The Lyin' Queen: The Story of Missouri DOC's Spokesperson

A young woman steps out of her office into the warmth of a summer day. She walks only a few steps in the sublime ignorance of perceived safety. She doesn't know he's behind her. In seconds, he has her held on the ground with a jagged piece of metal against her throat. She can't move and knows that she is in the grip of an extremely violent murderer.

This is what happened not long ago at Jefferson City Correctional Center. The full story reveals that this dangerous multiple murderer was able to escape from solitary confinement due to a security breach initiated by the Unit Manager. When this offender escaped, he grabbed the first staff member he saw. She was alone and the decision of whether she went home at the end of the day or left early in a body bag was solely his. A handful of the institution's remaining skeleton crew staff responded and began to negotiate with the inmate. He demanded to speak with the Functional Unit Manager or he would kill the woman in his grasp.

Here's the interesting part. All of the above is clearly visible on camera from start to finish. The information was leaked to the news media and the department responded with an official statement: "There is absolutely not a hostage situation at JCCC." It is clearly documented on camera that a woman was taken hostage and just as clearly documented that the department lied about it. Obviously the department is more concerned with protecting their image/money than the lives of their staff. Unfortunately, this is nothing new, and falsifying information is business as usual for the department. Whether it's the woman who was almost beaten to death in 2015 but was reported to the media as having "non-life-threatening injuries," or all the recent riots that are not officially called riots, DOC has its own PR person (paid liar) who's role is to cover the truth and protect the department's already tarnished image. Presently This is an individual named Karen Pojmann.

Pojmann is the Communications Director for The Missouri Department of Corrections. According to her Linkedin this U.C Berkeley graduate is a content strategist and communications specialist. The only two words that are important in her bloated self-important nonsense on LinkedIn are "strategic" and "communication." Her job is to communicate information strategically to protect the corporate interests of her bosses. Put simply, her job is to lie.

In May 2018, a riot broke out at Crossroads Correctional Center. Staff had seen it coming and expressed their concerns, which were swiftly ignored. When the inevitable happened, DOC Spokesperson Pojmann told the media that a "disturbance" had taken place and was resolved by staff. The story was presented as though offenders were engaging in civil disobedience. Staff members contacted news outlets to correct the story. In reality, The riot lasted hours and involved vast amounts of damage to the institution.

The next reported riot erupted at Tipton Correctional Center on July 4th. The severity of this particular incident necessitated the evacuation of staff and the assistance of large numbers of outside law enforcement units, as seen in this video. In the end, massive damage had been done rendering some of the inmate housing unusable. Staff reported that at least one entire housing unit was effectively destroyed. Again here comes Pojmann to provide some unique spin. She said: "I'm a bit uncomfortable with the word 'uprising,' which suggests violence and a takeover of power, the incidents at Crossroads and Tipton could be more accurately described as protests." Here we have the department spin doctor actually trying to say that the inmates violently taking over housing units and only being stopped with the aid of outside law enforcement were simply protesting.

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