Mr. William F. Galvin, Secretary
Secretary of the Commonwealth
State House - Room 337
Boston, Massachusetts. 02133

January 30th, 2013

RE: NON-COMPLIANCE WITH 103 CMR Policies and DOC Policies:

Dear Secretary Galvin:

My name is Kneyl (Neil) LX Burnette, W34381, and I am presently confined at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center.

The reason as to why I am writing to you, is based on the non-compliance with certain DOC Policies, and regulations that are not being adhered to, and arbitrarily are being circumvented to the detriment of prisoners' rights.

The issues range from:
- Filing of Inmate Grievance.
Where inmates such as myself have legitimate claims and the grievance Co-ordinator as well as the designee assigned to respond to inmate grievances, will make a false assessment to deny a viable claim or reason as to why a prisoner should not be compensated for the destruction of personal property, when no contraband notices were ever given to me, per my arrival at this prison's facility where over one hundred dollars worth of property was destroyed at the whims of a correctional officer, without ever give me the opportunity to send my items home.

The Co-ordinator feels that by his delaying in responding to inmate claims, that he is saving the taxpayers of Massachusetts a great deal of money as well as the institution. The Superintendent at this facility will concur as well as condone the actions of the grievance co-ordinator. And should the inmate be persistent in pursuing his claim to the Department's resolution designee at the Office of the Department of Corrections, the claim will also be denied. By Kristie Ladouceur.

- Inmate Classification
When I was brought before a classification committee I was classified to transfer to one prison facility then when it is sent to the classification personnel there is always a modified/modification of my transfers to prison facilities that have nothing to offer me constructively as a first-degree lifer... ever since the Dukakis-Bush Presidential elections. First degree lifers are put last on the totem pole for job opportunities, programs, and even parole or commutation hearings. I know and say this because I was one of the 65 first degree lifers that was returned back to higher security based on the Armand Therien and Willie Horton escapes, which I had nothing to do with yet I was punished as if I had helped them escape from prison. Even with the Courts ruling that public outcry should not mandate the pre-requisite of prisoners being returned back to higher security... Massachusetts is scared to change back to that policy... because the guards' union will screw-up every program of an emotive meaning. That could reduce the recidivism rate if inmates were allowed to incorporate their own self help type of programs as we did when the first black commissioner of corrections was John Boone, prisoners were allowed to write the first programs regarding the illusion and reality of correctional reform where the programs were based upon a self-help concept. Such as first realizing that the nature of the crime will not ever change, it's a person's attitude that does. The second phase of the program was to allow prisons to establish viable vocational and educational opportunities to educate themselves, a lot of these things were developed after the Attica prison riots in NYC.

Music program, Arts and Crafts, Recording for the Blind, Hair styling or Barbering, Culinary Arts, Weight Lifting Programs, Boxing, Yoga, Transcendental Meditation, Poetry reading, Toastmasters club, outsider church groups coming in to the prison to play various sports with inmates, and teach bible classes, AA programming, Drug Programming, but what had happened was that because of a few inmates doing something wrong, many of other inmates has to suffer. For my forty one years of incarceration, I have seen the price tag of incarceration raise from 42,000.00 to 82,000.00 per inmate. I have seen the Department of Corrections lose its foothold, from being a self-sustaining entity to selling off its properties as well as the meaning of rehabilitation to a non void system of policies that are not worth the paper they are written on, and that security is emphasised and a prisoner's emotive meaning is de-emphasised all in the name of security lacking in or of a purpose or substance that every person needs in order to survive, whether they are inside of a prison or outside within the communion of the society which they came from.

And lastly why is it that inmates' money from when they are working within the department of corrections that they state pay is being withheld from them for weeks on end. As well as the inmate account do not receive any interest rates. For the money in their accounts.

In closing, I thank you for your time or your consideration given to my correspondence. I just pray that you will come through each of the prisons and really see that the prisons are not short staffed as the guards' union profess them to be. Because each and every one of the prison units are equipped with three officers in every block... and they create the atmosphere as to the ongoing violence in the areas where there are problems, through violating the cori information and the spreading of false rumors or gossip on other prisoners, who are mentally impaired or institutionalized to a point where the inmates can think for themselves/an old war game theory of to divide is to conquer...

Godspeed

Respectfully

Kneyl LX Burnette W334381
Souza Baranowski Corr. Center
Post Office Box # 8000
Harvard Road
Shirley, Massachusetts. 01464