When the System Pretends it Doesn't Know

Hello, welcome to AQS Inmate Call. I am your host, Joel Wilborn. Now, in recent news,

I'm hearing about these No Kings protests. And as a student of political science, and

I have a degree in political science, I've learned that under the Constitution, the founding

fathers wanted to stay away from kings. George Washington didn't want to be a king. He'd

rather be a president. And when you live most of your life under the rule of a king and you're

not too happy with it, especially the way that you're being treated as a colony, then you're going

to want to protest. And these people, they really did the No Kings. And they won the Gotts

of Constitution, which is what we have. So to go out and say, No Kings, when we're under a

Constitution, after the people got rid of the king, you know, 200, 50 years ago, I don't know,

it just doesn't click with me. And I think it's just a, I guess maybe something to give people

something to do, maybe. But when you think about it, a king. Now, the United Kingdom has a

king, King Charles, and they have princes and princesses and lords and there's dukes. So there's

a lot of royalty over there. And other countries have royalty as well. I don't picture a king as

being this terrible person. When I look at history, the Roman emperors, I see a lot of power abuse

within that, that system. And dictators, I see a massive amount of that. If there was a protest,

no dictators, then maybe make that worldwide. Because every country could relate to that. But

Canada, I can't see them jumping on board with the No Kings. United Kingdom, I can't see them

jumping aboard with that as well. But they're doing this, you know, and to me, I think there's other

things that we need to concentrate on. We need to teach the people that the issue isn't royalty.

The issue is leadership. If we have somebody in power who's doing something that we're not happy

with, we should protest. And in the United States, we can do that. And I support that. As long as you

go out in your peacefully protest, you don't try to kill anybody. You don't try to destroy any

property or just in essence breaking a laws. Peaceful protests are the best I've engaged in them.

But it's not against a person or something that doesn't exist like a king in America.

It's for the leadership and ideology or some opinions. And I protest things on

social media as well. I get videos that are blocked and then I'll appeal. I'll get

letters that are blocked from the Department of Corrections and I'll appeal. That's my way of

protesting. But I'm not protesting kings and dictators and emperors in the United States.

That kind of takes us away from the real issue.

And what I would like to focus on is an issue that that is real, that should be

protested. And people seem to shun away from it mainly because it's hidden. The Department of

Corrections, they're doing a lot of terrible things and they're hiding what's going on.

And hopefully after this broadcast, you'll see that the king isn't the problem here.

The problem is an abuse of authority. And if we want to solve the real problems in the world,

not just the United States, we need to hold leadership accountable.

If leaders are abusing their power, we need to call them out on it. Either get rid of them

or put some new laws in place or just pull them out and put them in front of a court

and have them explain what's going on. Maybe put them in prison, whatever needs to be done.

Now, my concern is to share information with you so that hopefully you'll join the rest of

the advocates in prison reformists out there to get some change done. And sometimes,

sometimes it doesn't happen very often, we get things done. But the guaranteed way to lose

is to not fight in the first place. So I would say instead of going out there fighting to get rid

of a king, let's fight to get rid of an abuse of power. And this is a QSMA call,

the show where we drag the stories buried inside America's correctional systems out into the

daylight, especially the ones institutions would rather you never hear. Today's story comes out

of Texas, but the pattern, the pattern is painfully familiar to anyone who spent time inside Washington

prisons or tried to hold them accountable from the outside. NBC News in the Marshall Project

recently uncovered allegations of sexual misconduct at the federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

A woman's facility where incarcerated people reported harassment, coercion, and abuse by staff.

And like so many stories and corrections, the allegations didn't surface because the system caught

the problem. They surfaced because the people living inside it refused to stay silent.

Now, if you're listening from Washington State, you might be thinking, yeah, that sounds familiar.

And you'd be right. What happened in Bryan follows a script we've seen over and over.

Staff accused of sexual misconduct, internal reporting systems that go nowhere,

investigations that move at a glacial pace, if they move it all, a culture that protects the

institution before it protects the people inside it. In Washington, we've heard these same complaints

for years from women at the Washington Corrections Center for Women, from Manit Airway Heights,

and from folks in county jails and from staff who tried to blow the whistle and got punished for it.

The details change the pattern doesn't. Washington's Department of Corrections has a long record of

ignoring pre-accompliance until outside pressure forces action, retaliating against incarcerated

people who report staff misconduct. Letting investigations drag on for months or years,

leaving survivors stuck living near the person they reported.

Failing to create safe confidential reporting channels that people actually trust.

Treating sexual misconduct as a quote, training issue, instead of a power abuse issue.

When you look at the Bryan case, you see the same structural failures.

People reported abuse, the system minimized it, oversight was weak, accountability was optional,

and the people with the least power paid the highest price. This isn't a Texas problem,

it's a Corrections problem, and Washington is not exempt.

In this show, we hear from people inside Washington's prisons all the time,

and the themes are consistent. I reported it, nothing happened. They told me I misunderstood.

They moved me instead of him. I'm scared to file anything because they'll retaliate.

The grievance system is a joke. They say Priya protects us, but it only protects them.

These aren't isolated complaints. They're data points in a system that refuses to police itself.

Sexual misconduct in prisons isn't without sex, or sexual misconduct in prisons isn't about sex,

it's about power. When staff control your food, your movement, your mail, your medical care,

your safety, your ability to see your kids, that's not a relationship, that's leverage.

And when oversight is weak, when grievances disappear, when investigation stall,

when leadership circles the wagons, abuse becomes predictable, not accidental, predictable.

That's what the Brian's story shows, and that's what Washington's complaints show.

That's what every incarcerated person already knows.

If Washington actually wanted to prevent what happened in Brian, it would build independent,

external, investigative bodies, not DLC, investigating DLC. Guarantee confidential reporting

that can't be intercepted by staff, and for strict timelines for Priya investigations,

protect people from retaliation, including transfers, write-ups, and loss of privileges,

make staff misconduct publicly trackable, not buried in internal memos.

Treat sexual misconduct as a criminal act, not a policy violation.

But reforms don't happen because systems suddenly grow a conscience. They happen because people

force them to. The women in Brian spoke up because they had to. People in Washington's prison speak

up because they have to, and shows like this exist because silence is the system's favorite tool.

If you got a story from inside Washington's correctional system about abuse, retaliation,

medical neglect, or anything the public needs to hear, reach out. Your voice matters more than

the system wants you to believe. Stay safe out there, and keep letting your voice be heard.