Okay, recap time. We submitted the BP-229, which was rejected because they claimed we used the wrong form. Then we submitted another CARES Act request to the Residential Reentry Management (RRM) office as directed by Regional Counsel. That submission was completely ignored and we received no response whatsoever regarding that submission. So the next step was to submit the BP-230 form.
Sorry, I know all of this is exceedingly boring. It's no picnic for me, either. But I feel it's important to document this and put it out there for others who may be looking for information on the Bureau of Prison's Administrative Remedy Program and how they implement it. As a reminder, their policy manual states on page 8:
"When deciding whether to reject a submission, Coordinators, especially at the institution level, should be flexible, keeping in mind that major purposes of this Program are to solve problems and be responsive to issues inmates raise."
Anyway, onward. We mailed BP-230 on February 7th. Post office tracking shows they received it on the 9th. It was stamped as received on February 16th. Their response to our BP-230 was dated March 7th, mailed on March 11th, and we received it on March 15th. The AR Policy states that they have 30 days to respond at the regional level.
Here's the cover letter we sent with the BP-230.
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February 7, 2022
Juan Baltazar, Jr., Regional Director
South Central Regional Office
U.S. Armed Forces Reserve Complex
344 Marine Forces Drive
Grand Prairie, TX 75051
RE: Administrative Remedy BP-230
Dear Regional Director Baltazar:
My name is Thomas --------, and I’m a halfway house inmate at the -------------------------------------, Texas. Enclosed is an Administrative Remedy for your office’s review.
I first submitted this Administrative Remedy on a BP-229 form. The response I received was that my request was denied because I used the wrong form. However, on the back of the BP-229 (blue) form, it says, “Requirement for submission of this request directly to the Regional Director, Bureau of Prisons. When the inmate believes that he may be adversely affected by the submission of this request at the institution level because of the sensitive nature of the complaint, he may address his complaint to the Regional Director. He must clearly indicate a valid reason for not initially bringing his complaint to the attention of the institution staff.”
I did not feel that my request was of a sensitive nature, so I DID submit the form to the institution staff. As was explained in the letter that I sent with my BP-229 (also enclosed), the institution staff advised me that they do not process administrative remedies and instructed me to send it to your office, hence the submission of the BP-229 to your office.
Nevertheless, as instructed by your office, I am resubmitting my Administrative Remedy with the form that your office provided to me (BP-230).
I was unable to resubmit it within the prescribed time frame because (1) The denial letter was dated December 22 and was postmarked the 28th. The halfway house staff delivered it to me on January 5th, 15 days after the date of the denial letter. (2) I was advised by Jason Sickler in Regional Counsel to NOT resubmit the Administrative Remedy and to instead, submit a CARES Act home confinement request to RRM, San Antonio.
I did submit the CARES Act home confinement request to RRM, which they received on January 10thand I have not received a response from them.
So I am now re-submitting the Administrative Remedy.
Sincerely,
Thomas -----------
********************************************************
As I stated above, we received their response on March 15th. This is it:
REJECTION NOTICE - ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDY
DATE: MARCH 7, 2022
FROM: ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDY COORDINATOR
SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL OFFICE
TO: THOMAS -----------, ---------------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
----------------, TEXAS
FOR THE REASONS LISTED BELOW, THIS REGIONAL APPEAL IS BEING REJECTED AND RETURNED TO YOU. YOU SHOULD INCLUDE A COPY OF THIS NOTICE WITH ANY FUTURE CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING THE REJECTION.
REMEDY ID : ------------ REGIONAL APPEAL
DATED RECEIVED : FEBRUARY 16, 2022
SUBJECT 1 : OTHER COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
REJECT REASON 1: YOUR APPEAL IS UNTIMELY. REGIONAL APPEALS (BP-10) MUST BE RECEIVED WITHIN 20 DAYS OF THE WARDEN/CCM RESPONSE OR RECEIPT OF THE DHO REPORT. THIS TIME INCLUDES MAIL TIME.
REJECT REASON 2: SEE REMARKS.
REMARKS: YOU ACKNOWLEDGE R1 REJECTION RECEIVED BY 1/5/22, BUT R2 SUBMISSION DATED 2/7/22. FOR DESIRED REVIEW COMPLETE AND SEND BP-9 (ENCLOSED) TO BOP RRM.
***********************************************************************************
Note a couple of things. First, they lie about when they received our submission. Post office tracking says they received it on February 9th, but they didn't stamp it received until the 16th. So they've just given themselves an extra week to respond. AR Policy says they are supposed to respond within 30 days. The rejection letter says, concerning time limits imposed upon inmates, "This time includes mail time". Do they impose that rule on themselves as well, or is it just the inmates that have that mail time limit imposed? So, they received it the 9th of February and they mailed their response on the 11th of March. They mailed it at exactly 30 days, but we didn't receive it until day 34.
The AR process requires lots and lots of paperwork. The inmate has to provide several copies of each page submitted. Copies of the forms, the requests, and the responses have to be mailed with each submission. Inmates in prisons are severely limited in their access to paper, envelopes, stamps, copiers, typewriters, and actually posting something in the mail. While Tom was in the prison, the mailroom often held outgoing and incoming mail for days. Tom was rarely able to buy stamps from the commissary. The whole time he was there, the printer did not work. Access to a copier was limited and you had to buy a typewriter ribbon from the commissary to use a typewriter, if you were even lucky enough to get to use it. Typewriter ribbons were scarce.
So I can imagine that it is extremely difficult for inmates that are housed in the prisons to obtain what they need for each submission and to meet the time limits imposed upon them, especially since they have no control over how long the mailroom takes to send out or deliver their mail. I can hardly imagine going through this process without someone on the outside helping. Thankfully, Tom is able to come home on the weekends, we have everything we need to make the required copies, and although Tom cannot go to the post office himself during the week, I'm able to get everything mailed quickly.
Also note that they direct us to use the BP-9, which is the first form we submitted and they rejected it because they said it was the wrong form. We're at a loss as to what to do at this point. How can one follow such incomprehensible instructions?
Click here to return to the beginning of our BOP Administrative Remedy for CARES Act Home Confinement.
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