Controlling Trolling inside prisons

                                                         Controlling Trolling

I have been wondering how long it will take for those state leaders who are trolling the state looking or wandering around searching for the right person to lead Arizona’s prison system. It has struck me lately that the frequency of prison happenings since 2009 has resulted in more prison deaths, more staff injuries and certainly more uncontrolled melees that are strong indicators of weak leadership and lack of guidance from above.

Reading a lot about these “incidents” throughout the state and listening to the concerns of correctional officers that work these tough beats inside our penitentiaries, I can picture a bunch of “retired while on active duty” (R.O.A.D.) men and women sitting around the large conference table on the fourth floor surrounded with trophies of personal accomplishments over the last decade or so but none relevant to the issues on the table today.

 

None of them are engaged in business-like conversations or discussions. The laughter is loud as they sip on their custom bought bottled water and exaggerating their self importance to the group. It’s fair to say that when you develop a picture of someone in charge you may find an image of someone intelligent, sober, considered, polite and yes empathetic to the agency’s needs and troubles.

I am certain you will not find anyone fitting that description on the fourth floor down on Jefferson Avenue near the Arizona state capitol. Instead you may find cold hearted, calloused, drunk or under the influence of a liquor type of attitude running this state agency that only thinks of themselves rather than those that carry the burdens of this agency on their backs, the correctional employee and correctional officers.

What they should be talking about are issues pressing within the agency that start with rule of law and compliance with their own policies and procedures. Releasing politically correct statements every time there is an incident, they attempt to do damage control by doing nothing. In the meantime, employees suffer at the most “difficult juncture” of state leadership and prison chaos as we find that nobody on the fourth floor gives a damn about them or anything else since they are all secured with their double dipping paychecks safely deposited in their checking accounts for an unlimited amount of time.

Rather than acting responsible, they act foolish and make demands that are unrealistic. They constantly change internal policies and procedures without a legitimate basis for doing so. They ignore basic and sanctioned American Corrections Association (ACA) accreditation standard and fail to act accordingly to avoid lawsuits and other litigation events.

Acting in an adolescent manner while screaming at their subordinates, they ignore the rape of the system and widespread anger about their lack of ownership / leadership of their own priorities and public safety. Showing no willingness to develop positivity within the agency and implement a bold strategy to get back on track with sound correctional practices and following the rule of law, this scandalous behavior will continue until someone in the Capitol wakes up and realizes this abuse impacts their reputations as well as endangering the communities and public safety.

To date, hundreds of citizens have been marching in the streets carrying signs asking for help and attention to those issues brought forth. Every day, the news prints another failure in ink to remind our communities that they are not safe with prisons inside their communities. However, it is clear nobody in the legislature or the governor’s office is listening.

Bland press release statements try to convince the public and the media everything is all right but in reality these prisons are coming to a boiling point and nobody is watching and preparing for such a calamity.

I don’t think this is a case of lack of resources or ability to prepare or to respond to prison problems. I think it is more a policy of apathy and trolling techniques to allow the inevitable to occur and then take an “I told you so” approach asking the legislature and the governor for more money to run the system that has failed because of deliberate indifference to its needs internally and operationally neglected.

There are no growing pains as the system’s population is actually shrinking. It is shrinking in prison population and it is shrinking in retaining experienced and qualified personnel. With empty beds available, they continue to insist to double bunk maximum custody prisoners in a newly proposed prison bed bid without first controlling and managing existing maximum custody beds that contribute to a high rate of homicides, suicides, staff assaults and delays in medical care as well as mental health treatment for those locked away in solitary confinement without a due process review making their stay their indefinitely and finally when their time is done, released back to our streets.

There is only pettiness and bad faith dealings with our elected officials, our citizens and the communities put in harm’s way because of poor administrative guidance, communication and closed channels of transparency that creates tension and anger throughout the state’s prison population as well as their own 10,000 employees who depend on this administration to protect them and not throw them to the wolves as are doing today.

The bottom line is we rely on state leadership to keep channels open particularly at times of turmoil or disruption. When channels are closed its inflames emotions and anger and it would be more realistic if they would spend their time working on these problems rather than spending most of their time engaging in irrelevant dialogue while engaging in tasks that actually makes their jobs more difficult than easier because of their own device.

 

James Ridgeway interviewed me for this article ~

Elderly in Prison ~ alternatives to costly expenses


 

State Government ~ Prison Management

When I retired from corrections in April 2010, I proclaimed I had a message about how our state government was misusing and abusing the prison system in Arizona for their own selfish opportunities and profit.  Spending 25 years in the New Mexico and Arizona Department of Corrections, I wrote several books about the corruption, the mismanagement and the flaws of systemic and human errors within the agency and nobody neither listened nor cared about the truth inside our state prisons. I am sure that today, two years later,  after seeing the budge expand beyond the $ 1.1 billion dollar mark, taxpayers are very frustrated and wanting to take back their government from some of these unelected bureaucrats’ that have been making the decisions how we spend taxpayers money lately in all government spending and not just prisons.

The answer to this matter is quite simple, we must hold our governor and state leaders accountable for how prisons are operated, managed and how the budget is used to maintain sound prison operations and services. In fact, the answer has been there all along but ignored by those in power to make this change and work actively to reduce prison spending, prison expansion and prison population while reducing the recidivism rate of prisoners going back into prisons by enhancing the parole officer’s ability to make better decisions regarding technical violations and returning them back to prison to serve their term inside the razor wire making it much more expensive than keeping them under supervision within our communities

Since my retirement, the prison population has shrunk but the budget has increased; the number of staff or correctional officers assigned has diminished and the number of deaths assaults and medically related lawsuits have increased.  In fact, a recent contract bid for more prison beds has been approved although it has already been proven that private prisons don’t save us any money and our prison system is not being managed effectively as there are empty beds within the state system today. Common sense has not prevailed and greed has won another round in the Capitol building.

Today, we read in the newspapers from people or community leaders who have been ignored or abused by this state government. Government has not only harassed and aggravated these people but has threatened them harm either directly or indirectly through family members who speak out. . Hopefully, we can agree to take our state government back from the unelected bureaucrats and return the decision making process back to a democratic system that is willing to listen to both sides, pro and con before making final decisions.

Today you will hear stories that will chill you to the bone. Lawsuits are filed dozens at a time and large organizations have elected to cure Arizona of its prison woes by going out and educate the people how prisons are being run, funded and the motive behind the scenes to make the rich richer and the powerful more powerful.  

Nobody wants to admit the government is failing in their public safety or prison management. The governor has ignored the media and public organizational pleas for reforms and investigations into the prison business deals as well as operational decision making.  My biggest surprise is the fact that nobody from the Attorney General to the Justice Department wants to get their hands dirty by investigating this agency thus making a silent statement of endorsing such prison practices and systemic flaws.

I cannot believe that after all that has been written and all the testimony or documentation provided by reputable individuals or organizations, nobody is angered, upset or outraged if not dismayed what our state government has become in Arizona. Every day, people in our communities read about the tragedies, the horrific prison conditions, poor medical and mental health care and turn their heads away while closing their eyes to the truth.  One must assume that none of these individuals have any family members locked up or they just don’t care.

 Many are just afraid to make noise and break the silence. Others are embracing the hate, the malfeasance and injecting their own brand of justice thinking this is the only way to run prisons, cruel and harsh with toxic results to many families.

Constituents are people and many people in Arizona have relatives inside this huge prison system. Many are lawful residents of this state and belong to that class of people who are paying excessive costs for maintaining their prisons in the same manner that brought California taxpayers and elected bureaucrats to their knees because of the excessive costs of prison and those services associated with mass incarceration methods.

Prison Violence - a closer look inside this problem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i245b7xChM