Prison aint for sensitive boys
I still think about every fight
every scraping – making of knives
wondering what happened to those lives
they were sharpened for?
I still feel every spray
every breath it stole away
wondering what violence will come today
W/the squad at your door
I still hear every screaming voice
every life isolation destroyed
prison ain’t the place for a sensitive boy
I don’t want this no more
Ways ADX is different from SHU:
1. 2 doors
2. No cell-to-cell contact
3. TV
4. Books
5. You ‘program’ in your cell
6. Rec is totally by yourself—indoor and outdoor
7. Bunk is made of concrete
Eric has been on some form of commissary restriction or another for the last 4 years 😭 He will never walk another yard again but his restrictions have finally been lifted! We would love to celebrate this and surprise him a bit. Basic small pleasures we often take for granted. Spoil him with sweets. Let him finally load up on enough stamps to respond to everybody. Lots and lots of peanut butter! If you drop a donation here we are going to group them together and send them via Western Union to surprise him”
Eric’s Commissary Blast can be found here
Eric’s booklist can be found here
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/OEWNQ9RMQGZR?ref_=wl_share
The universe continually expands
but my world stays stagnate
these walls never move,
these windows never open
I remember tho,
I’ve been someone else’s pain,
Made others space feel like their own ADX
the goal then, it seems
isn’t just to breathe fresh air
but to breathe it as a better me
To never be someone elses warden
What good is being free
if only to be oppressively to others?
“Freedom doesn’t have a purpose”
but mine will be to love + heal+ grow
to cherish the million small blessings
were presented every day
if we only chose 2 see them
FTTP
especially the ones we construct ourselves
This is a poem wrote in reflection at the adx.
The solitude is massive, and the mail is intermittent… This is a funny story because for 3 years now he has been told that the reason he has to have communication restrictions is they don’t have the capacity to properly manage his mail and his existence is a risk. He has been promised as soon as he was placed at the adx he will have his mail restored. This is not it. With his family they receive mail from him twice a month with a few hiccups. He lost the ability to have phone or visits at Lee county in his disciplinary hearing (this makes paper mail the only point of contact) The regional office instructed Lee to find him guilty (so that way they could try again if the adx placement didn’t stick) with that came phone sanctions and visit sanctions. And commissary restrictions. While he is recieving mail, he can’t respond to much of it because he cannot purchase enough paper stamps and envelopes. He’s watching TV for the first time in 4 years and is soaking it all in. He’s catching up on so much and is really enjoying talking about TV. He is receiving books, they can be sent through the wish list or a bookseller. We have no reliable way to tell if he’s getting them all or what is happening. Legal visits are intermittent.
There is not much to update on … We could tell you how he was three or four weeks ago 🤷♀️ it seems this is probably going to be the common theme for his last year in. They are telling him he will get 6 months and a halfway house which is kind of funny because the cares act makes him eligible for 12 but what do we know.
Eric King 27090045
USP FLORENCE ADMAX
PO BOX 8500
FLORENCE, CO 81226
Recently, at the end of Eric’s time at USP Lee, he experienced brutal deprivation, threats and retaliation. So much that while he was there, he didn’t speak on it for safety concerns. Right before he left, the Bureau of Prison’s Southeast Regional office outside of USP Lee jurisdiction held his disciplinary hearing, allegedly to be “impartial”. The lieutenants let him know that Regional instructed them to find Eric guilty in case his ADX transfer didn’t go through so they could try forcing the ADX transfer again later on if needed. The BOP found him guilty of “rioting” because of a global noise demo that happened outside prisons on New Year’s Eve 2020, and a joke he made in legal mail about how they could have brought cocktails. This noise demo had nothing to do with Eric, he had no knowledge of it until well after it occurred, yet here we are 2 years later, and he just lost one year of phone and email, as well as 6 months of visits. His out date is no longer in December 2023, but in February of 2024. They found him guilty from a disciplinary shot involving an officer who took Eric into the showers in his underwear, and broke Eric’s head open while handcuffed.
Eric was told he was not scheduled to be on the bus the week that he was shipped out of USP Lee, but a lieutenant recently accused him of planning to participate in a “week of action“ he again had no knowledge of. Eric was picked up and transferred to ADX Florence, the supermax. He was held incommunicado in transit and arrived in administrative maximum security two weeks ago.
Eric’s eligible for a halfway house in 7 months, yet the Bureau of Prison says that he must be held in maximum custody in the prison that is built to add extra “security”, AKA consequences, for people with life sentences. Eric has not had phone privileges since January of 2019. He does not get a monthly phone call, which is legally the bare minimum that the Bureau has to provide to inmates. During the initial outbreak of COVID he wasn’t allowed to carry his visitations out over the phone like the Cares Act allowed. And now on the four-year anniversary of his attack and torture at Florence in 2018 when he was attacked in a broom closet by guards and abused for days in segregation, the Bureau have placed him as a ward under the very same officers that gave him this “attitude adjustment” in 2018, the same officers who testified in court showing they had no proper knowledge of BOP protocols regarding use of force or use of restraints.
We do not know how he was received at Florence. Until he has a legal call or someone gets a letter, we do not know what restrictions he’s under. At Englewood, his last communication restriction paperwork blatantly informed him “if he continued to be an inspiration” his communication would continue to be restricted. The Bureau started his transfer to maximum security ADX before his alleged guilt from his acts of self defense at Florence in 2018 was ever determined. His recent acquittal/not guilty for those acts of self defense are seemingly meaningless regarding his security designation at a supermax prison. We hope that this is the first step towards the end of his journey… yet we remain trepidatious. His family misses him, his friends miss him. We hope the BOP has compassion. At the very least, that he is entitled to basic Bureau guidelines when it comes to his treatment.
We do not know how many books he has in his property from the years of transfer he’s endured. He has not been out of segregation, so he has not seen his property in 4 years. We don’t know if he’s under any communication restrictions, but this is the address to write him.
Eric King 27090045
USP Florence ADMAX
PO Box 8500
Florence, CO 81226
The Custody Level Conundrum
When Eric arrived at USP Lee after a recent acquittal at trial in March 2022, he was not allowed to walk the yard; he was informed he was on a special hold.
At the transfer center at USP Atlanta, before reaching USP Lee, the Burea Of Prisons deleted Eric’s management variable making him maximum security custody. He was told that he CAN NOT be transferred and can not be placed in general population.
Eric currently has medium security points, and it has been confirmed there’s no management variable, yet somehow the BOP has him classified as MAXIMUM security custody.
Eric is at USP Lee because in May of 2020, it was confirmed the BOP previously wrote out some disciplinary shots and referred them to the prosecutor for potential charges; the BOP is unable to conduct it’s own disciplinary hearing until the prosecutor declines criminal prosecution. At that point, the BOP can conduct it’s own disciplinary hearing for these two write-ups, which could result in potential sanctions like lost good time, lost phone use, lost access to commissary, etc.
The BOP claims they are unable to transfer him from USP Lee due to these indefinitely pending disciplinary hearings, where he is being illegally detained above his current custody level, with records of threats to his life at USP Lee from white supremacist gangs that have been documented since 2018.
It seems awfully convenient, because the BOP had no problem conducting a disciplinary hearing for Eric regarding the write-up of the assault in the closet (that Eric was just acquitted of in March 2022 at federal trial), despite the prosecutor communicating with BOP they DID intend to prosecute https://supportericking.org/2022/04/02/this-is-not-a-blue-dress-gold-dress-type-of-situation/ At trial, it was revealed the BOP went as far as creating a fake version of the BOP disciplinary hearing paperwork to present to Eric that said the prosecutor WASN’T pursuing prosecution.
The Write-Ups
When reading about these alleged disciplinary infractions, keep in mind that Eric has never seen any of these. Nor has he been delivered either of them. They are all at this point hypothetical, straight from the mouths of Bureau of Prison staff.
The alleged write-ups the prosecutor is holding onto that stalls Eric’s transfer involves Officer Gustafson, who took Eric into the showers in June of 2020 while handcuffed in his underwear, and attacked him. He flipped Eric over, dumped him head first onto concrete, which resulted in an emergency trip to the hospital and stitches.
They attempted to write Eric up for this, claiming that he assaulted the officer. However, upon review of video and BOP officer statements, this write-up was dismissed. It was clear Eric played no role in this interaction besides victim.
This was not the first incident. In fact, Officer Gustafson carried out systematic harassment of Eric via disciplinary write-ups, assault attempts and threats. At times at the behest of the prosecutor (at trial), at times seemingly of Gustafson’s own accord.
If BOP policies extended to protect Eric… Gustafson would have never gotten the keys to Eric’s cell in June of 2020.
In April of 2020, Officer Gustafson threw a book at Eric. When Eric attempted to report this, he was told that the specific position of an officer who’s job is to investigate allegations against BOP staff wasn’t filled, so he was unable to report the violation. In actuality, *per policy* if a prisoner alleges an officer attempted to assault him the two will not have contact until an investigation is concluded, or the prisoner has a disciplinary hearing in order to keep all parties safe.
This did not happen.
In May of 2020, Officer Gustafson claims Eric assaulted him by flicking water at him from the shower. (The SAME day in a different unit Eric’s friend also received the SAME write-up of “assault by liquid” despite the two being held without contact). While this is an incredibly silly claim, this disciplinary infraction was on the books. It should have created a situation where the two would no longer have contact. https://supportericking.org/2020/06/29/deliberate-indifference/
This did not happen.
Little did Eric know, the next contact with Gustafson would be between his head and the cement floor of the shower. This for SURE was going to trigger the policy protecting him from this officer, right? https://supportericking.org/2020/06/24/eric-assaulted-by-guard-at-fci-englewood/
The BOP STILL ALLOWED OFFICER GUSTAFSON ACCESS TO ERIC.
And now… Eric is at a max security facility awaiting an ADX supermax transfer.
Afterwards, Officer Gustafson was given a new job out-of- state. The trial prosecutor DID have further contact with him; he brought Gustafson to testify against Eric at trial March 2022, where Eric was unable to bring up the assault in the shower during his testimony. And now, the prosecutor is sitting on these write-ups holding out for criminal prosecution on a write-up that directly involves Officer Gustafson.
Did the BOP investigate this assault and targeted harassment of Eric AT ALL? After his disciplinary hearing in 2020, after those staff statements and video showing he did nothing wrong in the shower, did this trigger an investigation?
The ADX Referral
(read about the ADX prison in Florence here https://people.howstuffworks.com/adx-florence.htm)
FCI Englewood shipped USP Lee in 2022 a hard-copy folder of an ADX supermax designation referral already in process for Eric. It seems BOP attorneys may have began the process of a supermax custody transfer PRIOR to Eric ever stepping foot in the courtroom for trial (and eventual acquittal) March 2022.
USP Lee has completed Eric’s psych exam, intake interview, and sent Eric’s ADX supermax referral off for a final decision on transfer.
The supermax control unit was built to handle prisoners with incredibly long sentences or life in prison. So it seems a little odd, so soon after Eric’s acquittal, they chose an ADX…We’re one year and seven months away from Eric’s out date, but he’s placed in absolute segregation at the ADX supermax…
Eric wanted to share these; he wants ya’ll to know that this pending ADX transfer is VERY real.
Intake paperwork:
Eric is at medium security points. At medium points with no management variable, a prisoner MUST be held at appropriate custody. Yet he is currently being held in MAXIMUM custody at USP Lee in segregation, and pending transfer to ADX supermax Florence.
The Conditions
“Things here are EXACTLY as predicted lol, this is mentally + physically exhausting. Same horrible food, finger toothbrush w/ expired “toothpaste,” no family visits, no law library, no phone calls, + seemingly no family mail. Paper spoons, no radios. Loud ALL the time, hot as fuck, dirty as fuck, had the same holey socks for 3 weeks. I’ve been getting legal calls, but only 4 letters – 3 from my first 3 days, + none from my wife 🙁 Everything we thought, right on the money. The day I got here S.I.S. put me in the SHU saying it’s cause I had pending shots . . . 2 days later psych said I was being referred to ADX, I told him 2 shut up . . . 3 days later he brought me the “ADX psych eval consent form” . . . then 2 days after that I had the Eval. Test. So they aren’t playing games w/ that. 4 days ago my Case Manager confirmed that my packet was completed here and totally at Region – who along w/ National – ordered this 2 happen according 2 psych.
Naturally, that was pretty shocking. They’re saying the referral can take 2-3 months 🙁 ugh. Will I hear from my wife during this time? People NEED 2 be asking the appropriate folks, if I’m being moved then what’s the hold up? Let’s go! Why the extra stuff? Why destroy family contact + law library access?
19 days + not one fam. letter? :(“
What did Eric do that is deserving of 7 months underground before he’s eligible for a halfway house? He has been held in segregation for 3 years and 9 months. The BOP told senators that he had to be held in segregation because he was ACCUSED of assaulting a lieutenant. So now that he’s acquitted (not guilty) at trial March 2022, what is the reasoning for sending him back to Florence, to complete solitude underground in a supermax control unit? Why is it necessary to put his halfway house time back in the hands of a warden that sent staff to testify against him at his trial in March 2022?
We have QUESTIONS
North Central Regional Office
Andrè Matevousian is currently the North Central Regional Office Director, however he was also the warden of ADX Florence in 2018. Eric was NOT designated to ADX Florence at that time, yet his transfer paperwork dated August 20th of 2018 was signed by then-warden Andrè Matevousian. This was a “temporary transfer” request to USP Leavenworth. Warden Matevousian tells Director Sarah Revell that Eric was AGRESSIVE and DISRUPTIVE and therefore had to be placed in hard 4 point restraints, but…
Did Matevousian have knowledge this was not the truth? If he would have reviewed the footage and reviewed staff statements to the FBI about the day Eric had been assaulted in a broom closet August 2018, he would have known that in fact there is no footage of Eric demonstrating anything but compliance. When the head of SIS Robert Cordova spoke to the FBI in May of 2020, he admitted in fact footage had been deleted because it showed that Eric was compliant and therefore there was no reason to maintain the footage. Other officers also testified under oath to Eric’s compliance at an evidentiary hearing October 2021 and at federal trial March 2022.
After this transfer requested by Andrè Matevousian
Eric was never allowed to safely walk a normal yard again.
Andrè’s will be one of the final signatures on the paperwork that will seal Eric’s fate and send him to the ADX.
Director Andrè Matevousian played a role in 2018 in these trumped-up charges Eric was acquitted of due to acts of self defense from an assault in a broom closet at Florence in August 2018, and again in 2022 being a part of placing Eric into ADX supermax custody.
Any questions about Eric’s compliance prior to the application of restraints can be summed up by watching this video:
Please be Eric’s voice and call the North Central Regional Office and Director Matevousian for Eric; ask some REALLY important questions
Andrè Matevousian
Email: [email protected]
North Central Regional Office
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 913-621-3939
Fax: 913-551-1175
Calling in regards to Eric King 27090045
BOP National Office
Phone: 202-307-3198
BOP Director Michael Carvajal
Email: [email protected]
Calling in regards to Eric King 27090045
Mid-Atlantic Regional Office
Mid-Atlantic BOP Regional Office
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 301-317-3100
Fax: 301-317-3119
Calling in regards to Eric King 27090045
VIRGINIA SENATORS:
Virginia Senators
We need Virginia senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner to help keep Eric King safe while he’s at USP Lee.
Eric was recently acquitted of erroneous yet serious charges in March 2022 due to acts of self defense when assaulted by guards in a broom closet at Florence in August 2018, and is 6 months away from being eligible for a halfway house pending his release in December 2023. He hasn’t had a iesciplinary write-up in the last 18 months, he has no management variable, and he is a medium-security prisoner. Yet he is currently being held in maximum-security penitentiary USP Lee and being threatened with being sent to ADX Florence, the highest security prison in the country, with eligibility for halfway house delayed pending alleged disciplinary shots. How is this possible? Why are they doing this?
There’s an indefinitely pending disciplinary hearing and transfer due to these alleged unaddressed write-ups that Eric has never seen for himself and neither has his legal team. Eric is at risk everyday he is stuck in segregation at USP Lee due to threats to his life by white supremacist gangs at USP Lee, which has been documented since 2018. There is establised case law regarding the BOP sending someone into dangerous and life threatening scenarios. Fitzharris v. Wolf, 702 F.2d 836, 839 (9th Cir. 1983); Gullatte v. Potts, 654 F.2d 1007, 1012-13 (5th Cir. 1981); Roba v. U.S., 604 F.2d 215, 218-19 (2d Cir. 1979).
Even a bar licensed attorney was at risk of a denied legal visit with Eric at USP Lee in segregation May 2022 unless they agreed to a federal background check. This goes against BOP Policy as well as 28 CFR § 543.13 Visits by attorneys.
Senators Kaine and Warner need to review Eric’s detention, call the prison, and visit Eric now. It is their jobs to ensure humane treatment and conditions and legal care is maintained in Virginia. His safety, his very life, is on the line.
