My story of change and harassment.

In 2007, Kenyatta was falsely accused of first-degree murder and attempt murder. Three months after he was arrested, he was charged with two more murders from 2003, when he was barely 21 years old. One of them was actually in self-defense while the other Kenyatta take full responsibility for.

Knowing that he only should’ve had one case, Kenyatta was searching for ways to prove his innocence and return home after he serve his time. Shortly after being charged, the Prosecutor notified him that they would be seeking the death penalty against him.

Overwhelmed with depression and guilt from leaving behind his four children, Kenyatta turned to God for help. After walking the path of a devout Christian for a year or so, Kenyatta gave into the pressure of not being able to take care of his kids and pay his lawyer and begun selling drugs in the county jail.

During the time he was hustling, he was being bounced around from one part of the jail to the other., When his mother and others would visit him, they never knew if he would still be where he was housed. Many times, they arrived at one division just to be told he was moved to another division where the visiting day was different, resulting in his family having to drive home without seeing him. He was being pursued by tactical officers and investigators continuously. While he at times grew tired, he accepted it as a necessary element to hustling.

Things took a turn after he was found guilty of the murder and attempted murder he didn’t commit in November of 2009. Shortly after, he had his brother meet with a county jail guard to give him drugs to bring into the jail. The officer was caught and gave Kenyatta up.

The following day while on visit with his mother and brother a team of tactical officers and a K-9 entered the visiting room and searched, hand cuffed then escorted Kenyatta away while his mother helplessly watched. Then a day later, his brother was arrested. This crushed him.

Kenyatta was taken to ABO (Believed to stand for Abnormal Behavior Observation) unit. On this unit, you come out your cell for one hour a day for shower and phone and you have to wear red jumpsuits and be escorted everywhere in hand cuffs and shackles for an indeterminate amount of time.

While there, the superintendent spitefully created something called “Orange Alert”. This was an order for tactical officers to search Kenyatta cell once every shift (7-3, 3-11 77-7). In 30 days, his cell was searched 90 times! His photos were taken, property came up missing, food eaten …….. the point was to send him a message that his behavior would no longer be tolerated.

After 6 months of ABO, Kenyatta had a shift in thinking. Mainly because he was the reason his brother went to jail. He did the most challenging thing for him to do - “NOTHING’. He went from being used to having his own to barely surviving.

In January 2011, he was sent to Prison (Stateville). On his first visit from his mom, she asked that he not do anything that would get him transferred, explaining how convenient it is for her to drive 45 minutes to see him at Stateville. Kenyatta promised to not do anything.

Instead of turning back to selling drugs he begun to make a living by making homemade pizzas, burritos, and tacos and selling them to guys for commissary which the building staff didn’t mind him doing. While doing so, he began studying black history, reading books like “The New Jim Crow”, “Slavery by Another Name”, “Destruction of Black Civilization”, books by Naim Akbar, Tom Burrell and others in search of answers to how Blacks ended up with such destructive mindsets.

He was under the same pressure he felt while in the county jail, not being able to take care of his children and in desperate need of an attorney. He was still fighting two murder cases with a Public Defender that could care less about the cases. But rather than turning to hustling he hung around guys like Eddie Bolden (Click Here for Eddie Story) and studied criminal law. He fired his Public Defender and represented himself in court. He was determined to figure out how to succeed without turning back to selling drugs.

Kenyatta came into some money from a class action lawsuit that him and many other prisoners were a part of, and he used it to help his kids and try his hand at a legitimate hustle. He paid for a website and created a raffle business. The idea was to raffle off an IPOD then continue to accumulate funds to buy and raffle off bigger prizes. The business failed but he stayed steadfast in his promise to his mom.

He also begun to refocus on his relationship with God. He and a friend Adolfo Davis (Click Here to see Adolfo story) started a ritual of fasting once a week from 6am-6pm (which he continues to do now). While he wasn’t living the life, he grew accustomed to when he was hustling, he admired the peace of mind from not being under investigations and constant scrutiny.

As his spiritual relationship with God grew, things began to look up for Kenyatta. He was like by almost all of the staff in the prison, the inmates enjoyed his company and counsel and he got hired in the prison dietary to work. He no longer needed to cook and sell dishes to survive, he could just eat at work, study criminal law, history, work out and live his new life as a changed man.

All signs seemed to point up for him until an incident occurred between him and a female dietary supervisor. He got along with the woman well, but he noticed how she mistreated others and exhibited bi-polar behavior. Kenyatta noticed that an inmate that worked with him was taking to this supervisor too much, so he pulled the guy aside and told him to be careful and warned him that the supervisor could be very Volatile. Rather than this inmate heeding the advice, he used it to attempt to get even closer to the supervisor. He told her what Kenyatta had said.

This supervisor grew enraged! Feeling betrayed by Kenyatta she launched a campaign of harassment against him. She secretly followed him around looking for reasons to fire him. When she couldn’t find any, she chose a day to just all out go at him.

On that day he came work and she was waiting on him to arrive. She immediately got in his face and told him she was assigning him to work with her for the day. He told her “Alright” and walked away. Feeling that she was set on going at him, he went to the supervisor’s office to speak to the other two supervisors about it, but she followed him and began yelling in his face, telling him get out the office.

At that point, Kenyatta informed the supervisors he quit and returned to his room. An hour later an officer came to his room and told him that the food supervisor was going to write him a ticket for refusing to work if he didn’t go back to work. Trying not to get a ticket, Kenyatta went back to work to a waiting supervisor hell bent on retaliating on him.

After talking to the lead supervisor about why he wasn’t allowed to quit peacefully he reported to the station where he was to work. This stalking supervisor followed behind him screaming “What you say, What you say’? She got all the way in his face and begun bumping him with her chest blocking him from walking away from her in front of all staff and inmates to see. The incident ended in her radioing security and having Kenyatta put in segregation on false charges.

After sitting for two weeks in segregation, Kenyatta was found “not guilty” due to the other staff stepping up0 on his behalf at the hearing. This was the beginning of his demise. The day he was released from segregation he walked to dinner and soon as the angry supervisor saw he was out of segregation she stormed away saying “Hell naw, don’t nobody beat my tickets”. From that point she used her connections with staff around the prison to harass Kenyatta.

She falsified an incident report saying that one of the staff members that witnessed on my behalf at the hearing did so because he was in a sexual relationship with her. She reported that Brown was a high-ranking gang member and she feared for her safety. She had correctional officers search his cell and somehow had him submitted for a transfer to Menard Prison (6 hours away from Chicago).

This particular food supervisor range of control in the prison was limitless. She worked as a Correctional Officer, Warden’s Assistant, Food Supervisor, Bureau of Identification Civil and Counselor. In order to reverse the transfer to Menard, Kenyatta’s family contacted Internal Affairs. After one I.A. officer was brave enough to oppose this supervisor, Kenyatta was taken off transfer and allowed to remain at Stateville.

As Kenyatta tried to refocus and continue on his path of change, he began to notice a new tension surrounding him. Every time he went to dinner and saw the dietary supervisor, she would stare.at him in a menacing manner. He also noticed that certain Internal Affairs officers were doing the same when he passed them throughout the prison.

Rather than reventing back to his was from the streets, Kenyatta decided to take his fight to the courts. Having zero experience in Civil Law, he exhausted his issues with this supervisor on the state level through grievances, then filed a Federal Civil claim against her in 2014. (Click Here To See Civil Case) He had to teach himself Civil Law “on the fly” as he represented in court against this supervisor. His plan was to hopefully make this supervisor calm down and leave him alone. Ans she personally did but she passed the torch to a couple particular Internal Affairs officers- Joel Shaw and Alex Vergara. These two I.A. officers pretty much ran that office.

Almost immediately the food supervisor was notified she was being sued, Internal Affairs began harassing Kenyatta. The office of Intel/Internal Affairs harassment is unlike any other type. These officers aren’t station in certain cellhouses, posts or areas in the prison. They have an office outside the cellhouse where they have the ability to listen to your phone calls, intercept your mail, hold your E-messages, view camera footage throughout the prison and at any time they can travel to any part of the prison at any time. Their power rivals no other, not even the Warden. They are at top the chain of power, almost everything has to run through them.

The first one to come against Kenyatta was I/A Officer Joel Shaw. One day while Kenyatta was leaving his new job at commissary him, and his co-workers were stopped by several I/A officers. Joel Shaw made sure to personally strip search Kenyatta. Kenyatta had a brown bag of a few food items that another inmate bought him out of courtesy at the register because at the time Kenyatta was the janitor and he stopped at the register and offered assistance to the supervisor who was processing an order alone. So, the guy offered Kenyatta a few items to show gratitude and the supervisor allowed it. Although this was explained to Joel Shaw, he falsified a ticket for theft on Kenyatta. (Click Here See Section 2 for ticket)

At the hearing, staff testified to allowing Kenyatta to have the items and he was found not guilty but still fired. Joel Shaw didn’t stop there, he started showing up at Kenyatta’s room harassing him, to the point that Kenyatta wrote a grievance seeking help. The Warden didn’t do anything he denied the grievance. (Click Here See Section 3)

After Kenyatta filed a grievance of Joel Shaw an Intel Officer, this seemed to infuriate their office and they began attacking him on all fronts. As explained, Intel/Internal Affairs has input in nearly everything in prison, including the hiring process for prison jobs. Prior to Kenyatta filing his civil suit on the food supervisor and grievance on Joel Shaw, he worked at the Prison dietary and commissary. In order to get the jobs a voting process takes place between the Warden, Placement Officer and Intel/Internal Affairs. In those two hiring process all three approved of Kenyatta getting a job. (Click Here See Section 4) After Kenyatta filed his civil claim and grievance, he was up for a new job and this time Intel tried to block him by voting “NO”. (Click Here See Section 5)

Kenyatta had done nothing to warrant the disapproval of their vote. At that point, he had been in prison for over four years with no tickets besides the two falsified ones that he was found not guilty of. The only reason for their disapproval is because he exercised his First Amendment Constitutional Right to file grievances and a civil claim.

This is the heart of the issue here. No one is asking for sympathy for Kenyatta. As stated here, he admits to his wrongdoings and is continuing to work on changing his lifestyle. Which is what we as a society claims to support change and rehabilitation.

The money we as taxpayers pay to fund the operation of the prison system is not just to house convicts, it’s to rehabilitate them so that when they are released back to society, they aren’t the same or even worst. When you look at the news and you see a guy with a criminal record has committed a new crime, the first thought is “why did they let him/her back out”? Instead of “why did he/she get out the same”?

The answer in part is in the prisons, the daily functioning of it. Are inmates incentivized to change and learn new methods of surviving and seeking justice or to do nothing but the same ol’ same ol’? Instead of Kenyatta deciding to physically attack a staff member, which he is more than capable of doing, he decided to fight like civilized citizens do and was being punished for doing so. This was only the beginning.

Kenyatta was still hired over the objection of Intel and they immediately made it clear to him that they were coming. I/A Officer Alex Vergara threatened to fire Kenyatta as he was being hired. (Click Here See Section 6)

Just days after he was hired I/A Alex Vegara and William Shelvin approached him at work and made him submit to a pat down. Kenyatta boss came along with him and got into a verbal confrontation over the harassment. His boss remained present to ensure that they didn’t put anything on him. He was let go without incident.

Just weeks later the same two I/A officers returned and pulled Kenyatta from his room and wrote him a ticket for having tattoos they claim were new. (Click Here See Section 7) The tattoos were old but due to them not being on his list of tattoos on his profile he was found guilty and fired. Kenyatta would never work again.

The harassment continued and Kenyatta continued to file grievances while still working on himself. He met a woman in 2015 that would prove to be the missing piece in completing him. This woman not only provided that shoulder of strength while he was enduring this mistreatment, but she also motivated him to continue to evolve as a man.

With her help he began to study credit law and learn about the Fair Credit Report Act (FCRA). Together they practiced on family and friends credit reports and begun to repair and build credit successfully. Kenyatta had finally found the legitimate hustle he had been searching for since he quit selling drugs. She became his fiancé and his rock.

She furthered his journey of finding legitimate hustles helping educate him on stock investing, real estate investing, psychological studies. Together they were able to hire lawyers, experts, and take care of their children. While he was already holding true to his promise not hustle on a street level, he was now 100% sure that, that life was over for him.

Him and his fiancé were making plans to create some type of program to give back to the urban community once they accumulated enough funds to do so. While they were making constant progress in achieving their life goals, they couldn’t escape the constant harassment from these prison officials. The more progress they seemed to make, the more they grew hell-bent on disturbing it.

Internal Affairs put him on “mail watch” for no reason at all. Mail watch is an alert given to the mailroom on inmates. I/A wants to look over their mail closer than the mailroom already does. Once the mailroom gets notice that an inmate is on mail watch, they forward any outgoing or incoming mail to I/A office for review.

I/A office use this investigative tool for harassment purposes. If they don’t like you for any reason, justifiable or not, they put you on mail watch to disturb your life. There is established case laws that acknowledge the need for this investigative tool to be used for short periods like 30-60 days, but longer periods are deemed unconstitutional. (Click Here To See Zimmerman v Tribble)         (Click Here To See Carter V Radtke)

Kenyatta has been on mail watch for years! Since 2014, they’ve unjustifiably put him on mail watch. In 2019 he wrote the Freedom of Information and learned that he had been on a continuous mail watch for 2 years and counting. (Click Here See Section 9)

His family would send him pictures and letters that it took months to receive. Sometimes he never received them. Or he would send letters out and his family would receive empty envelopes. From 2014-2022 I/A was all over him. They continue to write false tickets which he usually was found “not guilty” of in large part due to most of staff knowing that he was being unjustifiably targeted.

In late 2018 the harassment really heated up. Kenyatta and another inmate had an argument over the phone which led to them fighting. The two engaged in mutual combat which started with the other inmate initiating the action by calling Kenyatta our and trying to throw a shirt over his head. Kenyatta won the fight. As soon as I/A learned of the incident, they saw it as an opportunity to get rid of Kenyatta for good. They contacted the officer that was present during the fight and told her to write what she witnessed but leave the charge section blank. Instead of charging both Kenyatta and the other inmate he was fighting charges that earns 30 days segregation usually, they moved to charge Kenyatta with a violent assault and charge the other guy with nothing.

Violent Assault was the worst charge of the IDOC disciplinary charges, that carries an indeterminate remain in segregation with no duldate, until they wanted to let him out. The most egregious part of it all was I/A did this even though the entire incident was caught on camera. Prior to attending the hearing, the hearing investigator interviewed several inmates including the guy Kenyatta fought, and they all said it was just a fight. At the hearing the lead adjustment committee member was furious when he learned of what had been done. He continued the hearing, viewed the tape and contacted I/A Office and threatened to release Kenyatta from segregation if they didn’t charge the other guy with a fighting charge, so Kenyatta’s violent assault could be reduced to a fighting charge, which what occurred. (Click Here See Section 10)

No discipline was imposed on these I/A officers, and they continued with their campaign of harassment. Shortly after they were unsuccessful in their attempt to put a violent assault on him, Kenyatta was on a video visit with his fiancé and they were toying around being sexual but not exposing themselves or what not, just verbally. The officer monitoring the visit and decided to permanently ban Kenyatta’s fiancé from video and in person visits. Although the van was against video visit rules it was allowed to stand. The rules state: “unless determined to an immediate threat, visitors shall be given notification of the violation through one warning prior to termination of the video visit”. (Click Here See Section 11) Kenyatta had received his warning from the monitoring officer and was allowed to complete his visit. No further penalty was supposed to follow the warning, yet it did because members of this I/A office were lurking over his life awaiting any chance to attack him.

The visit ban remained for two years. The ban proved to be too much for Kenyatta and his fiancé to overcome and after four years they separated. A moment occurred where Kenyatta became overwhelmed with the harassment and called the wife of one of the I/A officers a “Goofy Bitch”! They tried to turn that into more saying he threatened her. Other staff pulled Kenyatta aside and told him to stay strong and not fall into their trap. Ultimately the threat charge was dropped. (Click Here See Section 12)

They continued to harass Kenyatta with false charges, body searches, mail delays and E-message delays. Kenyatta entered a new relationship with a new woman, and they disturbed them the same way. In Aug of 2019 one of the newer I/A officers told Kenyatta that I/A was plotting to transfer him Menard Prison. Kenyatta file a grievance to inform the prison officials of this plot and nothing was done about it. (Click Here See Section 13)

Just a few months later the plot was carried out In December of 2019, the legal mail officer came to Kenyatta’s cell with a big manilla envelope to sign for, but Kenyatta noticed his attorney's name was misspelled and the envelope wasn’t white like his attorney usually sends. The officer pulled the envelope all the way out of the bin and it was bulging the size of a baseball in it. The officer opened the envelope and removed, and unhidden half ounce of marijuana and several cigarettes wrapped in plastic.

The legal officer expressed shock and explained that although it was an obvious set up, he had to write it up. I/A Officer Taylor escorted Kenyatta to segregation under investigation status. He asked Kenyatta who would want to do that to him, and Kenyatta told him it could only be his ex-girlfriend or I/A Office. Days later Kenyatta was called to I/A office where lead I/A officer Liveppa Brown was clear in her belief that Kenyatta had no involvement in the obvious frame job, but it still put Kenyatta back in segregation under investigation. Kenyatta had to go on a 3-day hunger strike to force them to release him from segregation free of charges.

An anonymous officer told Kenyatta that the day after the incident occurred, when they came into work at roll call, the legal officer was greeted with a round of applause, although everyone knew Kenyatta was framed. Kenyatta spoke with the legal officer, and he confirmed the story and expressed how odd it was because he knew Kenyatta did no wrong.

Just two weeks later Kenyatta was put on transfer to Menard Prison, just as he was told months before would occur. The news brought Kenyatta to a low. He went on suicide-watch and refused to eat for a week. He lost 17 pounds. It became obvious that I/A office was responsible for the package being sent to Kenyatta. As mentioned, Kenyatta was on an active mail watch so all of his mail goes directly to I/A office first before it makes it to Kenyatta so why would a large brown envelope with a hugh bulge in it be allowed to be brought to Kenyatta’s cell without causing suspicion prior to? Then the envelope had no postage ink on it to show when and where it was sent from.

Kenyatta explained all of this in a grievance to Springfield and they investigated it and learned Kenyatta was telling the truth and still denied his grievance. Kenyatta was able to obtain private emails sent from Springfield to I/A officer Taylor asking was Kenyatta on mail watch at the time the package came, and Taylor confirmed he was. (Click Here See Section 14 to see email from Taylor) Once O/A Officer answered “yes”, Springfield knew that it was no way for the package to get to Kenyatta but through I/A Office and they still did nothing. Kenyatta attempted to file a civil suit against Stateville but it was dismissed due to it being poorly constructed. (Click Here To See Brown V Shaw)

Menard Prison

On January 7, 2020, Kenyatta arrived at Menard Prison six hours away from his family and friends. Kenyatta expected to encounter some issues with I/A Office in Menard as well, due to the common practice of I/A officers in IDOC communicating from one prison to prison and passing along each other’s dirty work. But he hoped that it wouldn’t be as bad as Stateville.

Unbeknownst to Kenyatta, Menard would prove to be ten times worst. He immediately learned that the majority of them were racist. The first sign of such was they tried to scare him into cutting his dredlocks. Prior to arriving at Menard, Kenyatta had knowledge of the fact for years, may prisons in IDOC were allowed to cut black men dredlocks, citing them as a security threat. They claimed that weapons and drugs could be hidden and undetected inside of dred locks. This rule was really only enforced at prisons in white areas of the state. The ruled had changed and Illinois Prisons were no longer allowed to cut inmates dredlocks as they were no longer deemed unsearchable. Kenyatta was aware of the rule change but he had no idea that Menard Prison wasn’t abiding by the new policy and was still cutting inmate hair when they arrived.

As soon as Kenyatta arrived, several officers were approaching him telling him he had to cut his hair. Kenyatta continued to tell them he was going to cut it and he knew of the rule change. He was threatened by staff, told that he wouldn’t be allowed visits, searched, moved all over the prison, called racial names like “Boy” and “Thug”. Unlike Stateville, this treatment was coming from everyone. Mental Health staff, counselors, security, Wardens, I/A. When he grieved it, they answered telling him to cut hi hair. They wrote “FAG” on his mail and then I/A office begun to use the exact same tactics as Stateville I/A office did and more. (Click Here See Section 16 for envelope) They had two reason to harass Kenyatta: 1) as a continuation of the campaign of harassment launched by Stateville and 2) in retaliation for Kenyatta informing the inmates at Menard that they could now have dreadlocks by not cutting his.

They started pulling Kenyatta from his cell in handcuffs taking pictures of his hair like he was a lab monkey. (Click Here See Section 17 for pictures) Then they started holding his mail and E-Messages. Then they made him visit behind the glass with his family and friends. They tried cancelling his attorney calls and video visits to force him to cut his hair and when it became clear that Kenyatta wouldn’t, and others were starting to dread their hair, they went from trying to make him cut his hair to just taking all chances to attack him.

Since Kenyatta had separated with his ex-girlfriend that Stateville banned from visiting in 2019, he started a new relationship and was again engaged. I/A office started trying to cause them to separate just as Stateville did in the past. An I/A officer came to Kenyatta cell after he complain his girlfriend’s E-Messages being held and told him that his girlfriend was lying about sending him messages, none were being held. When Kenyatta’s girlfriend called I/A office this same officer made her believe he had other women texting him.

While this caused turmoil, what would prove to be the death blow was yet to come. In June 2021, while on video visit with his girlfriend, she took a screenshot of him and without warning his visit was terminated and they were informed she was permanently banned from video visits and in-person visits for this minor infraction. After battling and going through so much already from these officials, this would prove to be too much for her to handle and they separated. (Click Here See Section 18 for girlfriend response)

After constantly being told that he would not be allowed to have contact visits with his loved ones. (Click Here See Section 19) Kenyatta filed a Federal Civil complaint against Menard Prison officials under Kenyatta Brown v Brian Childs case no 20-cv-01348. (Click Here To See Lawsuit) As soon as the I/A officer were notified in May 2021. That same month, two I/A officers escorted Kenyatta from his cell to an interview room for what they said was a well being check. They begun to ask Kenyatta a bunch of random empty questions then suddenly brought up whether he knew of a drug problem in the segregation unit that Kenyatta had no access to.

After conversing with a friend that had been housed at Menard for years, he advised Kenyatta to drop the suit because I/A there was dirty” and at that point they had let Kenyatta have three contact visits, so he decided to drop the suit. (Click Here See Section 21) The first letter was held so Kenyatta had to write another in early July of 2021. Just one day after he mailed the letter, Kenyatta was escorted to segregation under investigation status by I/A office. (Click Here See Section 22)

At that time Kenyatta was involved in the trading and trafficking of X-Rated magazines. The prison has a contradictory rule that doesn’t allow prisoners girlfriends to send them photos with nudity, but prisoners can order magazines with nudity but not sex scenes. Every so often prisoners get a hold the X rated magazines when they order them they very seldom allow them in. So these magazines are highly sought after. Guys sell them and/or trade them. Kenyatta bought some, sold and traded these books as regular as possible. (Click Here See Section 23 for invoice) On July 8, 2021 Kenyatta wrote a note replying to his friend that was that was supposed to send his girlfriend for these magazines for him and another guy. The note was found coincidentally after a fight in another unit by the I/A office. As soon as I/A office discovered Kenyatta was the authored of the note, they immediately tried to find a way to stick some major charges on him. They searched his cell, took the books, his food and other belongings and put him in segregation under investigation. Kenyatta was interviewed by I/A Mc Carthy (whom he was suing) and their first plot was to paint him as a gang leader. Mc Carthy accused Kenyatta of being a chief and writing the note telling two other gang members to fight the opposing gang.

Kenyatta explained to Mc Carthy that the note was pertaining to the six brand new magazines that his office had found and confiscated when they searched his cell. I/A Mc Carthy was still trying to stick false charges on Kenyatta but the five prisoners that fought informed him that Kenyatta played no part in the incident and one of them explained that he was on the phone when the argument started. The audio from his phone call captured the entire argument which was about the phone. This stopped Mc Carthy from being able to falsely charge Kenyatta with the fight and gang leader charge. Although I/A had the six X-rated magazines, the note, and admission from Kenyatta they still didn’t want to let him go with what amounted to a minor charge (no seg time), so they held him under investigation.

On August 5, 2021 several I/A officers removed Kenyatta from his cell and searched it for hours. They took all of his photos and left spit in his food. Days later he received a ticket from I/A Frazier (whom he was suing) saying that the photos that his girlfriend sent him came through the mail with stains on them and tested positive for synthetic drugs and that was what his note was about. (Click Here See Section 24) The note was clearly talking about money not mailing something in. Kenyatta went to the hearing and provided ample evidence that the charges were false including pointing to the fact that photos don’t absorb liquid substances and film paper can’t be smoked. (Click Here See Section 25 for grievances and denials) These investigators used a test kit the Sirchie Narc II Test kit. The knew was unreliable and could be used on anything and render a false reading. The Sirchie website itself stated these test were presumptive and needed to be sent to a lab for verification due to chemicals can be found in both legal and illegal substances. The results of the test takes approximately 4-6 months to return results. (Click Here See Section 35 for Narc test screen shot) Since the discovery of this evidence including several news links to support the validity of these test including lawsuits Sirchie removed the information from their website. It now states page is missing, however we took screen shots prior to the removal. (Click here to see Sirchie website)

Kenyatta did 90 days segregation. As soon as he got out of segregation, multiple inmates told him that I/A Mc Carthy was interviewing them offering them jobs and transfers to set Kenyatta up. His mail was still being held, including mail from his attorney. Two months out of segregation they put him back in segregation again. This time they found a way to stick the gang leader charge on him. They falsified a ticket saying that he was a gang leader and used his position to plot and direct a hit on staff. (Click here See Section 26)

What really occurred is due to some sort of contract battle with it’s vendors. Menard was barely allowing inmates to buy commissary. When they did it was for certain items. The squeeze on commissary created a market for inmates to sell food items for as much as $100 in food for $250 in cash. In Mid November they were allowed to shop and told the next time they would be able to buy food would be January or February. So Kenyatta secured over $400 in food to survive. He gave $200 of the food to another inmate he knew from his neighborhood to store in order to abide by the IDOC cell compliance rules. He told the inmate that he can have $100 and just hold the rest for him. On December 17th Kenyatta called up to the inmate Irving Bowman and asked for his pop tarts. Bowman yelled down and told him he didn’t have the amount Kenyatta gave him. Kenyatta asked Bowman “If I gave you your own food why would you eat mine”? Bowman replied “you right I’m gonna borrow a box for you”.

Later that day Bowman went to Protective Custody. The next day Kenyatta asked the officer to go to Bowman and ask him for his food. The officer said he was the one that escorted Bowman to Protective Custody and his box was empty. Kenyatta knew then that Bowman had ate his food and sensed he was going to send for it so he left.

Days later on December 21st the building staff pulled Kenyatta aside and told him that I/A was in the building, and they had interviewed Bowman who told them that he went to protective custody because the Black Disciples told him to attack the officer that had worked Kenyatta and Bowman gallery. Both the lieutenant and sergeant explained they knew it was lie and that Bowman had stolen Kenyatta food but wanted to talk to Kenyatta about it anyway. Everyone in the building knew about it. The lieutenant and sergeant also told Kenyatta that I/A officer Mc Kinnley whom conducted the interview told them that they knew Bowman was lying as well.

What Bowman did is done all the time at Menard Prison. Some guys owe lots of money, some want to be housed with homosexuals (they all are in P.C.) and some want to get transferred out of Menard to P.C. in Pontiac where the treatment is better. None these reasons can be used to be allowed in P.C. by I/A, so they make up the same recycled stories which is they were told to leave because they have a sex case; they are suspected informants; it’s a hit on them; or they have to hit someone. I/A usually place the inmate in temporary P.C. while they investigate the story, then release them if it’s false and the inmate repeats the process over and over or goes to segregation and do it again. The difference this time was they heard Kenyatta’s name. When the building staff told I/A that Bowman was lying and what had really occurred, I/A only saw another chance to attack Kenyatta and they did.

The next day on December 22nd the very same officer that Kenyatta supposedly put a hit on told him that I/A had decided that they would take what Bowman said serious and walk Kenyatta to segregation. Although all the building staff told I.A. it was a lie, they took Kenyatta to segregation under investigation status.

Just a few days later Kenyatta learned that just six cells down from him, Bowman was also in segregation under investigation. Apparently, he was there because I/A suspected him of lying. Yet they put Kenyatta in segregation for the lie. When Kenyatta learned that Bowman was there he called him and had an open conversation about what had occurred. After wrestling through his lies, Kenyatta got Bowman to admit to lying. Kenyatta then begun writing notes to Bowman to see if he would put what he said aloud on paper. However he wouldn’t because he was apparently was still trying to be accepted in PC. (Click Here See Section 27 notes between Brown/Bowman)

Kenyatta decided to see if the inmates in the area they were in that overheard the exchange with Bowman would give him a written and several did. (Click Here See Section 28 for statements). Kenyatta also wrote I/A office and requested both that he and Bowman be given a lie detector test, which an inmate has a right to request when he is being investigated. He also had his loved ones call and request that he and Bowman be given a lie detector test. Kenyatta continued to prepare for his defense for what staff had told him he was being held for. He was able to secure an affidavit from an active leader of the Black Disciples attesting that Kenyatta had no authority position nor was he still and active Black Disciple. (Click Here See Section 29 for affidavit)

On January 2, 2022, he sent the affidavits and notes to the law library to be copied so that he would have a record to keep after he submitted them to the adjustment committee if he did get a ticket. (Click Here See Section 30) On January 4th Kenyatta was escorted to the hearing without ever receiving a ticket prior to. Kenyatta explained this to the hearing officer and asked for a two-day continuance to mail in his defense. Once his affidavits were sent back to him by the law library, the lead hearing officer gave Kenyatta a copy of the ticket at the hearing and told him he would grant a two day continuance.

Kenyatta received his copy of the affidavits on January 5th and mailed them along with a request to call the building staff that said I/A told them they knew it was all a lie, a request for a lie detector test, a request for the lead hearing officer Lt. Schoenbeck to recuse himself from the hearing because he was head of the I/A office before he was assigned to the adjustment committee. Unbeknownst to Kenyatta he was never granted a continuance, he was found guilty the same day on January 4th without ever being allowed to present a defense. The lead adjustment committee member Lt. Joshua Schoenbeck is the same one who found Kenyatta guilty of the fake drug ticket. He was the head of Internal Affairs before he was allowed to head the adjustment committee and now he finds everyone guilty when I/A issues them a ticket no matter what. This is why Kenyatta asked him to recuse himself which the ruled allow. The rules also state that inmates are suppose to receive a ticket at least 24 hours before the hearing, and the inmate can be granted a continuance. (Click Here See Section 31-34 for rules) The ticket was written on December 30, 2021, but Kenyatta never received a copy as a tactic to surprise him at the hearing to not allow him to have a defense ready. From December 22nd to 30th he was under investigation. The rules state that an inmate under investigation must be interviewed by I/A in order to be given the chance to give his side of the story. This was never done because I/A knew Kenyatta would request a lie detector and they would’ve had to give it to him.

As further proof that the charges are false, if he was a high-ranking gang leader that wanted to put a kit on staff, then why wouldn’t they transfer him for the officer safety. The officer is working the same building around other Black Disciples so what would have stopped the hit from happening? Especially after their so call “leader” was put in segregation for it anyway.

Kenyatta is not claiming to be a Saint, but he is not this person they’re trying to pain him as. Sure he still breaks minor rules in IDOC but the activities he involves himself in are normal things in society. Like making homemade heating cord to warm up food or make coffee, look at girl magazines, use extra phone time to call home, hang up lines to dry clothes, put up a curtain to use the restroom in private, ect. Not gang bang or sell drugs.

Prisoners have their rights violated daily by staff without consequence, mainly because frankly speaking there is a large part of society that prisoners deserved to be torchered while most of the rest just don’t care. Again this is not a plea of sympathy or pity, this is a cry out to push for justice and accountability. In order for this system to work as legislators intended it to, things must change within the prisons.

How could we in society expect these men to come home and turn over a new leaf when the prison system fails them while they are incarcerated then they come out to society and realize opportunities for them are scarce? In essence we are telling them the system only works against them not for them. Then when they go back to the streets we wonder why.

Here is a man that has completely turned his mentality around. After trying and not being allowed to attend school he took College Courses by mail and got a diploma in accounting. (Click Here for diploma) and he has pledge to teach those like him how to do the same and these officials are essentially telling him there is no room for him to be civilized. So what if he says “I may as well sell some…..” or “since they say I want staff assaulted, I may as well do it” What is the message we’re sending to prisoners and officials? Stay the same?