To IOA,

Whatever you all are doing is making a difference slowly but surely. We now receive three hot meals a day, but there is a catch to it…they slack on our portion sizes terribly. March 23-24 2016 this change took effect at dinner around 4:00-4:30 pm. We were served Spanish rice, and a piece of cornbread, with a single slot of applesauce. On the 24-25 of March 2016 at 6:30 a.m. for breakfast we were given two small pieces of sweet bread, a slot of oatmeal, and a single slot of syrup. Lunch came and we received a burger, slaw, beans and soy, and a slot of applesauce. And so forth. I understand this change just started but before, during and will unfortunately continue after this change that the employees will eat tremendously better than inmates. Truth be told, employees eat nothing of what we eat. Employees have even expressed themselves on how grotesque the appeal of our food is to theirs. Some enter the pods with their employee meals bragging about how much better the food they eat is from ours, rubbing it in our face as they eat their meals. Saying they don’t know how we could fix our mouths to eat what the jail serves—some of us don’t have choices. Employees eat, from what I was told for the past two months, real shelled eggs not liquid, real sausage not soy, real bacon (we never see any), real cheese in their foods not powdered like ours, chicken, pork chops, real juice, real biscuits (not half-baked dough). We deserve real meals, too. The only real food we get in which you all know is on holidays or when you buy a canteen hot tray (costs $8.99 or more). Durham County Jail and the judicial system is a money trap. Durham county Jail charges you to even spend your own money, but we can’t receive better care. No one said this jail was the Holiday Inn or the Marriott, but we deserve better point blank period. I’m an analyst and I see through what they are trying to accomplish by doing these minor changes, to insult us and IOA’s efforts. Which are: the more you protest and demands are being met, they are going to meet those demands, because they have been called upon higher up, but inside this jail, in which this higher up individual needs to be aware of, is that their strategy has immediately been recognized in under a week.

–Their strategy is this: They are going to unequivocally violate the understood agreement that has been put into effect and uphold it at the same time.

–The result: inmates (in accordance with predictable behavior patterns in society) will complain and reach out to those willing to fight for change (IOA).

–They will then try to conclude inmates are now (in accordance to that same predictable behavior patterns in society) doing more complaining than usual. Because we notice that you all outside in IOA are implementing our voiced insight from inside the jail to the outside sources, which is making an impact we can see.

–They are already expecting this jail to be aired out from all that’s going on in here and preparing a recovery plan.

–They will begin to complain and label inmates as plain ungrateful and unappreciative. Like we don’t take into consideration the bigger picture. (I can only speak for myself, “I do.”—but what’s important is equality and above all conditions of this jail and so much more.)

–This will result one way: between the county of Durham and IOA (including inmates): Whoever’s complaint is most serious and important in accordance with everyone’s needs being met will be the one most considered. Good Luck, my prayers are with you and my support.

Also I want to give you a heads up…this is intel I have received from several inside resources that work in the kitchen. They have informed me the jail is rushing to clean up and exterminate the pests in the kitchen, the same disgusting, defiled kitchen our food is prepared in. So pests in the kitchen that our food is prepared in is true. Our food needs to be prepared or catered by someone other than staff and inmates. I also have been informed about some of these same inmates smoking in the jail’s kitchen behind the hemi (dishwasher), and the reason staff never notices it is because the inmates use the steam from the hemi (dishwasher) to cover the smoke. These same individuals are preparing our food. Get the health department in here unexpected immediately. None of this is made up information.

P.S. Please fight vigorously for

NO MORE 18 HOUR LOCKBACKS

Progress is a slow process but IOA is making change.

Sincerely,

Willie M.