“I’M GOING TO WRITE YOU UP IF I CATCH YOU DOING ANY LEGAL WORK OR RESEARCH FOR ANY INMATE”
by Sharon Rondeau
(Apr. 4, 2018) — In a memo dated March 29, 2018, MCCX inmate Grenda Ray Harmer reported that the law library supervisor threatened him with a “write-up” if he were to perform “any legal work or research for any inmate.”
In a second memo dated the same day, Harmer requested MCCX Warden Mike Parris, who is new to the facility as of last week, to “advise Mr. Lopez to cease all threats.”
Harmer added that obtaining access to “Westlaw,” believed by many to be a premier source of legal information and in use by other Tennessee prisons, “that would help.”
On March 19, Harmer filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit naming TDOC Commissioner Tony Parker and others within the department, including two prison doctors and a nurse, as defendants for alleged denial of proper medical care, harassment, and frequent relocations as a result of what Harmer claimed is retaliation for his continuous attempts to expose “corruption” and “wrongdoing” within each facility.
Harmer writes frequently to the press, a number of state representatives and senators, to Parker and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam.
In the memo addressed to this reporter, Harmer included an update on inmate Chris Boler, #515353, who was moved from an “incompatible” situation with a cellmate only to have the same individual relocated to Boler’s new cell in violation of TDOC policy. Harmer now reports that Boler has been moved “to Cell 3,” away from the inmate with whom he had the altercation.
Harmer’s reference to “Mr. Tulis” is David Tulis of NoogaRadio in Chattanooga, who often features news items about Tennessee’s prison system on his radio show, “Nooganomics.”
