Why Is He In Trouble?
When I rounded the corner, I saw my son behind glass with one eye swollen shut, black and green and purple. His head was bandaged from mid-temple to mid-forehead. His other eye was black and magenta.
I spoke of LOP in the public post. LOP stands for Loss of Privileges. It is a sanction imposed by the DOC on a prisoner who receives any manner of Class I, II or III Misconduct tickets. Tickets may be written by any staff member, and initiated by the claim of any person in the prison. In one case, a food service worker wrote a memo that my son got food from the main food service line and not the soft foods line that he is made to eat from. This cost him 6 days of LOP and a $1.50 fine.
[Sidebar:] My son has loss most of his teeth and is on a medically necessary soft foods diet due to not having dentures. The kicker is that this really is the DOC's fault. When my son was remanded to solitary confinement during the Covid-initiated isolation, the COs who moved his cell contents threw away his dentures. He's been on a waiting list for a year to be seen by a dentist for replacements. So, the food lines are apparently different but have much of the same food. My son took soft food from the "main serving line" and food is considered property of the State. He was thereby charged with POSSESSION OF STOLEN PROPERTY; THEFT.
Tickets in prison are commonplace. Various prisons have reputations as "Ticket Traps" wherein it is baked into the daily CO operations to issue tickets like handing out candy on Halloween. Standing in your doorway or opening your cell door when it is 90 degrees to get air will result in a "Out of Place" ticket. Not waking up for med line is an "Out of Place" ticket. And these are Class II Misconducts punishable by:
Toplock: Not to exceed five days for all violations arising from a single incident;
Loss of Privileges: Not to exceed 30 days for all violations arising from a single incident;
Assignment of extra duty: Not to exceed 40 hours for all violations arising from a single incident;
Restitution.
In several of my son's cases, he has gone to a hearing for the ticket and pled not guilty. With no attorney, no support, and certainly no willing DOC witnesses, this is akin to me winning the pole vault at the next round of the summer Olympics. The appeal process has about the same odds.
After you are "found guilty" (this can take 30 seconds and is handed down by a "resident unit manager" or RUM, Captain, and/or Lieutenant acting as a hearing officer), you might receive something called Top Lock, LOP, or "Extra Duty."
Toplock: A prisoner on toplock is restricted to his/her own cell, room or bunk and bunk area. A prisoner cannot leave his area for any reason without specific authorization from the appropriate staff person. Prisoners shall be released from toplock for regular showers, visits, medical care (including individual and group therapy), school and law library. Prisoners must have a minimum of one hour per day of out-of-cell activity.
Loss of Privileges: day room, exercise facilities, group meetings, hobbycraft, kitchen area, general library, movies, music practice, radio, TV, leisure time, telephone, visiting, kiosk, etc.
Yard Privileges: A prisoner serving a sanction of detention, toplock or loss of privileges cannot be deprived of yard for more than 30 consecutive days without being provided a seven-day break.
For more, check out the official prisoner discipline outline here.
So, I have in my possession all of my son's discipline records from one particular prison last year. As I read them, I am shocked that these are the reason he must do another year of hard prison time and, additionally, one year of loss of all privileges. And, since it is your tax dollars, you should be too.
His "Fighting" Ticket
Here is what happened, according to DOC: