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Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Ind. Gov't. - State prisoner grievances now being handled informally, without paperwor
Ken Kusmer of the AP has a story today reporting on a "new system aimed to quickly resolve state prison gripes." Some quotes:
The new grievance procedure places a greater emphasis on informally fixing problems inside the Department of Correction's more than 30 prisons and has reduced the five-step formal process to two steps.The changes have shaved the time it takes to resolve formal complaints from more than 100 days in some cases to as few as 30 days, said Randy Koester, the chief of staff to Correction Commissioner J. David Donahue.
Speedy resolutions can be critical, considering that about one of every six grievances is health-related. The department holds about 23,000 adult and juvenile offenders, and in a typical month about one in 14 files a grievance.
Prison superintendents or their top aides now must be available to offenders in the dining halls during meals. That's a good time for inmates to approach someone who has the authority to fix a problem, Koester said. * * *
If the informal procedure doesn't fix the problem, the offender fills out a form and delivers it to the superintendent's executive assistant, whose responsibilities now include tackling grievances. If the aide can't resolve it, it goes to the department's grievance specialist, Linda VanNatta. * * *
If prisoners don't receive redress within the Department of Correction, they have one other avenue within state government. The Indiana Ombudsman Bureau, which is free of department oversight, receives about 15 letters per day with prisoners' complaints, said Charlene Burkett, director of the bureau since May.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 7, 2006 07:53 AM
Posted to Indiana Government