Report: Christmas Package Intended for Inmate Jettisoned by MCCX Staff

SUPPLIER WAS TOLD INMATE “UNAVAILABLE”

by Sharon Rondeau

(Jan. 23, 2018) — A letter and complaint form received from TDOC inmate Grenda Ray Harmer on Tuesday states that a package intended as a Christmas gift from a friend never reached him because prison staff told the supplier that he was “unavailable.”

Packages to inmates are permitted only if they are sent directly from a vendor such as Amazon or Union Supply, the latter of which is a TDOC-approved supplier of inmate clothing, footwear, electronic equipment and other popular gifts.

The complaint, written on an “Inmate Inquiry – Information Request” form, is addressed to MCCX Warden Shawn Phillips and dated January 18, 2018.  “I just discovered today somebody that works here at MCCX called Union Supply and cancelled my Christmas package.  They (MCCX employee) used the excuse that I was ‘unavailable.’  I plan on finding out who did it.  Trust me.  It has to be someone in a position of authority,” Harmer wrote in his inquiry.

Harmer believes he has long been the object of retaliation on the part of MCCX employees for having reported a myriad of problems he has observed since his relocation there in early June of last year.  In late July, he was placed in solitary confinement after a gang member confronted him in his cell with a knife, an incident Harmer believes was “orchestrated” by a correction officer who left his post unattended.

The memo was copied to David Tulis of Nooganomics, who has followed and reported on Harmer’s reports and this writer, who has published letters from Harmer reporting malfeasance and misconduct among TDOC correction officers and management for the last 16 months.