adequate security and control or correctional treatment of an inmate, the Commandant may authorize the outgoing mail of certain individual inmates to be opened, inspected and read. Privileged correspondence is exempt from this procedure…' Such selections 'will be reviewed monthly by OIC, Investigations and the Postal Officer (Skaggs), with a view to removing the approved inspection at the earliest possible time…'. Once again, in actuality, Skaggs takes it upon herself to decide whose mail gets opened and inspected. Ironically much of the mail she deems suspect contains legal filings against Karen Skaggs or the USDB, which are promptly copied and forwarded to the office of the Command Judge Advocate (CJA), providing him with an illegal early warning system.

In paragraph 6-e it states: 'Inspection stamps or marks will be placed on prisoners' incoming or outgoing mail that has been read or censored. Such stamps or marks will not be placed on envelopes.' Fact is that better than 90% of opened mail is stamped on the envelope.

Again, this is only a small sampling of violations alleged by our well placed informant. We could fill several more pages.

While some of these allegations may appear minor to those not affected by the military disciplinary system, be reminded that the USDB prisoner's mail privilege is often his only lifeline to the "real" world - his last hope for sanity.

And now we hear that after the prisoners are transferred to the new USDB facility (October 2002?), they will no longer be able to seal their own outgoing mail! Unsubstantiated rumor perhaps, but prisons, and prisoners, run on rumors.

The evident indifference of the USDB command to this ongoing atrocity is utterly reprehensible. Inmates and their family members are becoming increasingly agitated, alienated and activist.

The onus is squarely on the USDB command to intervene and head off a brewing disaster. They could start by simply enforcing existing regulations... like NOW!

Another article. This one about Gary Shafto (the person referred to in the first posting who committed suicide in "the hole")

These stories can be accessed directly at:

http://www.militaryinjustice.org/case-shafto-snap.htm




Related articles

Death in The Castle

Tributes to Gary Shafto

Mailroom Violations at the USDB

Related website

Innocent Soldier Imprisoned





The Case of CPL Gary Shafto

This article is taken directly from a posting to the CAMI forum by Gary's wife, Sharon. It provides shocking further evidence of the manipulation of mail privileges as a means of psychological torture at the USDB. See related articles.

What Made Shafto Snap?

As you all may remember, I posted back in May (2002) after my husband died in the hole, that the initial problem arose in the mailroom. I never went into details, but now feel the need to, seeing as the same woman is causing all these problems.

Last year after Gary was sent to Leavenworth, he asked me to hand-make a calendar for him with pictures at the top of me, my family, and the dogs, and he stated that for it to be allowed I had to actually hand-draw the months and dates. At the same time he asked the mother of his son to do the same with pictures of the baby.

He got them both, and was thrilled—kept them hanging in his cell all year. Well, when January rolled around this year he asked for me to do the same thing. I did, and sent it out to Leavenworth.

Weeks went by and he never received it, so he inquired about it at the mailroom. They had been holding it there, but never said a word to him.

Skaggs (Karen Skaggs, mailroom supervisor) informed him that he could not have the calendar. A dispute started and Gary argued for his right to have the calendar, even stating that he was able to have it last year, and the rules have not changed. She refused.

When Gary realized she was NOT going to give him the calendar I made, he at least wanted the pictures that I had printed at the top of every month, so he ripped the pages in half (the pictures away from the calendar months), and told her he can at least keep the pictures. She then ripped BOTH halves out of his hand and threw them in the garbage.

He went to a supervisor, explained to her what had happened, and they made Skaggs take them out of the garbage for Gary to send back to me. They wouldn't let him keep any part of it, not even the pictures, and in turn had him send all parts back to me.

It was at that point that they wrote Gary up for Harassment of a Staff Member (Skaggs), and threw him in the hole for it.

Now everyone, this is where the story gets interesting. About a week to two weeks after being put in the hole for receiving a calendar and so called "harassment of a staff member", Gary calls me on the phone and says,"You're not going to believe what I got in the mail today." It turns out, he received the same exact kind of calendar from the mother of his son. They gave it to him in the hole with NO problems!

I asked him what he wanted me to do about it, and his asked me to call Lesniak (the administrator). I did. I asked how it was possible that for the very thing he was put in the hole for one day, how was he was able to receive a week later from someone else with NO problems. I also told him that Gary was able to have these hand-made calendars last year.

I told him how absolutely UNORGANIZED his system is out there, and that it's not right that the rules seem to change from day to day, and person to person. I told him he needed to get a handle on his system, the guards, and the rules and regs. And in the meantime, it wasn't appropriate for what they did to my husband.

Of course, it was obvious he didn't like me questioning how they run their prison or deal with the inmates. And, it's obvious that my phone call was taken out on Gary. Things just got worse and worse for him from that point on as you all know.

What it comes down to is that Skaggs played a big role in Gary's death.

She wasn't the only one, but she sure was the start of it. You would think after the situation with Gary that she would "lighten up". I guess it's quite the opposite, and she proved how her evil ways ended up with Gary's death. She now has tasted blood and just wants more! She got away scott-free with Gary and now she thinks she can get away with others.

Somehow she HAS to be stopped! If there is anything I can do to help the situation, PLEASE let me know!