WAYNE VIERA
[REDACTED] 25 Dec 2021

DEAR Jailhouse LAWyer Initiative
A fellow inmate Recently SHARE A
copy of your newsletter (Dec 2021) with me.
How can I get on your mailing list to
Receive these? I have been incarcerated
FOR eight years NOW: 5 in California And
3 IN NEVADA. Understanding prison reform
Issues is greatly enhanced by comparing
policies IN Differing Regions. I Am trying
to Develop my knowledge of prison law
IN ORDER to help other inmates. Please
ADD me to your mailing list.

Sincerely
Wayne Viera
Wayne VIERA
[REDACTED]

Wayne VIERA
[REDACTED]
1 6 July 2022
DEAR Jail house LAwyers Initiative

Thank you very much For
Both the JLI newsletter (vol 4, June 2022)
AND the EDUCATIONAL MODULE on Data
Justice. They Are Both Awesome!
I have much to write on Both,
And that will Follow. If I
Run out of Room in this letter,
A second letter will Follow.

The newsletter SAID that the Data
module would Arrive A month After
the newsletter, But Both ARRIVED
on the SAME DAY, WAS that Intentional?
There were No envelopes. Instead of
NORMAL mail Delivery, I HAD to Sign F
OR it As "Legal mail", which
presumes some sort of PRIVACY
Protocol, Although NEVADA is FAMOUS
FOR Ignoring Regulations like that.
Nothing About the material Demands
Any special considerAtion, so my
2
guess is they SAW A legal Return
ADDRESS AND DECIDED to be Cautious.

Please keep me on your mailing
list, And I' welcome the previous
Human Rights module And legal Research
AND writing module. If they're
Anything like the DATA Justice
module, they will be very helpful.
I will surely SHARE the wisdom
contained within.

I have been InCARcerated
since December 2013. My CHARges were split
between CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA, SO I
Spent the First 5+ years
IN CALIFORNIA before being Delivered
to NEVADA. The Differences between
the two state programs is like
Night AND DAY. NEVADA HAS Almost
zero Interest IN Rehabilitation OR
Redemption. Inmates Are Not treated
Humanely here; there is practically
No health care OR programs of
Any kind. Just lock them up.
If we're lucky, maybe they'll
Just Die.
3
I am 62 years old. I'm college
educated with ADVANCED degrees. After
Spending 4 years in the NAVY, I
Finished my education AND continued to
work for the government AT VARIOUS
NATIONAL labs FOR NEARly 30 years.
Despite All of the places I've been,
And All the things I had Done,
Nothing prepared me FOR my experience
with the criminal Justice system
when I WAS Arrested AT 53. When
I think of All of the time , energy, emotion,
And money exhausted in my Journey B
y myself AND my loved ones, I can
only wonder How people with Fewer
Resources get Any where.
While my experiences with Jail house
LAWYERS IN CaliforNIA WAS pretty good,
NEVADA HAS Been pretty Disappointing.
Resources IN CALIFORNIA were somewhat
plentiful, And those I encountered
were honest, sincere, AND HARD Working.
NEVADA legal Resources seem Almost Non-existent.
AND many JailHouse lawyers compensate
by Just making the Answers up.
My observations have been that most
LAwyers in this State Focus more
4
on Ripping off their fellow inmates
than helping them. Too often I S
een vulnerable inmates getting
their families to put FUNDS on t
he Books of the LAWYERS FOR "Legal help",
only to get Nothing of real value.
When too many people become Aware
of this SCAM, TOO Many people HAVE
Been cheated, the self-proclaimed
Jailhouse Lawyer will Feign some
Incident of threat, Assault, OR PREA
violation, IN ORDER to get moved to
Another yard. There, the cycle begins
All over Again.

So, I'm working to Fix that.
I Ask Nothing FOR my help.
If there is something I don't know, I'll
tell you; I don't make stuff up.
However, I will TRY to FIND out the
Answer FOR the Next time. my
primary goal is to help inmates
think Smarter, Develop their
Critical thinking skills. my First
Reaction to the DATA Justice TRAINING
modules is that it DID Just that.
Don't Just tell Jail House LAwyers (AND Inmates)
5
What to think, but Also How to
think. One of the best ways FOR
someone to be their own Best
ADVOCATE is to KNOW How to ASK
great Questions. Challenge what
others tell you. Don't let them
Decide your path.

The June Issue WAS my First
JLI newsletter. I did Not receive the
April issue where you Asked READERS
to Answer the two questions About
our experiences. I hope you Are
still Soliciting Answers.

(1) How DO movements for Abolition, Against
CRIMINALIZAtion, AND PRISON Reform
Represent you ?

The best way to understand this is
to Remind yourself that NEVADA Is
Below NATIONAL Averages IN VIRTUALLY
every metric of CRIMINAL Justice
Reform AND PRISON Reform, EVERY time I
see A News story About sentencing,
BAil, AND plea bargaining Reforms,
I watch in silent Dismay. I only
6
wish that NEVADA HAD Some of the
problems that other States have.
we ARE 30 to 50 years behind
the Rest of the country. We may Not
be the WORST STATE IN the U.S.,
But we have to be close. In
REGARDS to Actual Reforms of prisons,
PRISON Is seen merely AS A WAY
to Keep the UnDesirable HIDDEN FROM
the tourists. (SARCASM Alert:)
People who make bad Choices Are
BAD people. UNIVERSAlly. They Are
without Redemption, Reform, Remorse,
OR Rehabilitation. They're A lost
Cause, throw AWAY the Key. (END
SARCASM AleRt)
As A Result, ADVOCACY PROGRAMS
outside of PRISON ARE So FAR
Behind, It is often HARD to HAVE
Hope, see what's possible, AND
How to help,
When I observe prison Reform
Resources NATionAlly, I Realize How
FAR we Have to go. I currently KNOW of only one Active prisoner
AND PrisonER Family Support
group IN NEVADA (Return Strong NEVADA).
7
If there are others, there needs to be
A stronger effort to publicize AND C
ommunicate their strategy. There
were others, mostly Run by FORMER
Inmates, But they seem to Have
Fizzled out, probably Due to lack of
planning AND Focus.
I cannot begin to tell you How
thankful I Am for All of these
groups, Both local And National
ones. They exist FOR the purposes
of helping US, AND while many Do
work FROM outside Funding sources,
None of them have to Do the good
work they DO.
Please Don't see this as ungrateful,
but I observe that Many ADVOCACY
groups that benefit From the help
of volunteers Also suffer because
many of the volunteers lack the
Complex ORGANIZATIONAL skillsets
necessary for efficient And effective
prison Reform. Efforts Are often
Unfocused AND Scattered, AND use
of MEDIA Tools / Blogs, Social MEDIA,
TV And Print MEDIA, AND News letters)
often is in Need of serious Development.
8
NEVADA ADVOCACY (FOR example)
often PRIORITIZED on prisoner
comfort; LOWER canteen prices,
Increase time outside of the cell,
Improve the Quality/ quantity of
FOOD, etc. These Are All VALUAble.
I want these. They improve my
Quality of life And contribute
to my good physical AND mental
health. I Jokingly refer to these
AS "LOBSTER AND Ice CREAM" concerns.
they miss the big picture.
NEVADA IS NOT A "Determinate
Sentence " State, like CALIFORNIA. most
(All??) sentences fit in A Range,
e. g. 5 to 10 years , 6 to 20, 20 to
life, etc. There's A heavy use
of PAROLE BOARDS, but VIRTUALLY
No support or tools to help
make those hearings successful.
Since NEVADA DOC STRAtegy is that
Felons cannot be Rehabilitated,
their message to the public is
that there is Nothing that can
be Done,
9
PRIORITY of ADVOCACY groups should
be to Return prisoners to society,
primarily by helping them
become better citizens AND prepare
them to be successful And contribute
to their communities. I Am Not
talking About merely making sentences
SHORter, RANDOM Releases, OR liberal
parole BOARDS. I am talking ABOUT EVIDENCE-BASED BEHAVIOR
REWARDS.

I Am eligible FOR parole when
I Am Almost 76, in 2036. I Am o
ptimistic, but poor prison
Conditions AND LACK of Any Serious
MEDICAL CARE put this IN question,
And I Don't want to spend All
of that time in my cell, Doing
Nothing. I want to be useful 9 productive
to myself, Inmates that want to be
better people, AND to the prison
Itself . NEVADA really works HARD
to place OBSTAcles in my path.
I haven't given up, But could
Sure use the help of An
ADVOCACY
group.
10
I haven't Answered question #2,
OR commented on the Awesome
TRAIning module for Data Justice.
I will save it FOR my next
letter. I will say that that
there's enough potential to make
A Whole Book on the topic of
DATA oriented prison / legal ADVOCACY,
(John PFAFF HAS A Book that Does
Analysis of prison issues that is
Statistic - BASED : LOCKED IN)

Sincerely
Wayne VIERA
[REDACTED]

WAYNE VIERA [REDACTED]
1
DEAR JLI July 11, 2022

I wrote you previously About
the June 2022 ( #4) issue of your
newsletter And the DATA Justice
MODULE. They were wonderful, And I
couldn't Fit my comments AND
PRAISE IN A Single letter. This WAS
my First module. I earnestly
AWAIT the Human Rights AND legal
RESEARCH AND Writing modules, AS well
As Any New ones you complete.

I have spent a great Deal of my
Adult Career working with scientists
At A Variety of government laboratories. T
he Disciplines were Diverse, From Nuclear
weapons experts in the Department of
Energy, to Astrophysicists At NASA.
I've Reviewed AND edited MAny technical
JOURNALS, manuAls, etc. The DATA
Justice module seems to Be Intended
AS A "CHAPTER" of A larger Document,
But could easily have been expanded
Into its own book. Many Jailhouse
2
lawyers - In fact, most inmates - Do
Not UNDERSTAND How Information
(DATA) ABOUT them And then environment
is Being USED, with OR without their
consent, AND How they lives ARE
being Impacted.
As the Document evolves, it
might be helpful to send it to
Independent, Non-profit, "volunteer"-type
PRISon Reform groups FOR peer
Review. one of my many Prison Regrets
is that I have No means to
Make electronic NotAtions on An
online version. It's Already HARD
enough to edit/proofread my
OWN HAND written work. If you're
FAMILIAR with wikipedia AND other
wiki platforms, it works Really well
to support conversation, Debate, And
peer Review.

your newsletter solicited responses to
two survey questions. In my last
letter, I Responded to the First.
while there Are A lot of serious problems
with the criminal Justice system
(AND, AS A SUBSET, the prison system)
3
Nationally AND RegionAlly, I'd like
to respond to the second question
Relative to my experiences IN NEVADA:
(2) What policies would you want to see the community
MOBILIZE to Change ?

While it Almost certainly isn't written
Anywhere, NEVADA prison philosophy
suggests that Anyone convicted of A
Crime Is BAD, evil, unRedeemable, And
must be Removed From Society. Forever.
FORever is the goal. While NeVADA Does
overCHARge AND oversentence ABove
The National Average, Not every sentence
IS forever. But, that's the goal. The
Intent is Not primarily to protect the
Community, But to protect the Reputation
of this VISITOR. meCCA FROM Blemish.
Rehabilitation (of Any Kind) Risks this
Reputation. Alternative sentencing
Runs counter to this STRAtegy.

As A consequence, All InCARcerated
Are Considered UNWORThy, Un Redeemable,
AND less than Human. That's How
they are treated.
4
The culture of Any prison system
that DeHumanized the Incarcerated
population needs to be ADDRESSED.
This culture is present in Almost
every Aspect of prison life

I. Improve the quality of staff
through Higher pay, Better Training,
AND Quality management. The
Responsibilities of correction officers
is to prevent escapes, prevent violence,
AND MAINTAIN ORDER By executing
prison policy. It is Not to Apply
their own Justice, It is not
to punish. Incarceration itself is
the punishment.

Prison legal News reported that
During the PANDemic, most States
Suspended public visitation. However,
levels of smuggled contraband (I.e.
Cell phones, Drugs, etc.) Remained the
SAME, AND in some cases, went up.
This exposed A Dirty little secret:
CORRuption Among Staff is WIDEspread.
This won't end until prisons *ADmit*
they HAVE A problem.
5
II. PRISons need to HAVE more PROGRAMS.
In the prison world, programs Are
Defined AS Any Organized, Structured
Activity FOR Inmates that Allow
them to MODEL positive, PRODUctive
behaviors to prepare them to Return
to the community, this may include:
- EDucation. High School, College, vocational
training CLASSES that help the
Inmates Improve themselves AND
make betterCANDIDATES FOR WORK outSIDE
- Rehabilitative Activities, this could
Include workshops for Anger
management, Problem solving skills,
AND making good CHOICES. Support
groups FOR InCARcerated veterAns, lifeRs,
Alcoholics Anonymous, etc. Also
Fit this criteria.
- Employment, JOBS, JOBS that
make inmates money. JOBS that
give credit off of A sentence, They
Teach good Behaviors like showing
up on time, Following Instructions From
Others, AND Other good work habits
- EnCOURAge/Support/ ENABLE Inmate-To-
Inmate mentorships. make it
6
possible For people who want to
be productive, Useful, AND helpful
to be those things, AND be
Recognized And REWARDED FOR It.
- Finally, There * ARE* models of
GOOD Behavior IN prison. Utilize
AND exploit those Resources. Right
Now, Staff AND Inmate Role models
ARe models of BAD BEHAVIOR.
NEVADA prison culture REWARDS this BAD
Behavior AND punishes those who
Follow the Rules.

FeDeRally, Recent legislation WAS PASSED
(The exact NAME escapes me: The First
Step Act, the Next Step Act, OR something
like that) which Attempt to Do exactly this. It provides FOR
PROGRAms, As well AS Incentives
FOR REDUCED Sentences FOR participation
in these programs. Unfortunately,
it is only FOR FEDERAL prisons.
CALIFoRNIA Also PASSED prop 57,
which Acted IN A Similar FASHION.
7
Technically, NEVADA HAS These
programs, but the resources Are so
Small that Any CLAIM would be
considered comical. In CALIFORNIA,
I had A 5- DAY per week JoB AS
A GED clerk/ TUTOR, volunteer work
FOR college students, took 2-4 college
classes at a time, Attended weekly
Veterans meetings, AND participated in
Multiple CHURCH Services AND Bible Studies.
- All at the Same Time -
Here, I've requested All of these.
I'm on WAITING lists FOR Some, AND
HAVE HAD NO Response in the others.
Industry JOBS Include Sorting CASINO
CARDS POR Recycling OR Department
Store COAT Hangers. If you can get
these JOBS - to the exclusion of
* All* other programming - It is
FOR only 2 DAYS per week. PRIORity
is given to people within A year
of their eligible PAROLE hearing, IN ORDER
to give them something (Anything)
to Report. The rest of us Just
STAY IN OUR cells FOR 23 HOURS
A DAY.
8
I know there Are people here
content To get 3 meals A day,
watch TV in their cells, AND play
CARDS FOR one hour per DAY. But
there Are Also A lot of people
Dreaming of useful, productive lives,
AND RETURNing to Society. It's
A WASTE of HUMAN Capital.

I think you Are Doing wonderful
work, AND I WISH you great s
uccess. Things will get better.

Sincerely
Wayne A. Viera
[REDACTED]

Wayne VIERA [REDACTED]
1
8 Sept 2022
DEAR JLI

Thank you very much For the
Newsletter (#5, Aug 2022) And The FOIA
NATIONAL TRAIning module. The training
module is INCREDIBLY useful; AS it
Does Not give Details ABOUT policy AND
process of obtaining government Documents,
But it Also gives A Bigger picture of
the value of Information: we need more
of this DATA to Defend OUR CASES AND
protect our Rights. more often than
Not, PRISonS, courts, AND prosecutors get
Away with violating our civil Rights
by OBstructing and obfuscating that
DATA. I will use this information
FOR my OWN Direct purposes, AND I
will Actively SHARE it with others,
IN An effort to educate more.
As helpful As the training module
is, the newsletter is Also important,
In someways even more so. Inmates
FROM ACROSS the country sharing their
prison experiences - Both good AND BAD -
CAN be Deeply Inspirational. They CAN
SPAWN IDEAS, And often CAN Remind
us that we Are Not Alone
2
my youth wasn't A story of TRAUMA
OR hARDSHip. I grew up with loving,
HARDworking parents IN A MIDDLE class
Suburb of Detroit. I was blessed. And,
while our family DID TRAvel on VAcations
to other places, I only Really knew the
MIDwest, people like myself. "NORMAL"
was generally defined by my limited
experiences, And my worldview And
problem-solving reflected that universe.
I joined the NAVY After High School.
Travelled everywhere I met people,
countries, AND cultures completely
different than my OWN. The way
I looked At problems Changed Altogether.
When I left the NAVY After four years, I
AttenDed college in CALiFORNIA, AND
worked IN An INDustry that Allowed
me to travel to every continent,
helping others to solve very complicated
problems.
Now, when I return to michigan
for visits, my understanding of "NORMAL"
HAS Changed. It's been obliterated.
It's Almost foreign to me Now.
"Normal" means something completely
different.
3
It is Not PRACtical, One even Desirable,
to visit every prison IN the United
STAtes. What would you need to have
Done to make that happen ? However,
Inmates in Any given prison HAVE
only experiences FROM that prison,
From that state. most of the people
I see every DAY only KNOW A
world their whole life - IN A RADIUS
of 50 miles of their cell . When their
civil liberties Are taken AWAY FROM
them every DAY, they Don't KNOW
Anything else, the Abuse they suffer
IS "NORMAL."
Hearing From inmates IN your
newsletter, it is easier FOR me to
Describe what is common for prison
Life, AND what is UNIQUE. It's
Another way to SHINE A light on
What is broken, to Demonstrate what
we thought to be "NORMAL" is Actually
wrong.

Silence - I too can be Frustrated
by the lack of response I get
FROM VARIOUS outside Agencies When
I write them. I Remind myself
4
that many Are volunteer, Non-profit,
CHARITAble groups, AND often
Don't have the necessary resources.
The
DemAnd MAY Be Just too high.
Often (like Now) I write to contribute,
to SHARE my experiences. I don't
expect A response; I Just want to
be helpful, to SHARE. But even IN
these CASES, FEEDBACK CAN be helpful.
Is Anything I write worth reADing?
Unfortunately PARANOIA plays
A big Role. In NEVADA, prison mail
Delivery is incredibly unreliable,
IN WAYS that can be MEASURED.
mail is Delivered to each cell, usually
After midnight. I Regularly get
mail Intended FOR someone else,
often From somebody in A different
building. I Return it to OUR outgoing
mailbox to go through the system Again.
There's No obvious Rhyme on
Reason for the ERROR. Laziness?
Incompetence? The Anxiety grows
When we wonder what mail ADDRESSED
to us goes missing. would we even know.
5
My Family senDS me lots of
magazines, Sometimes Newspapers. * Daily*
newspapers Are Almost Always Delivered
on the DAY of publication. Except FOR
when they're Not. This is only AnecdotAl,
but there seems to be A strong relationship
between the wide spread popularity
of A MAGAZINE AND the likelyhood
That it will be delivered late, OR Not
At all.
Even for the prison, Responding
to inmate mail Appeals optimal.
official correspondence (inmate request
FORMS, grievances, medical Kites, etc.)
Don't seem to ever Reach their
Destinations. There Doesn't Appear to be
Any Rule, If there is a Rule, NOBODY
Follows It. NEVADA Inmates Are Regularly
Accustomed To getting A Response to
only A FRAction of the Forms we submit.
IF They Do ResponD, there's NO urgency.
I'm Not talking About weeks - I Asked
About the veterAns program in December.
I got my Response the next August.
6
Rehabilitation Programs. When I
CAME to NEVADA FROM the CALIFORNIA
prison system, It WAS A Serious
culture SHOCK. EVERYthing WAS worse.
I challenge Anyone to Identify one
Feature of prison life that improved
with this more, One of these many
differences WAS that NEVADA HAS
VIRTUALLY NO serious PROGRAMS FOR
Rehabilitation, education, self-improvement
OR productivity.
Any stuDing in criminal Justice
will describe VARIOUS STATED
REASONS for Incarceration: Community
Safety, Consequences, Rehabilitation, etc.
NEVADA HAS pRIMARY GOALS of
punishment AND Revenge, There's Just
NO evidence that they want to
teach prisoners Anything or help
them be better citizens. After
spending 5 years with JOBS, schools,
Self-help programs, support groups, AND
Religious Activities - 7 DAYS A week -
I learned that most of the Rest
of my life would be Dedicated to
lock up in my cell.
7
I knew I couldn't have to.
CAReer I had on the outside, but
CALIFORNIA At least Allowed me to
be useful, productive, AND helpful
to others. I HAD VOCATIONAL training
in electronics, widely taught High school
AND college CLASSES, AND WAS Active
IN the CHApel. In NEVADA, NONE of
those opportunities ARE Available IN
Any serious way. There Are JOBS, for
example. They Are only Available for
A teeny FRAction of the population.
I don't need the money. I Just
want to make A contribution. maybe
It is to Demonstrate trust worthiness,
AND maybe it's to Benefit the
prison, the prisoners, OR the community.
It seems like A waste of Human
capital.

I look FORWARD to the next
newsletter, the next training module.
I have Nothing but gratitude
for the work you Are Doing, AND WISH All of you the best.
Sincerely
Wayne A. Viera
8
P.S. you Are more than welcome to use
my Full name And Any quote From
this letter.

Wayne VIERA
[REDACTED] 21 Dec 2022
Happy Holidays JLI !

I Just Received the latest newsletter
(#6, NOV2022) Along with the pleasant
supRise of Jason HERNANdez's "Get
Clemency Now" Guidebook. It is
Awesome!! ( I'll write more About that
later.)
There's A bit of Discussion ABOUT
Retaliation VIA mail TAMpering. I believe this happens here. It HAS
Become Necessary FOR me to track
corresponDence with All Families AND
Friends, Books, magazines, etc. I
don't know if this is intentional,
But the QUARTERy JLI PACKAges
Are Delivered AS "Legal MAIL." It ARRIves
Separate FROM Regular mail, AND I Am
Required to sign for it. I presume Because
the Return ADDRESS looks ominous.
This is good. Some may think
this is unnecessary, but I don't.
Other prison reform mail Frequently
DISAppears OR is Delivered 30+ DAYS
After Its postmark.
3
On other news, I Am very
Interested in your plans FOR A pen pal
PROGRAM. In NEVADA'S [REDACTED], the Access
to other like-minDed INMAtes is very
Restrictive. I would love to communicate w
ith Anyone with similar backgrounds
AND interests, IN OR out of prison.

Get Clemency Now.
JAson Hernandez's Guide to
successfully Apply FOR Federal Clemency
Is outstanding! I don't know where
to start. It is very well-written,
EASY to Understand, ADDresses A WIDE
Audience, AND is Freely Available
to Any Who need it. I can point
Anyone interested to the link,
AND give Family AND Friends Access
to very useful stuff.
Jason Describes the intenDed
Audience As Anyone Inside PRISon
OR their loved ONES AND ADVOCATS
outside interested in clemency FOR
Both INDIVIDUALS AND groups. I think
It's more than that. much of
the ADVice is VALUAble for Anyone
3
Interested in Justice system AND PRISon
reform ADVOCACY. Possible contacts,
Strategies, AND general ADVICE
can be Applied to A Whole Host
of problems FOR the Incarcerated, I
hope to Apply FOR clemency someDay,
But Haven't Really FOUND A way to
connect to the problem yet. In
the meantime, I AM working to ADVOCATE FOR others. This
gives me the Best tool I've seen so
FOR to EDUCATE AND Inspire my
loved ones outside, who Feel helpless
Despite their love AND support

One possible Note: I Am Not
Sure How this is typically Done with
Books like this one. I come From
A Background of working with physicists
AND other scientists, AND written materials
(guiDes, references, text books, etc.) Are
often MADE Available FOR peer Review.
this can be to help keep the text
CURRent, Improve ReADAbility, IncreAse
Detail AND ACCURACY. Eventually, All
teaching material Becomes DATED,
4
And I would love to see this
GuideBook Become A living Document.

Kelly HARnett - SNAPSHOT.
I WAS Riveted By the profile
of Kelly, AND HER Journey Through
The Justice system AND HER Ultimate
victory. Many portions of her story
brought me to tears; A story like
hers is Not unfamiliar to me - But
it is still heartbreaking. How is Justice
ServeD, How is the community serveD,
By the way she WAS treAted? Players
in the system Are Not properly Incentivize
to treat the ACCUSED AS people, AND
to consider A larger pool of solutions.
But I was Also happy to hear
that she Didn't let Any of this kill
her spirit. To marry of us, the OBSTAcles
AND Challenges could have eAten us Alive.
What makes her story even more Joyful
Is that SHE DIDn' Just persist In
Fighting HER OWN battles, But she helped
Fight the Battles of others. Kelly
iS A model FOR Any Jailhouse lawyer,
even Any inmate in the system.
5
WHAT'S IN A NAME
you ASKED FOR FEEDBACK on your
NAming Scheme FOR CREDIT, FIRST NAME,
LAST initial, State sounds perfect. I
Am less concerned About credit, But
Don't mind who knows either. I Do
see some Retaliation FOR my ADVOCACY
efforts, But so FAR it's Nothing serious.
Besides, I usually consider it 'A BAdge of
Honor. It means I'm doing something
the prison doesn't like.

Prison programming for Rehabilitation.
There were several comments About
the LACK of Recognition of Rehabilitation
that Really Affected me. I want to
echo All of them. = FOR me =
This is my #I Issue FOR NEVADA
prisons. I Am Not even sure where
to START. Anything / EVERYthing Described
As A Rehabilitation program (SCHOOLS,
JOBS, VOCATIONAL TRAIning, cognitive Behavioral
PROGRAMS, et Al) Is VIRTUALLY NON-existent.
What Does exist is A complete SHAM,
And Should Not Be considered legitimate.
People RUNNING these Fake PROGRAMS
Should be CHARged with FRAUD OR THEft.
6
I don't think I've gotten to the
Root of the problem, but NeVADA'S
Dept of correction seems completely
DIVORCED From the concept/culture
of Rehabilitation. I've explained it
to myself that it must Be A
consequence of the state's tourism
INDUSTRY: Just make the Felons go
AWAY so the tourists Don't see them.
Everything they Do SAYS, " once
A CRIMINAL, Always A Criminal. Don't
waste time, effort, money, etc trying
to help them return to the community.
they'll never Change." NARRATives ABOUT
the cost AND DAMAge MASS InCAREnation
creAtes IN Families And communities
means Nothing here. If every prisoner
(No matter what CHARGE) could be locked
Up Forever, AND they could get Away with
if they would, If they could get
AWAY with Not Feeding prisoners, they
would. It permeates every Action,
every message they send.

In A Story About prison Reform
on television, I heARD A Statistic
7
that SAID FOR every $1.00 spent on
Actual Rehabilitation, there's A $3.00-$4,00
Savings After that inmate's release.
If this is true AND ACCURATE, why
Don't more groups promote this?
I Am 9 years into A 23 to Life
sentence, the First Five were spent IN
California. While I ALREADY HAVE two
Masters Degrees, I signed up to take
college courses. I WAS productive, I did
learn New things, And I helped other
people Along the way. I WAS A clerk
in the G. E. D. class Rooms, took vocational
TRAinging in electronics, Belonged to
An Active veterans group, AND
participated in every behaviORAL support
group I could Find. much of my
Free time was taken up teaching Any
Number of topics. I was Active in
OUR CHApel, visiting several times A week.
IN NEVADA, most of my time HAS
Been spent in A cell. Right Now, It's
The Best so FAR, AND I still Am in
my cell 20-24 HOURS A DAY, Depending
on staffing, There =ARE= programs
AND CLASSES AVAilAble. The polite
most polite Discriptions I have
8
FOR them Are LAme, OR A SHAM. But
they're better than sitting IN A
Cell, AND maybe I could contribute
to make A difference. I cannot
begin to could every kite, request, or
Application I've made to every
JOB, School, OR PROGRAM I could find
The few response I got back SAID
that priority is given to people
NEAR the end of their sentences,
presumably so they CAN A year
of "rehabilitation" on their Resume OR CV.
For me, that will be 2035.
The culture AROUND me seems
to be resigned to this. there is
NO ASPIRATION FOR Anything better.
Most HAVE Just given up. Maybe
they Don't know Any better And
think this is All there is.
The GUARDS KNOW this AND treat
Inmates like Animals in A ZOO.
Many of the inmates Resign themselves
to believe this is true AND Act
like Animals IN A ZOO, I live IN constant
FEAR this could be me some day.
God willing, I can fight it.
9
I PARAphRASE: Attention HAS to be
brought to the Fact that there Are
A Number of INDIVIDUALS Behind BARS who
Are Doing everything in thew power
to SHOW they can AND will be Assets
AND productive members of society;
But many of them feel invisible -
NEVADA prisons Aren't Interested IN
Any of this. In NEVADA, PRIson Isn't
About Rehabilitation, Redemption, OR
Second Chances, NeVADA Justice is
primarily ABOUT Revenge.

JLI AND other prison Reform groups
tend to promote the IDEA that
Prisons Are AS bad AS they Are
Simply because the public Doesn't
Know. As institutions, prisons know
this, AND Actively inhibit AND monitor
communication Between inmates AND
the outside world. FReDeRick MASon
believes that soon the "Levies will break".
I Am less optimistic than he,
but I spend every DAY trying to
make him right. What else
Do I have to do ??
10
I have more to write, But
this is All that will fit into the
envelope. Next letter.

I would be interested to know if
there have been Any recent books
written on prison Reform. The
Last I HAD sent to me WAS "LOCKED IN"
by John PFAFF in 2017. It WAS
Awesome, But Now is somewhat
Dated. I Anxiously Await your
next newsletter.

Sincerely
Wayne A. Viera
[REDACTED]

WAYNE VIERA
[REDACTED]
1
DEAR JLI 24 Dec 2022

It's CHRISTMAS EVE. I want to
WISH everyone out there A Joyful
AND Safe Holiday Season. I Am
thankful for this year And looking
FORWARD to the next. I KNOW that
All of you working for AND supporting
JLI HAVE Us in your thoughts AND
PRAyers, But I want you to know that
you ARE IN our thoughts AND prayers too.
your work makes A difference. Without
All of your efforts to Improve the
lives of us inside, the WORLD would b
e A lot more Difficult. Thank you.

I continue to Re-READ the JLI
NOV 2022 (#6) Newsletter AND the
Attached guideBook,
"Get Clemency Now." There is so much
useful information here that cannot
be contained; I hope every inmate that
Receives it will work HARD to SHARE
everything with Families, Friends,
And other incarcerated people Around you.
2
CoAlesceD Wisdom From FOUR years of Letters

I have been going through the
list in the Newsletter, OF PATTERNS
of prison Issues people HAVE written.
my FIRST Reaction is that none of
them Are wrong; I have experienced
Directly OR InDirectly some version
of each of these in NEVADA's Dysfunctional
prison system. I will comment
on My observations on each Item, but
I First wanted to offer some input
on some things I see missing
OR overlooked.

Ironically, the First Issue is (IMHO)
the primary theme of the NOV 2022 (# 6 )
Newsletter: The LACK of Recognition (Awareness,
Value, need, etc) of Rehabilitation. you
mention some Aspects of this in the 15
Items, but it needs A line of its
OWN, Antwan Johnson's comments
hit the target perfectly. maybe it's
Better SAID that it wasn't missed, But only GRAZED.
3
NEVADA PRISONS HAVE PRACTICALly NO
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, NO VOCATIONAL
TRAIning PROGRAMS, AND NO Cognitive
BEHAVIOR programs. I SAY "PRACTICALly NO"
Because All of these exist in Name,
But the resources Applied to them
Are so meager that (1) waiting lists
Are miles long, with short sentences
Always prioritized over longer ones, And
(2) Tools, resources, AND staff training
AND QUALIFICATIONS ARE laughable. WHAT
Actually is there is A SHAM, There
ARE "INDUSTRY JOBS", which Are Also
extremely Resource STARVED, But they
Don't translate into meaningful
work training, one Involves sorting
USED CASINO CARD Decks FOR Repackaging,
And the other Involves Also sorting
Clothing HANGARS FROM Department
stones, The prison should be embarrassed
that these Are the choices.
Anti-prison-Reform groups
cry in panic every time prisons
talk About early release FOR inmates.
The problems they Almost universAlly
cite ARE RANDOM Releases of Shorter
Sentences, OR ACROSS the BOARD
4
Clemency, with No Regard to specific
CASES. I get this - I don't want
people to get out early = only= to
SAVE money OR ReDuce overcrowDing.
AND strategies to Do this CASE-by-Case
can be problematic: If you examine
The case of someone who HAS ALREADY serveD
10 years , but who was never given any
opportunity to = Demonstrate= Remorse,
REHABILITATION, AND READiness to RETURN
to the community, What tools can you
use to make An Informed Decision?
An Alternative is to Allow Inmates that
want to Be ABLE to contribute to
their prison community through eDucation,
Rehabilitation AND Service.
I Am 62 years old. After 4 years
IN The NAVY, I WORKED IN VARIOUS Roles
AS A employee OR SUBCONTRACTOR FOR
VARIOUS government organizations, Including
NSF, DOE, DOD, NASA, AND NOAA. I spent
much of that time teaching And solving
problems. FOR A few years, I TRAVelled
globally consulting on many of those
PROGRAMS, I'd give Anything to be
Able to better help fellow inmates. Hell,
I'd love to help the prison be better.
3
Right NOW, NEVADA HAS NO PROGRAM
FOR me. ALL, JOBS, schools, AND other
Rehabilitation PROGRAMS that 'pretend'
To exist, Have very long waiting lists,
AND people closest to their PARole
DAtes get Automatically prioritizeD.
While [REDACTED] State Prison is supposed
to Be meDIum custoDy, it behaves
very much like most CLOSED OR MAX
CustoDy Facilities. Almost All of my
DAY (At least 20 hours, often 24 hours) Is
spent in my cell. Thank the LORD that
my two biggest hobbies Are Reading AND
writing. I continue to Regularly sign
up for Any AVAIAble PROGRAM. Not
Daily or weekly, but often enough to
NOT be Annoying. I've offered my
services to the education Department,
but these have gone UNAnswered.

I have Also become more concerned
ABOUT A general LACK of Accountability
in prison systems. When local News
IN NEVADA Report Inmate InciDents,
Spokespeople will cite INMATE PRIVACY
AS A REASON they cannot DISCUSS
Anything. This seems true unless
6
it benefits the prison to reveal that
Information. In those CASES, there's
No limit to how much Detail they
will give out. Prison officials Are often
the only source of DATA About what's h
appening behind the walls. They
Are unResponsive to Requests FOR
Information. They DRAG their Feet on A
ny AND All litigAtion, sometimes
Ignoring it completely.
We regularly Receive Reports of
Internal Audits AND InvestigAtions
that Direct prison officials to Reveal
Aspects of their operation - These
Simply get ignoreD. NEVADA Released
An Internal Audit in FEB 2022 ABout
How the prison WAS generAting AND spending
money, A previous audit INDICAted they
weren't Following Regulations legislatively
MANDATED in 2010. They ignored them
then , too. News reports suggest Nothing
will change in this New AUDit.

Prisons Need FORMAlizeD means
of oversight, InternAlly AND externAlly
Internally, this can come in the
7
Form of An INMATE ADVISORY Council.
Regular meetings, with official minutes,
Where INmate representatives can Ask
Questions AND MAKE Requests CAN
improve communication AND UNDERSTANDing
between the Incarcerated And the staff.
EXTERNAL Oversight should Include A
Diverse set of people, including some
members of prison reform ADVOCAtes
OR inmate Family members. It must
Have some Authority to DEMAND Information
On A DEADline- penAlties for Failure
to comply.
In 2022, NEVADA HAD A lot
of problems in their prisons. one
Inmate WAS stabbed 96 times weeks
before His scheduled Release, by
Another inmate with A CLEAR Strong
History of Violence Against Inmates AND
guARDS. He had even Announced Intent
to DO hARM to A cellmate he DIDN'T like.
Staff Didn't Do Anything About
it until it WAS too late.
A Fight Broke out in Another
PRISON AND some stall WAS INJURED.
Prison officials covered up AND Downplayed
the Details. The WARDen there was FiRed.
8
A couple of inmate suicides took
place over A SHORT period of time.
The Director of the Department of Corrections
HAD A meeting with mental health
Staff soon After. I don't know what
happened there, but one Result was
A Jointly signed letter to the GOVERNOR
(SIsolAK, DemocRat) Complaining About
threats and Hostile work conditions.
Then, one convicted MURDERER
escape one of the prisons on FRIDAY,
And the public was Not Notified (including
local LAW enforcement) Until tuesday.
When the public Found out, mixed
Messages come out whether the
prison knew on FRIDAY (i.e. Cover-up)
Or tuesDAY (I.e . Incompetence ), But
spokespeople, with the help of Local
meDiA, MANAged the NARRATIVE As
Discovery on tuesDAY. Apparently
Incompetence looks better that
participating In A Coverup.
The GOVERNOR FORCED the NEVADA
Director of Corrections to Resign. A
few weeks later, the Director filed
A lawsuit claiming some VARIATION
of wrongful terminAtion. I Admit
9
that I'm No expert of NEVADA government,
but this was uncleAR to me. In
FEDERAL government, Don't people in
those offices work At the
"pleasure" of whoever Appointed them?
(eg. the president Doesn't need to have
A Reason to fine His Defense Secretary)
Time will tell what happens with
that.
Prisons do what they Do
because they CAN. There's NO
oversight. NO TRANSPARency, NO Accountability.
No enforcement. EVEN ON the
Front end of the Justice system,
this is A problem, District Attorneys ARE Not MEASURED on their
Reason OR compassion. They certainly
Aren't measured on the Justice they
Serve. How Does =Anyone = measure
Any of those things??? They're
PRIMARily measured on An EASY
metric - conviction RAte.
10
I didn't even get to the List.
Next letter. I hope that some
of this is useful. JLI is A
Very useful, Informative, AND helpful
Resource for the Incarcerated.
their families As well.
Sincerely
Wayne VIERA
[REDACTED]

Wayne VIERA [REDACTED]
1
DEAR JLI 27 Dec 2022
CHRISTMAS HAS come And gone.
OUR PRISON WAS completely Locked
DOWN Dec 24-26, so we stayed
IN our cells the entire time. I
supposed this WAS Due to LACK
of staffing, A Frequent explanation
Since Covid-19 Began Almost three
years Ago. OF COURSE, NOBODY Tells
us Anything.
This is my third letter since
Receiving UPDATE Issue #6 (NOV 2022)
And the wonderful guideBook " Get clemency
Now." IN the First two letters, I promised
to offer Feedback on the 15 items FROM
"CoAlesced WISDOM From FOUR years," But got
DISTRACTED By ALL of the other Awesome
tidBits of Both the newsletter AND the
guideBook. I'll try better this time.

(1) Retaliation for legal work/ ADVOCACY
most Instances OF Retaliation is
HARD to PROVE , As we All know. PRISons
Rarely explain why they Do Anything,
2
From cell moves, Inmate JOB Hires,
OR CARE PACKAge Delivery. Any Instance
is Incredibly DeniAble. I see A
lot of things that seem too coinciDental
people with genuine grievances FIND
More BeauRACRAtic OBSTACLES than others.
In our NEVADA PRISON, FOOD is
Delivered to each Housing unit, AND Dispensed
By inmate porters. The guARDS that
ARE supposed to supervise this Have
unusually compromised relationships
with the inmate porters. This Becomes
very problematic, As many of the porters
Skim From the portion sizes AND sell
the EXTRA. They generally RUN The Units
IN other Aspects, AND the guARDS let
them. Complain About the pointer
And you Risk write-ups And getting
moved. I had this happen to A friend
who fought the write-up AND ultimately
Won, But the process took 9 months
to get returned to His unit.

(2) ENGAging in Resistance As SURVIVAL/ORGANIZIng/
Justice From within.
So 40 + inmates (Prison spokes people
Are the only source for that Number)
3
conducted A Hunger strike At ELY State
PRISON IN [REDACTED] NEVADA on December 1st.
As of the 22nd, it was still going
on. (AS of 12/26, I've HAD NO new updates)
they were protesting A Variety of
PRISON CONDITionS, FROM portion sizes
to medical CARE And GUARD Retaliation.
Local News DID A Reasonable JOB Reporting,
using Interviews From Different sources,
Including A phone interview From An
Inmate. Please check internet FOR more
Details. I AM personally FRUSTRATED
That Local MEDIA Does Not use Critical
thinking skills when evaluation of
Prison spokespeople OR press Releases.
These Are generally Accepted AS UNBIASED
FACTS.
At [REDACTED], INmates ARE DIVIDED
into small clusters (28 cells , 56 inmates OR less)
that Rarely, if ever, cross-pollinate
EVEN within these units, we get out
of our cells only 4 times A DAY (1 hour each)
MAX. These prison-manufactured MICROcosms
greatly Inhibit Any Organizing. By Design.
4
(3) Seeking A BRIDGE Between Inside AND outside-
to Build OR Identify.
There is virtually No support FOR TRANSITIONing
FROM prison to CIVILLIAN life. we generally think
case workers would Do this, But Nope. Most
Inmates entering A parole boARD HEARing
Do so Blindly - NO IDEA what to expect
Or HOW to prepare.
EACH Segregated group HAS Different
Visiting Days throughout the week. Despite
The STANDARD CLAIM, "NEVADA DOC Regcognizes
the Importance of visiting FOR the Rehabilitation
And mental health...BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, "
Visiting is At the Bottom of the FOOD
CHAIN in terms of importance. the
Frequent staffing Shortages Always hit
Visiting First. Staff Isn't TRAIned, AND
Regularly mixes things up , to the
Detriment of inmates and their Families.
Visiting is frequently cancelled without Notice.
my loved ones come From All parts of
the country. I fear their spring visits.
NEVADA Doesn't Really HAVE much
in the arry of inmate Family support,
PRISON ministries OR out Reach, OR ADVOCACY.
There seems to be only one state Reform
group, Return Strong-NeVADA, which is
growing And Doing great work. It
5
Doesn't get the support it needs.
(4) Seeking eDucation/ Resources for personal And
professional growth.
NeVADA Dept of Corrections HAS G.E.D.
PROGRAMS At most of their prisons. The
website CLAIMS that there Are college AND
VOCATIONAL opportunities, even A form to enroll
in these, But I have visited 3 prisons
FOR some length of time AND Cannot FIND
Any sign of Any of this. The G.E.D.
PROGRAM is grossly understaffed, AND
By All Accounts, A SHAM PROGRAM.

(5) In Adequate low library / legal Resources.
In theory, we have A LAW library,
which opened earlier this year After
2 years of COVID Shut DOWN. There's
NO Real support for it; each unit HAS
one DAY Assigned to inmates who Have
specific Requests that they state in
ADVAnce. If you are Just starting out, it
Is not A place for beginners, NO Browsing.

(6) Mail tampering AS A form of Retaliation.
This has personally Affected me A Lot.
It takes place at two levels; When
6
GUARDS Receive Incoming mail, magazines
AND Newspapers ARE Subject to personal
Browsing, sometimes ARRIving Several DAYS
later in A very used (ABUSED) condition.
Popular issues of popular magazines often
Never ARRive At All. How Do you complain?
How Do you prove it? In A culture where
INmates Are Completely Denied their
Humanity, using their personal mail
As A public Reaping Resource must
Not seem like A problem.

(7) Corrupt system, INNocent, misrepresented.
I don't Really know where to start here.
I have considered myself A generally
intelligent, somewhat successful 53
year old when I was Arrested in 2013,
But Neither I Nor my loved ones (All
successful, college educated) could have
ever Imagined they Journey I would
take through the criminal Justice system.
The warning, " It's not like it looks on
TV" Doesn't even begin to ADDRess
the things we SAW wrong. The BAil
System, plea BARgaining, Accountability
of prosecutors were All Dysfunctions
embedded into the system.
7
(8)
DISAbility Issues (NO ADA)
There's A Book "30 years behind BARS," "the
trials of A prison Doctor", By KARIN GEDney MD,
Who WAS A Doctor At NNCC, the Northern
NEVADA correctional center. NNCC is
the only NEVADA PRISon with Any real
Support FOR inmates with ELDery
OR CHROnic CAre Issues.
my cellmate is 86 years old, in
A wheel chair. WAS DIAGNOSe with some
Form of Dementia when He WAS first A
RREsted, ARoUND 2015 (I've Asked; He's Not
Sure). He HAS HAD At least one Heart Attack
AND one stroke since his Arrest, AND continues
to have medical Issues that this prison
seems ill-equiped to handle. NNCC
would be better place FOR Him,
But He has Found it impossible to
get transferred.

(9) Three strikes / HARSH sentencing
I don't know what the statistics
Are, But NeVADA seems much HARSHER
IN it's sentencing. Sentences including
the word " Life" (10 to life, 20-to life,
Life without parole, etc) seem much more
common Here than in other States,
8
for what seems like Identical CHARges.
Again, I Don't Have the Statistics; my
Information is mostly Anectdotal. When I
watch News stories, And try to compare
sentences, NEVADA seems much worse.
I can't Actually compare exact CHARges,
But Feel I Am serving 20 - life for what
other states often give 6-8 years.
NEVADA DOES Not seem to have DeterminAnt
Sentences (that I can find) And relies heavily
on sentences that Involve parole BOARDS.
This seems odd for A prison system that
HAS NO CREDIBLE Rehabilitation program.
Inmates ARE mostly Restricted to their
cells FOR most of their sentence, until
6-12 months prior to Any BOARD HEARing.
Heavily Restricting Any portfolio the inmate
might want to present to the BOARD.
In other states (I've observed), A 20 to life
Inmate can go to BOARD with 20 years of
good Activities, verses A measly 1 year
of stuff.

(10) medical Neglect.
Medical kites typically involve A
6 month to I your response time. Some
Have reported 2 year responses, with
9
Lawsuits pending. Anything more urgent
=Requires = "MAN DOWN", where AN
INmate will refuse to go to their cell until
they Are seen by medical.
When I First ARRIVED Here (June 2021)
my cellmate (16 years) WAS suffering From
some sort of kidney / liver problems. At
one point After A few months, He WAS in
Serious pain But couldn't get my medical
Attention. He DID MAN DOWN-three times
over 4 Days = until He Finally Died IN
our cell. Medical came each time, twice
He WAS taken to the Infirmary. They either
weren't taking Him seriously, or
weren't qualified to treAt Him.

(11) FORCED LABOR / PRISON SLAVERY
We HAVE NO REAL "FORCED LABOR." We DO
HAVE 'PRISON INDUSTRY' JOBS. IN other
places I've seen OR READ ABOUT, these
Are JOBS creating OR fixing things
that Help prepare inmates FOR JOBS
on the outside. DesiRed goals are work ethic,
Following Instructions, OR leARNing skills. the
Classic example was making license plates,
But I've seen everything From clothing
manufacturing to Bicycle OR Auto Repair.
10
We HAVE two: sorting CASINO
playing CARDS FOR ResAle AND Sorting
Department Store Clothing hangARS.
These Don't seem like very transferAble
skills for the outside.

of course, I've RUN out of SPACE.
I LEARNED toDAY of A Friend who
HAS Been Challenging the Justice
System FOR years, AND Finally is
going to return to court. An
over- Zealous prosecutor offered
A New Deal, After 9 years, of
time serveD instead of going BACK
to trial. the inmate is selecting
trial. Local news outlets seem
extremely interested.
Sincerely
Wayne A. Viera
[REDACTED]

Wayne VIERA
[REDACTED]
23 MARCH 2023
DEAR JLI

Thank you very much FOR the Latest
issue of your news letter (#7), In NEVADA,
it is Delivered AS legal mail, presumably
based upon something printed on
The envelope. It is delivered separate from
regular mail, I sign for it, AND the
contents Are removed And given to
me, without the envelope. I never
specifically Ask for the envelope; maybe
I should. I Am very curious About
the postMARK, AND what It would tell
me About the Amount of time it
sits in the mail Room waiting to
be delivered.

Thank you for sending out the
FLASH lights DRAft consent FORM.
I looked it over, I genuinely wanted
to find something to comment on,
even if it WAS A GRAMMAR ERROR OR
typo (I found one! one of the lines to
put initials is missing. (smile)) It looks
wonderful. I can't think of Anything
TO CHANGE/ FOR myself, I want to
2
use my full, Real Name, However, I
unDerstAND people with privacy concerns,
especially those worried About retaliation.
I have Just moved Beyond that KIND
of WORRY. I am going to try to Do good
FOR people AROUND Here, NO matter
What they take Away From me. I
Cannot WAIT to see FLASHLIGHTS
Begin.

I WAS particularly struck by
[REDACTED] Discussion of GHOSTing.
I Am certain that All of us know
that prisons Directly AND InDirectly
Attempt to Restrict All communication
Between Inmates And the outside
world - in both Directions, They Argue
that it is to Reduce the FLOW of
Illicit, InAppropriate, OR Illegal communications,
But we All know it is much more
than that. GHosting Becomes A
concern for me Because mail IN
prison is so unReliAble. When I
write to VARIOUS legal services AND
PRISon reform groups, it is so HARD
to tell if they're ARRIVED. In
my Best "prison effort" to Do
3
An Audit of mail Reliability, I've
Discovered A Vast Difference Between p
ersonal mail AND mail to/FROM
Legal OR PRISON Reform ADDresses.
It seems to me that if
it were merely incompetence, the
Distribution would be more even Among
Different kinds of mail. I'm
Sure incompetence Does play A Role,
But the focus is clearly on Disrupting
Access to legal Resources.
It is Not reasonable to expect
every group will respond to every
Inmate. However, Any INDICATION
Tells us the letter has Not been
intercepted, OR otherwise "Lost" In
the mail.

Rehabilitation / EDucation PROGRAmming

[REDACTED] made the comment About
Rehabilitation Programing Differences
Between prison developed programs
And others. This is two separate

Issues FOR me. ON one hand, PRISon
Developed PROGRAMS here IN NEVADA
4
ARE NEARly worthless. Even if you
hope to participate, they Are so
horribly resourced that the waiting
lists can be (Literally) 10 years
long, OR longer. But It's worse:
NEVADA won't let US DO our OWN P
ROGRAMS with OR without colLABORAtion
with outside Resources, If there's
A trick to Do this, please SHARE.

I don't want to limit this
to rehabilitation programs. I
love to teach, AND feel I have
A lot to contribute. However, I
cannot Figure out How to Do this in
NEVADA'S Broken system. These Are
prison that House us, Not Rehabilitate us.
or EDUcate us.

That's All I have for to say.
I wish All of you the best.
Welcome to All of the New members
of your team.

Sincerely
Wayne A. VIERA
[REDACTED]

Wayne VIERA [REDACTED]
1
10 June 2023
DEAR JLI

ENCLOSED is my signed copy of
the FLASHLIGHTS consent FORM. I Am
looking FORWARD to its success. I
Cannot stress enough the Importance
That telling our stores AND getting
the WORD out has on true criminal
Justice reform. The people who enjoy
the Status Quo - the groups that want
Nothing to change - Are the people
who benefit the most with our
silence.

Again , JLI comes through
with flying colors! I Am very
grateful FOR All prison reform And
Criminal Justice Reform groups I
participate in, but I continue to single
out JLI FOR the Depth AND Richness
of your content. I will spend months
READING AND Re-READing, unpacking all
of the useful information.
2
I Am very interested in the
Discussions About TABlets coming
Into prisons, AND then Ramifications.
We get excited About All of the
new possibilities, But sometimes we
Ignore the potential HAZARDS/
When Video visits First Began
to SHOW up IN county JAils And prisons,
many got excited At the potential
FOR enhanced connectivity with
loved ones, especially if your
LOVED ones HAD to travel long Distances
To visit, However, many soon Discovered
that these same fails AND prisons
were reducing (AND even eliminating)
FACE-to-Face visits, Similar intended
consequences Happen with New
technologies or tABlets. I Am Not
Anti-tablet. I Just feel It's
Important to be Aware of what
Changes They will bring to run
total experience.

my general interest IN JLI
topics AND Understanding our
legal system HAS been less
3
on specific case work AND more on
the level of criminal Justice Reform
AND prison reform. When talking
to other inmates, I often Discover
How little they KNOW ABOUT Issues
that Affect them, either Directly
OR in Directly. And, UNSUBSTANTIAted
RUMORS HAVE A life of their own!

During NEVADA's current legislative
Session, Rumors FLEW ARound About
A Bill that WAS supposed to
Automatically slice 40% off of
every sentence, for every inmate.
No exceptions.
N othing About this Bill MADe
Any sense, DisRegarding common
Sense And the lack of Any news
coverage on the Bill, it seemed pretty
unlikely that politicians would
unilaterally Reduce that many
sentences without some review. Yet,
many of the key Resources of
legal help AROUND Here were swearing
by it. It seemed like everybody
Was planning for A quick release.
4
I found this very Disconcerting
Because many of the self-proclaimed
Jailhouse Lawyers & relied upon
were talking About this Bill
As if it were A Done DEAL.
Certainly, they must KNOW. "It
WAS Already Signed AND WAS going
into effect within A few months."
A sentence modification form
WAS Required, AND they would
help Anyone fill it out. (FOR A
fee, of course)
I needed Details of course, AND began to Ask my Family
Do research. I Am 7 years into
A 20 to life sentence, AND TURNING
that into A 12 to life sounded
pretty Attractive.
The NEVADA prison Reform group,
"Return Strong" Knew Nothing About
it, still No News coverage.
Nothing on google, When inmates cited
A particular Bill Name (e.g. "AB125"),
None of the Details matched.
5
When I Asked All of these Questions,
my Family DID something that
WAS UNUSUAL - SHOCKIngly, NOBODY
(NOBODY, NO BODY, NOBODY) thought
to DO: They printed out All of
the Bills, the Reform groups
FACEBOOK pages, AND every piece of
pertinent info they could find.

And they sent it to me.

I had A stack of Bills to SHOW.
NO RUMORS. No guesses, NO "my
Friend SAYS XXX". Just Facts, printed facts.
Any Bill in front of the legislature
that referenced prisons WAS in Front of m
e. Bills ABout tablets, phone
CALLS, parole BOARD , commissary Reform , etc.
NO "40% Bill".

LAW LibRaRies In NEVADA ARE
limited to one visit per week, By
Appointment. I Brought my stack
to my Appointment, AND everyone
wanted copies. The clerks were shocked
that I had stuff they couldn't
get. They make copies too, the
Rumors Died within A DAY OR two.
6
It's A SHAME that more
people Don't DO this. It should
be An official JOB. CaliforNIA
prints A monthly News paper that
keeps inmates informed on News
that Affects them. A lot of
time WAS wasted, unnecessarily.

I'm excited About FLASHLights.
Keep up the good work. In
everything.
Sincerely
Wayne A. Viera
Wayne VierA
[REDACTED]

Wayne VIERA
[REDACTED] July 2023

Der JLI

Recently I received A letter From
you Regarding TABLETS AND LAW LIBRARIES
IN North CAROLINA. The IntenDed Audience
= Seems= to Be Inmates in North CAROLINA
AND/OR Active users of TABLETS IN prison.
I Am InCARcerated IN NEVADA (AND previously
CALIFORNIA) AND we DO NOT yet HAVE PRISON -
PROVIDED tablets, But Are expected to be
Receiving them soon ( By the END of (C42023).

In NEVADA, WE ARE Also concerned
ABOUT many of the same Issues
AS North Carolina Inmates. TABLets
Are sold AS Improvements IN
convenience and Rehabilitative tools,
But Almost universAlly ARE Reductions
IN services AND Revenue generating
tools FOR prisons, At the expense
of inmates And their Families.

So, while I don't Appear to be
you IntenDed target Audience, I
Thought I'd try to Answer Anyway.
you can Always Ignore AND throw AWAY.
2
(1) strategies
EVEN though [REDACTED] is A medium c
ustoDy prison, Housing units Are
Highly segregated. EACH unit gets
one two-HOUR visit to the LAW
Library each week. INDIVIDUAls must
make Appointment requests IN ADVANCE,
AS DEMAND FOR Services USUAlly
exceeds CAPAcity.
My building's DAY Is FRIDAY
Low Library visits are often Cancelled
Due do staffing Shortages AND . A
Variety of person events requiring
lockDowns. LAW LIBRARY is Also
Cancelled on Holidays. None of these
ARe ever rescheduled.
NOBODY HAS Really Figure out
How to ADDRESS the LACK of Access.
Many try to Leverage outside
Resources or ask the Help of people
ALREADY possessing Appointments. It's
A BAD SITUATION. The prison controls your
movements, your communications, AND
the resources you need to protect your
Rights.
3
(2) tablet Distribution.
we Have been told our tablets
will be provided by ViApAth (??)
the plan is to Distribute them every
morning ( when? 5:00 Am? 10:00 Am?) AND
Inmates will use Biometrics to log in.
Personal files Are kept on A local cloud.
At the end of the Day (Again , when?) the
tablets will be collected, ERASED, AND
RechARged. Inmates Are Not GUARAnteed
to get the SAME physical TABlet FROM DAY
to DAY. Does Any other State DO It
this Way? I Am suspicious
NEVADA PRISON officials cite North
Carolina As A good example of TABlet
use it prison, saying," There was A 35%
Drop in violence After tablets were issued."

(3) EDUCATION APPS.
I don't know yet. I have A pretty High
BAR here.

(4) LaW LIBRARY - Don't KNOW

(5) Instructions. - I don't know. I wrote
AND EDITED A Iot of technical Instructions
I would love to contribute in this Area.
I don't have much more to contribute
at this time. I plan to Actively
write more Answers, once NEVADA
TABlets Are Distributed.

Sincerely
Wayne Viera
Wayne Viera
[REDACTED]

Wayne VIERA [REDACTED]
1
13 NOV 2023
DEAR JLI
ENCLOSED is my Response to the
Jail House Lawyer Survey ON seperate
paper. I hope it is useful. I don't
Consider myself A Jail House LAWyer, I
Am An "InterN", A JAILHOUSE LAWyer In
training. I work mostly As A prison
Reform ADVOCATE on the inside , But want
to help others Fight their cases. I've
seen so much malpractice, AND I don't
want to be one of those people.

NEVADA HAS only one Active outside
PRISON Reform ADVOCACY group, Return
Strong ([REDACTED] Th
ey Are somewhat New,
AND work very HARD with very little
Resources.

Soon I will hit my 10 year
Anniversary of my Incarceration. I
wish, I hope you the sole to create
A Resource List, Too often, PRIson
Reform AND PRISON ADVOCACY GROUPS
2
ARE made up of A collection of volunteers w
ithout many of organizational
skills necessary to Run A successful,
effective volunteer group, A FACEBOOK
page is Not enough! It can be
very helpful to seek out other
groups - look at what works -
LEARN to Delegate And Distribute
the workLOAD. be CLEAR on your
OBJectives AND make sure everyone is
on BOARD.

I look FORWARD to each
QUARterly packet you send. It
is useful Information, AND Applies

To what we DO each DAY. Thank you.
Sincerely
Wayne A. Viera
Wayne Viera [
REDACTED]