My Experiences With The Alaska Department Of Probation: Part Four

Part 1, part 2, part 3.
Having reported to the Department of Probation with PTSD from all the trauma I have discussed in the past I had hoped the insanity and abuse would stop. Now for years I have continued to be bullied by the DOC’s DOP personnel over and over and over. That is the perfect set up for causing permanent damage to my brain and it has. What happens in PTSD are changes which help the person survive extraordinary stress and trauma. Hypervigilence, one of the symptoms, helps the victim of the trauma identify threats. It is not a mental illness, it is a psychological injury which in my case was inflicted on purpose over several years. It is also a perfect set up to destroy people and cause them to be unable to function in society and end up in prison over and over and over. One of the ways this happens is people with PTSD have a very high risk for chemical dependency. In my case I understand all of this and even know what I need which helps me prevent some of the secondary problems, but I can’t stop the continued abuses from the DOC/DOP. These continued abuses from the start of the workplace bullying, then the corrupt justice system, then the prison system torture, then the allowing of my property to be stolen/cat starved and tortured, then the wrongful imprisonment and then all that has happened with the DOP is beyond unbelievable. There will be permanent psychological scars I will carry the rest of my life. If they had stopped it at several points, made amends and apologized I may have been able to recover and gone back to work even with my other health problems. Now this will never happen. Their tactics essentially turn people into livestock for profit. This system is very harmful to everyone, but exceptionally harmful for those with mental health issues and developmental disabilities.

I don’t remember if I called Special Assistant for Communications, Richard Schmitz again or he called me back. First I asked about policies of the DOC and wanted to know what the criteria was for being on three month minimal appointments. I did not get that or any questions answered. Mr. Schmitz is the public information person with a fancy name, aka bullshit artist for the DOC. Instead of answering questions he lied, made snarky remarks and pretended like he did not know things.

Mr. Schmitz told me Rebecca Brunger sent him an email asking him to talk to me. From her gasping on the phone when I told her that I assumed it was either not true or she was shocked he was dumb enough to tell me that. However, I think the most probable scenario is that the secretary at the alternate P.O. Chief’s office I called contacted him. She told me he was the one I should talk to because he was taking the place of the DOP director while she was gone and was an expert on policies because he wrote them. I don’t think that is true, the part about being an expert on policies that is. Schmitz said he was not filling in for Donna White. One thing to know about government agencies in Alaska is no one ever knows what they are doing, but they think they do.

He said multiple items I discussed about what had gone on in the past with DOC were not facts because it had not been adjudicated. Which is a cowards way of calling me a liar. Remember they do rely heavily on the Department of Law to manipulate laws and facts to protect them. When I discussed my personal experiences with abuse at the DOC/DOP he asked me if I had gone to the police and filed a police report about the abuse I complained about it. Yea, he really did. He seems to believe that unless a police report is filed about something it does not exist. Remember how the state troopers would not let me file police reports and they told me they decided whether a police report should be filed or not? Of course filing a police report about this particular issue is not the right action and he knows that. He’s playing games which is the response I have gotten every time I have contacted people in administration at the DOC. I have had them call me a liar and hang up on me in the past which seems to be a frequent response here in Alaska to citizen complaints of civil rights violations. 

Now remember this man who says these ridiculous things is the one who makes press releases and provides information to the public about the DOC. He would make these insane statements and then say things like, “But, I’m not a lawyer,” No, but he is a lie-yer and gets paid well for it. He also told me that he has never said if my claims about the DOC are true or not and that he thinks my blog, “is great“. Yea, I believe him, don’t you? I kept feeling like I was soon going to be knee deep in fecal material. He thinks he is clever as well and at one point stated he did not know what was in the eighth amendment and wanted me to tell him. I was stunned by that strange question, but realized it was an attempt to try to make me either appear or feel stupid. Nothing this man could say would change how I feel about myself. I had not slept for two days at this point, could barely think and was quite weary of his circular talking games.

What a waste of time and tax payers money to have a conversation with this man. This conversation was the point at which I knew I had to write this series of posts about my experience with the DOP.

I spoke with Rebecca Brunger the Chief P.O. for my district after this and she said they reviewed my file and I would be getting a call from my P.O. to tell me that they would be keeping my status of minimal supervision the same. I got a voice message from him because after not sleeping for two days I slept all day. I informed Ms. Brunger I was going to write about what has gone on since I had been put through two days of hell and this is just the last straw for me anyway. I also told her I believe my probation officer is actually a nice person who wants to see everyone do well, but the system he works in is the main problem. They are essentially trained to be bullies and as we know bullying people is not helpful in any way, it only causes harm. I also told her that I am a good person and did not deserve this.

While it is true that both Donna White and Rebecca Brunger have done what they could to stop the abuses when I complained to them they continue. Why did I have to go through this? What the hell will happen next? I most likely will end up homeless and back in Anchorage, what the hell will the Probation Office there do to me this time? I may have nutritional supplements with me. Will they ask me several times if they are prescription strength nutritional supplements and then when I tell them there is no such thing threaten to throw me in prison? I also drink Greens-plus which is nutritional powder mixed with water. Will they think the powder is some kind of drug I have been snorting and harass me about it? Considering past experiences this is what I would expect them to do. Homeless people have to carry the things they need around with them in a backpack, so they will go through everything. There are no changes at the Probation Department, they still threaten people and think it is their job to find a way to send people back to prison. Nothing will change until we have the courage to tell our stories.

This is the end of this series, but as events happen now I will write about them.