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The guards at the Frackville prison in Eastcentral Pennsylvania
are unlike those at any other state prison. With a few exceptions,
they suffer from serious personality problems and psychological
diseases of the ego.
In retaliation for this website and our criticism of Frackville and its staff, the guards engage in vengeful baiting. It's very adolescent. They're pretty immature. I visit Frackville each week. To punish me for this website a few of the guards have delayed my visits and/or interfered with them once they've started. I telephoned Frackville to complain and asked to speak to Robert Shannon, the superintendent. As soon as they heard my name, I was refused. That was a mistake. Had Shannon solved the problem, there would have been no need for me to do more. Frackville is not about solving problems. It's about pretending that somebody else is responsible. When Shannon was protected from having to talk to me, I asked to talk to the deputy superintendent who was in charge of the visiting room. I was told that there was none! They've got a deputy in charge of bird droppings on the sidewalks, but none for the visiting room? Frackville is about dishonesty. My phone call was transferred to "Operations." Operations told me they didn't know who was in charge of the visiting room! These intellectual titans decided that it might be a guard lieutenant. When I asked to talk to the lieutenant, I was told that I would have to talk to James Forr, an administrative assistant with who I've had to deal before. The odd thing was that "Operations" couldn't switch my long distance call to Mr. Forr. I'd have to call back. In past dealings with Mr. Forr I'd discovered him to appear not simply egomaniacal and dishonest, but emotional bordering on hysterical. Once when I tried to have legal papers served on him he behaved like a woman with acute PMS. I explained to the eminent Mr. Forr that on three occasions my visit was delayed for 30 minutes. I knew that the guards at the desk were calling someone, but that my husband was not summoned. I explained that on the particular occasion about which I was complaining, a guard had lied to me saying that my husband wasn't ready. Lying is a common response at Frackville. They cover-up for their misdeeds. I wanted to know why my visit wasn't being called promptly. Mr. Forr admitted that he'd had a similar complaint that week, but, true to form, he tried to shift blame. He claimed that he'd seen my husband in the medical department. Of course, my husband's visit to the medical department had been on a different day. At last, Mr. Forr acknowledged that he'd look into my complaint and that he'd gotten a grievance from my husband (see below). Continuing with his strategy of justification, Mr. Forr bragged that at Frackville I was give a full day's visit. I agreed that I was glad for the visiting, but that I'd lost a great deal of contact since my husband was forced to go there. In other prisons we had enjoyed not only full day visiting, but 5 visits a month instead of only 4 at Frackville. My husband's grievance on the same topic follows: My wife visited me on Friday, 13th. As always, she was the first visitor to enter the waiting area. She actually signed in at 8:31 AM.[My housing unit] Sergant Brown did not open my cell door for the visit until 20 minutes later. He did not announce that I had a visit, but I rushed to the [control] bubble as soon as the door opened. When I didn't promptly appear to visit, my wife repeatedly asked the guard at the entry desk, Coony, to call for me again. ' He refused. When another guard finally called for me (my wife didn't get his name), she was told that I wasn't ready. That was simply a lie. I'd been sitting in my cell with my coat on since 8:30 AM expecting my wife's visit. When Sergeant Brown gave me the pass, he offered no explanation for the delay. This is at least the second time that similar things have happened. It's inappropriate and unprofessional to needlessly keep my wife waiting. The guards' personal attitudes toward me should be sublimated to their professional responsibilities. Because of the delay my wife and I lost about a half an hour of our visit. At shower time on the same date, I asked for a grievance form to submit this complaint. The guard at the wing desk who was closely timing the showers, McGarry, told me that no forms were available. He refused to get one for me. DC-ADM 804,VI,A,1,f provides that "[forms will be readily available on all housing units." The forms are not readily available when I requested them. You are welcome to use or republish
any of our material.
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