The following grievance relates a Department of Corrections ("DOC") directive called DC-ADM 002, "Inmate Cable Television Service." The directive expands the racket started under Governor Ridge which gouges prisoners for television services. The background is that, back in the 1970s when common sense wasn't such a rare commodity in the DOC, it was discovered that if a prisoner had a TV set, he'd stay in his cell and stay out of trouble. The TV set was the ideal babysitter to keep prisoners out of the staff's hair and to reduce their "work" load. Toward the end of the 70s, prisoners were allowed to buy television sets. They were also allowed to help to support the local economy by buying cable service. The system worked great! It made the guards' job even easier and safer than it already was. But then along came the Republican politics of exploitation and Tom Ridge's obsession with gouging the poor. By the time of the 2000 election, Ridge was mad lusting to be vice president. He did everything he could to kiss up to his idol, George Bush. They share a desire to oppress and kill as well as a preoccupation with exploiting the poor to benefit the rich. In the hope of ingratiating himself with Bush, Ridge sent many millions of dollars to Texas and Florida, the Bushs' home states. One of these payoffs was a racket to sell expensive but second rate television service to prisoners. The Texas outfit took the money and ran. It's now bankrupt and the prisoners are getting screwed. (So what else is new?) With Ridge and the Republicans came rampant mismanagement and greed. Vast sums of state money were funneled to big business and the rich. The prison system was VERY badly managed and the number of prisoners ballooned past 40,000! Republicans like to oppress the poorest and most vulnerable citizens. The cost of the prison system exceeded one and a quarter billion (with a B) dollars! There were 15,000 people being employed to do almost nothing and salaries grew enormous. There was no way for the taxpayers to continue to subsidize the Republican excesses. The state budget surplus was turned into a big deficit. Under Ridge's Republican successor, the television racket was expanded as a way of generating money to pad the prison budget. Jeffrey Beard, the DOC boss, decided to tack a $1 tax onto every prisoners' cable bill. That would generate about $400,000.00 a year for Beard and his cronies to grab. To justify the tax, Beard called it an "administration fee" to offset the cost to the DOC of managing the cable system. Of course, the state was already getting a sizable kickback from Ridge's TV cable deal. The tax was simply a way to wring money out of prisoners and their families. "Administering" the cable systems of the prisons may cost the DOC as much as $50,000.00 a year. It gets about $700,000.00 kickback from the Texas outfit's contract. Beard wanted even more. So, in this grievance, a prisoner complains about the racket. I was charged for television services. A $1.00 tax was added to the legitimate cable fee. The tax is intended to benefit the Commonwealth and the Department of Corrections. The putative excuse for the tax is to pay for "administering the cable system." The tax violates the Pennsylvania Constitution and Pennsylvania law. It is arbitrary in its amount and capricious in its application. The Department of Corrections has no legal authority to impose or collect the tax and it is FAR in excess of any real cost of administration of the cable system. In addition, the tax is simply bad policy and counterproductive. It is not in the public interest. It imposes more work and risk on the guard staff because more prisoners will be out of their cells, unable to afford television service. It is economically unjust, a Republican farce which deprives and harms the poor, those who are old, sick and so are unable to work to pay the tax. I demand a cessation of the taxation and a refund of the tax collected from me. I wrote when the tax was announced only to have Ms Hollibaugh decide that I couldn't grieve until the tax was actually deducted from me.