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   G. DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS 

What fun is it if you go to prison and don't get into some mischief? Well, I'm happy to say the only "shots" (violations) I ever received were for having a friend place a call with his three-way calling for me (you can't call everyone collect), and drinking homemade wine. |-) The prison occasionally monitors your phone calls and on the seven or eight hundredth time I made a three-way I got caught. My punishment was ten hours of extra duty (cleaning up). Other punishments for shots include loss of phone use, loss of commissary, loss of visits, and getting thrown in the hole. Shots can also increase your security level and can get you transferred to a higher level institution. If you find yourself having trouble in this area you may want to pick up t he book, "How to win prison disciplinary hearings", by Alan Parmelee, 206-328-2875. 

H. ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDY 

If you have a disagreement with the way staff is handling your case (and you will) or another complaint, there is an administrative remedy procedure. First you must try to resolve it informally. Then you can file a form BP-9. The BP-9 goes to the warden. After that you can file a BP-10 which goes to the region. Finally, a BP-11 goes to the National BOP Headquarters (Central Office). The whole procedure is a joke and takes about six months to complete. Delay and conquer is the BOP motto. After you c omplete the remedy process to no avail, you may file your action in a civil court. In some extreme cases you may take your case directly to the courts without exhausting the remedy process. Again, the "Prisoners Self-Help Litigation Manual" covers this qu ite well. 

My best advice with this remedy nonsense is to keep your request brief, clear, concise and only ask for one specific thing per form. Usually if you "got it coming" you will get it. If you don't, or if the BOP can find any reason to deny your request, they will. 

For this reason I often took my problems outside the prison from the start. If it was a substantial enough issue I would inform the media, the director of the BOP, all three of my attorneys, my judge and the ACLU. Often this worked. It always pisse d them off. But, alas I'm a man of principle and if you deprive me of my rights I'm going to raise hell. In the past I might have resorted to hacker tactics, like disrupting the BOP's entire communication system bringing it crashing down! But...I'm rehabilitated now. Incidently, most BOP officials and inmates have no concept of the kind of havoc a hacker can wield on an individuals life. So until some hacker shows the BOP which end is up you will have to accept the fact most everyone you meet in prison will have only nominal respect for you. Deal with it, you're not in cyberspace anymore. 

I. PRISON OFFICIALS 

There are two types, dumb and dumber. I've had respect for several but I've never met one that impressed me as being particularly talented in a way other than following orders. Typically you will find staff that are either just doing their job, or staff that is determined to advance their career. The latter take their jobs and themselves way too seriously. They don't get anywhere by being nice to inmates so they are often quite curt. Ex-military and law enforcement wannabes are commonplace. All in all they're a pain in the ass but easy to deal with. Anyone who has ever been down (incarcerated) for awhile knows it's best to keep a low profile. If they don't know you by name you're in good shape.

One of the problems that computer hackers will encounter with prison staff is fear and/or resentment. If you are a pretentious articulate educated white boy like myself you would be wise to act a little stupid. These people don't want to respect yo u and some of them will hate everything that you stand for. Many dislike all inmates to begin with. And the concept of you someday having a great job and being successful bothers them. It's all a rather bizarre environment where everyone seems to hate the ir jobs. I guess I've led a sheltered life. 

Before I move on, sometimes there will be certain staff members, like your Case Manager, that will have a substantial amount of control over your situation. The best way to deal with the person is to stay out of their way. Be polite, don't file grievances against them and hope that they will take care of you when it comes time. If this doesn't seem to work, then you need to be a total pain in the ass and ride them with every possible request you can muster. It's especially helpful if you have outside people willing to make calls. Strong media attention will usually, at the very least, make the prison do what they are supposed to do. If you have received a lot of bad press, this could be a disadvantage. If you care continues to be a problem, the prison will transfer you to another facility where you are more likely to get a break. All in all how you choose to deal with staff is often a difficult decision. My advice is that unless you are really getting screwed over or really hate the prison you are in, don't rock the boat. 

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