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Most Texas inmates surveyed say they've been retaliated against for filing a grievance

Although the state auditor's office found the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in "substantial compliance" with laws and agency regs regarding its grievance procedures for inmates and employees (see the full report - pdf), the details of an inmate survey recorded in their recent report were particularly telling.A whopping 62% of surveyed inmates told auditors they'd personally been retaliated against for filing a complaint (!), and 35% said they were afraid to file a grievance because of potential retaliation by staff. (p. 12).With more than 150,000 inmates housed at 106 different units, TDCJ processed 219,386 inmate grievances in 2007 at the unit level, and another 37,196 appeals, according to the SAO. About 13% of inmate grievances were resolved with some action taken, but most of the time that occurred informally; only 5% of grievances were resolved with any action taken through the process itself...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on October 01, 2008 (boomark / email).