I have been struggling with my journaling as of late. There is so much going on here at Aliceville that it has made concentrating a bit difficult. FCI Aliceville DOES NOT have a warden. We have multiple “acting warden’s” who show up and pretend to care for a few weeks and leave, often with all of our questions and concerns unanswered. On top of that, we are short staffed in every department. My specific unit does NOT have a case manager, which makes getting any of our administrative needs addressed impossible. I personally should be at home on home confinement, but cannot get assistance from anyone.
The Unit Manager for A unit (my unit) is under investigation for a PREA and cannot come behind the gate, yet she is still the acting unit manager and speaks to us via email and conference calls. I am entirely unsure how she is allowed to remain active with inmates while under investigation, but as she has told me many times, “This is how we do things in Aliceville”. We recently lost a case manager because she was arrested for stealing the identities of the inmates families via visitation forms and have had not one, but two officers sentenced to prison time for sexual assaults’. There are serious problems on this compound. Drugs are everywhere. So many of the women here are addicted to suboxone that they are obtaining illegally and the others are smoking chemicals off of a piece of paper known as K2. 1600 inmates and not enough programs to keep them all busy. Idol Time is the devils playground.
I wish that I could bottle up the daily events, the fights, the overdoses, the seizures, and the depression to show each and every person that does not endorse criminal justice reform what really happens behind the gate.
There has to be a better way. In the last year alone Aliceville has suffered the loss of 2 women from death by suicide and 2 by medical neglect. Dozens of attempts go untreated due to lack of mental health care.
We need reform. Every single woman in here prays for reform daily, not because they want to be freed of their sentence or their responsibility, but because they want help. They want rehabilitation. They want and need a chance be better.
Are you that person? Can you help make the change? Can you be the change?
