Strategies of the DOC Arizona

Infusion of a cancer = deliberate indifference – “us versus them”

Incompetence = confusion – inaction - undependability

Bad practices = misconduct & prone to make mistakes

Collaboration = disruptions & distractions

Impose internal and external threats = distractions and fake enemies

Inefficiency = low morale & poor equipment

Deliberate miscalculations = self – confidence & flawed investigations

Indecisiveness = poor leadership

Political correctness = no answers to legitimate questions

Divide and conquer – disbanding unions and solidarity in voice or concerns

Consolidation of power = control

Instability = poor resistance to control mechanisms

Entrenchment = reshaping culture and mindset to weaken resistance to change

Diminished capacity = weaker in ability to adapt or overcome adversity

Finger pointing = collapse of esprit de corps

Terrorism = instill fear and evolution of cowardice

Severity of tenure = disgruntled employees

Diplomacy = buying time & defend in place system failures

 

Why Care???? Because... you better read this..

Why Care for Prisoner’s Healthcare?

 

By Carl R. ToersBijns, former deputy warden, ASPC Eyman

A recent incident reported by an investigative reporter, who received a tip from a prisoner’s family member about the wrongful use of a needle syringe inside a state prison, made the local mainstream news. The reporter revealed poor medical practices as far as “sharp controls” and demonstrated the critical need for needle control within our prisons to prevent exposures to infectious diseases.

This exposure to an infectious disease has been downplayed by the Arizona Corrections Department and only warranted a $ 10,000 dollar fine for not following sound medical standards related to syringe and needle control as well as the use of such instruments. It is exactly this type of lack of concern for the prisoner’s health that impacts our community’s health and public safety daily.

The spread of infectious diseases among prisons impacts not just the prisoner but also the prison staff and the general public. The care for HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis and other infectious diseases within our prisons continues to suffer as our medical providers contracted with the state fail to meet their moral and legal responsibilities to treat prisoners in a timely, effective manner.

The general public must know or should know that whatever happens or whoever lives or works behind prison walls and razor wire impacts our communities when the workers go home and when the prisoners are released.  We owe it to the community, our families and our neighbors to protect them from infections by insisting the medical provider for our prison system adheres to and practices sound infectious disease education, prevention and intervention methods.

The infection of a person not incarcerated and the infection of a person incarcerated should be the same and treated with the same priorities. There is a significant difference between the two persons that make it a critical concern to all and that is a person in prison does not have the access or ready means to seek self-protection and other preventive steps as those in the free world.
 
The bottom line here is we must demand our government takes the appropriate steps to protect prisoners and prison officers alike for it is logical and reasonable to bring this matter to a logical conclusion that by protecting them, we protect society.

 

 

 

October 21, 2012

Arizona Report Card on Prisons ~ read and decide

Arizona Prisons, Too Little, Too Late

A Report Card

 

By Carl R. ToersBijns, former deputy warden, ASPC Eyman

 

Introduction – This report card is used for the purpose of evaluating and documenting information collected in local media streams with the sole purpose of providing guidance and support to those advocating better, safer and less costly prisons inside Arizona. Arizona spends more than $ 1 billion dollars on prison management in the past fiscal years and continues to ask for additional funding to keep their agency afloat.

 

Background – The opinions expressed in this report are those of its author and takes into consideration that most data received or collected is anecdotal in nature and may be personal or subjective based on inferences or cultural insights.

 

Overview – This overview is based on rational conclusions acquired and gained a period of time working inside southwest prisons and throughout the approximately thirty years in law enforcement having the experience of working the Arizona prisons for five years and working another twenty years in the New Mexico prisons offering a valid southwest cultural viewpoint on how prisons are management in this part of the country.

 

Report Card – In January, 2009, a new agency director was appointed by then governor Janice K. Brewer. His appointment was interim and pending permanent appointment and approval by the Legislature. Between the years 2004 and 2009, the Arizona prison system was under the directorship of Dora Schriro, a progressive liberal minded individual who focused on inmate programming and education priorities.

 

Mr. Schriro started a new trend in Arizona by promoting self-help programs, therapeutic environment conditions for the mentally ill and expanded the inmate employment program to the point where there was between 79 % to 84 % of the inmate gainfully employed or going to school.

 

This report card will document the progress made since her departure in January 2009, and the arrival of a new director, Charles L. Ryan, a former Arizona corrections official who had returned from tenure with the federal government and assigned in an official capacity at the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prison to train and develop prison programs for that country.

 

 

Summary of Findings – The prevalence of mismanagement complaints about public prisons inside Arizona has made the headlines now for more than three years. These events are well documented and warrant research and analysis by those responsible for public safety and the preservation of civil rights inside Arizona.

 

The reader should focus on the number of staff assaults that have occurred, the number of “natural deaths” reported, the number of suicides committed within the last two years and the flawed delivery of medical and mental health services that are neglected and delayed raising an awareness issue of known cases of communicable diseases, chronic illnesses and other sanitation and health conditions that may impact the communities when prisoners are released,

 

Government’s Response – There have been no significant, positive developments to report since the arrival of Charles L. Ryan as director. Although it appears he might have implemented a number of strategically goals and objectives within his five year plan, they have not made any noteworthy impact through these initiatives and leave much of these problems status quo for the time being.

 

It is clear that government has failed to provide the resources, leadership and vision necessary to address in a comprehensive and progressive manner those issues raised by their own investigative reports, and those by the media or advocacy groups vocal about changing the manner prisons are being operated.

 

There appears to be a lack of coordination and harmonization between this agency and those assigned required services according to the rule of law and internal policies and procedures. As a result, the standards of care related to custodial and healthcare available to prisoners varies between failing and barely meeting minimum requirements per law, standards and contractual obligations.

 

Conclusion – Prison systems have a moral, but also a legal responsibility to act without further delay to address these urgent issues reported and known to be deficient in nature or operation. Today, the government continues to fail to meet its responsibilities for public safety, staff safety and prisoner related safety issues.

There are few positive developments that have occurred since 2009 but the government is clearly not doing all they can do in the matters presented in this report card. It comes down to the quality of leadership within this agency that will make the difference between meeting its moral and legal obligations to the public and do much more to improve the current conditions as they stand.

 

Staff Issues – Cumulative Grade – F

 

Since January, 2009, the number of staff:

 

• resignations have increased
• disciplinary actions have increased
• grievances have increased
• assaults have increased

 

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• manpower resources have decreased
• availability on shift have decreased
• training quality has decreased
• protective measures for staff decreased
• morale has decreased

 

Security Issues – Cumulative Grade – D

 

Since January 2009, the number of:

• escapes or escape attempts have increased
• inmate assaults have increased
• double bunking of prisoners in all custody levels has increased
• hostage situations have increased
• disturbances have increased
• contraband found has increased
• drug related violence has increased
• gang related violence has increased
• prisoners housed in max custody has increased

 

Prison Self- Improvement Skill issues – Cumulative Grade – F

 

Since January, 2009, prisoner:

·        educational programs have decreased

·        vocational programs have decreased

·        employment opportunities have decreased

 

Prison Medical / Dental / Mental Issue – Cumulative Grade – F

 

Since January, 2009, prison health:

 

• medical treatment delays have increased
• medical community health risks have increased
• medical communicable/infectious diseases have increased
• medical services for the geriatric elderly has increased
• medical related “natural deaths” have increased
• medical related mistakes e.g. needle control have increased
• medical use of out-of-date medication has increased

 

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• medical priorities have decreased
• medical education/prevention on infectious diseases has decreased
• medical education of drugs or substance abuse have decreased
• medical staffing has decreased
• medical treatment has decreased
• medical prescription drugs have decreased
• medical referrals have decreased
• medical appointments have decreased

 

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• dental priorities have decreased
• dental services have decreased
• dental appointments have decreased

 

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• mental illness population has increased
• mental illness housing in solitary confinement has increased
• mental illness related suicides have increased
• mental illness housing in general population has increased

 

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• mental illness services have decreased
• mental illness treatment has decreased
• mental illness prescriptions have decreased
• mental illness cultural sensitivity has decreased
• mental illness segregation has decreased

 

 

 

Treatment instead of Incarceration?

Arizona, a “civilized criminal justice system” for the behaviorally ill or still a “hang them high” punishment?

 

By Carl R. ToersBijns

 

Today’s question is simply based on recent events and media stories related to the way Arizona prisons are being operated and how the sick people inside our prisons are being treated or as the media has divulges – mistreated.

 

There appears to be only two ways sick people incarcerated inside our state prisons are treated for their behavioral disabilities or illness. They are either treated and provided sound health care [for those who can afford it and privileged with political assistance] or they are deliberately neglected, abused or ignored because they are prisoners and not worthy of the extra expense of treating them right and avoid needless suffering.

 

It has been often said that Arizona is still a “Wild Wild West state that has its own rules for punishment for crimes against the state or society. Arizona culture has long accepted the harsher option of justice to “teach them a lesson” thus denying persons with mental illness the kind of treatment they deserve.

 

Their code ranges in the forms of isolation, separation and condemnation of the mentally ill who should be dumped into a dungeon or other dark hole, out of sight and out of mind.

 

Their hardness on the rule of law is beyond judicial consciousness that reflects a civilized society that has evolved from those western ways of controlling the law and punishment methods, land barons corrupting state officials and political correctness influencing law making and law breaking.

 

Today we still struggle with these ideologies from the past as Arizona refuses to move into the millennium where justice is working hard to be part of a balanced social system that contains elements of fairness and equality for all persons regardless whether incarcerated or free men and women.

 

This problem of behavioral disabilities is wide ranging and not just limited to the prisons. It impacts families on a consistent basis and harms their ability to seek good help for treatment within the community, from law enforcement, the criminal courts and society as a whole.

 

It appears that nobody wants to address mental health issues today unless it impacts their own lives or their own families making it an involuntary commitment to seek change because of their own inability to deal with their own problems appropriately and according to those standards set to allow their relatives personal protection from further harm or worst, death.

 

Today’s solution inside Arizona is forced segregation for those mentally ill because our laws, although some of the best in the country, do not provide enough incentives to use all tools available to avoid punishment as a final result. Forced segregation results or impacts us in various negative consequences within our communities as it may result in homelessness, incarceration along with violence including self-harm and suicides.

 

Our laws if applied appropriately should and can provide various degrees of treatment as alternatives to “legally” segregating these persons and eliminating such harm by giving them the help they need to cope and function as a human being among the rest of us.

 

The answer to behavioral disabilities is not incarceration but rather rehabilitation and recovery treatment to allow them to sustain daily life as a free person and void of chains and shackles. We are describing our children, our families, our neighbors and our friends that may be in need of help.

 

Today, more war veterans are being incarcerated than ever before. They are victims of our country’s war policies and are often ignored once discharged from the service leaving them on their own to cope and function with various service connected disabilities that range from extreme psychotic episodes, flashbacks, anxiety attacks and more including PTSD. We owe it to our veterans to find a solution and we owe it to our behavioral disabled to keep them out of jails and prisons for the rest of their lives.

 

They are not demons possessed by evil but rather human beings that are imprisoned, either physically or psychologically, into a black hole where they will be morally depraved of their civil rights and sentenced to be harmed, killed, tortured or imprisoned for life. Today’s tolerability of zombies and vampires makes this condition even more morally acceptable than ever before.

If this sounds like the ideology of the Dark Ages, it should because today viewpoints are exactly the same as those of the 15^th Century to many people who propose to “lock them up and throw away the key” just they did before.

 

It is true that “mass deinstitutionalization” is the primary cause for prisons filled with the severely mentally ill. When government stopped funding state hospitals and removed this treatment option from the public, the prisons became a proxy for those who needed to be hospitalized for treatment but were rather incarcerated for psychiatric care that was nil in existence or availability. Limited resources today still do not meet the requirements needed to appropriately treat those who are severely ill.

 

As financial resources dwindled in a poor economy, these prisons were left defunct of required resources to maintain treatment and stabilization programs for these persons. Incarceration instead of hospitalization became the standard for treatment of the mentally ill and once inside prisons, they were ignored or neglected providing them poor skills to cope and function but also provided them no support to prepare themselves for reintegration back to society making them high risk repeat offenders with no hope of ever staying out of prison.

 

To do nothing is “unacceptable” and time is not on our side. We have to stop blaming these behaviorally disabled persons for the commission of crimes or mistakes in our communities and help them cope and function in a free society and not inside a prison.

 

It is time to change the way we think, we act and the way we isolate the mentally ill persons today in Arizona. We need change and they deserve it.

 

Source:

http://davidshopeaz.org/documents.html

 

A Broken Journey

 

Unseen Battle Scars, a Broken Journey

 

According to the National Consensus Statement on Mental Health Recovery, “Mental health recovery is a journey of healing and transformation enabling a person with a mental health problem to live a meaningful life in a community of his or her choice while striving to achieve his or her full potential.”

In my research on mental illness of prisoners and war veterans, I have come upon a link that worries me to no extent. Being a war veteran myself, I can related to many of those issues written about in these health magazines and surveys conducted by research on war veterans and the impact of such trauma inflicted during combat. To make sure everybody understands what we are talking about there must be one agreement. The wounds, whether physical, emotional or psychological are far beyond what you can see with the naked eye or mind. These scars inflicted during the times of battle last way beyond those times the person has left the combat arena behind and comes back to face their own problems coping in a different world than war. The concept of mental health soundness is how we think, feel, and behave. This includes adaptation to life and its demands and the ability to make good choices in every stage of your life with positive results.

Tracking the most difficult statistics to gather on this subject matter, we did glean that according to the Bureau of Justice facts, in 1998, there were an estimated 25,062,400 veterans in the U.S. population, including 225,700 veterans held in the nation's prisons and jails. That means that for every 100,000 veterans there were 937 incarcerated.  The number of veterans in prison or jail rose from 154,600 in 1985 to 225,700 in 1998, an increase of 46%.  Other facts reveal that 1 out of 6 incarcerated veterans were dishonorably discharged from the military. 1 out of 5 veterans in prison or jail reported seeing combat duty during their military service. Veterans accounted for 12% of all inmates in 1998, down from 21% in 1985.  In 1998, an estimated 56,500 Vietnam War-era veterans and 18,500 Persian Gulf War-era veterans were held in state and federal prisons.  Males comprised 99% of those veterans in prison and jail. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Veterans in Prison or Jail. January 2000.) [1]

 “Folks returning from combat have a constellation of health concerns, including physical issues, psychological issues and psychosocial issues concerning things like work and family,” said Dr. Stephen Hunt, national director of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Post Deployment Integrative Care Initiative. “This is a population that has unique health care needs that need to be addressed,” added Hunt, who is based in Seattle. “It’s something that really needs to be done by a team. We can’t do it without the collaboration of other providers, and the knowledge and presence of the community.” [2]

The biggest mistake one can make is to group these health concerns into one group and address them with “one pill.”  There are many disorders present that don’t necessarily run parallel to the others and can often create conflict in the mannerism we function in life. Dealing with the aftermath of combat and dealing with the fatigue, pain, and dysfunctional memories of these events can create concentration problems as we deal with our daily strife and stress at work or with the family.  What appears to be a psychosis of self inflicted pain or make belief discomfort in their body, the reality of their psychosis is real as the combat trauma has impacted their nervous system and cognitive abilities in one way or another. Therefore, being under this constant barrage of “pain” the person’s ability to think straight is impacted if not impaired.

According to the research conducted there are several areas of the body that are impacting returning war veterans and that seems to delay or create lingering means to cope with the reality of post war relationships and life in general. Very common are the symptoms related to injuries to the body’s muscular systems as many experience chronic muscle pains in all areas of their bodies. According to an August study in the Journal of Pain, about 100,000 veterans of the Gulf War nearly 20 years ago have reported chronic muscle pain. Previous research indicated that regular, sustained exercise can help reduce that pain, which doctors encourage to help avoid disability. However, “A primary complaint of these individuals is chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP). CMP symptoms in Gulf War veterans are similar to those reported by patients with fibromyalgia (FM), but have not received equivalent scientific attention.” [3]

Without a doubt, there are mental health issues whether acute or minor in nature, they are ever present because of post-traumatic stress disorder, and other symptoms of war like psychological effects.  A June study in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry found that one in 10 Iraq war vets develop serious mental problems, including violent behavior, depression and alcohol abuse. The study found that PTSD or depression seriously impaired daily functioning in 8.5 percent to 14 percent of these vets. Disabling on its own, PTSD is also linked to the development of physical illnesses for veterans as years pass. Researchers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., reported this year that 54 percent of veterans with PTSD also had sleep apnea, compared with 20 percent of PTSD patients in the general population. PTSD in vets is also associated with a greater risk of developing dementia, according to a June study in Archives of General Psychiatry. [4]

Other areas of concerns for post-battle war veterans are exposure to the different gases or chemicals used during wartime to control crowds, to kill the enemy or to conceal their exposure when advancing into battle.  This has been linked to cardiac difficulties that will need to be addressed for very long periods of time. Then there are the most annoying or persistent cases of exposure to infectious diseases, fungus, bacterial and viral infections as well as parasite infestations. Just like jungle rot of the feet were attributed to Vietnam veterans, Leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease caused by the bite of a sand fly native to the Middle East, is a condition many gulf war veterans experience. Those infected suffer weight loss, fevers, headaches, muscle pain and weakness, anemia, and enlargement of the spleen and liver. It can be fatal if untreated, according to the Veterans Affairs agency. When it is all said and done, war veterans suffer from lack of motivation, irritability, anxiety and depression, headaches, memory loss and PTSD.

Sources:

[1] https://www.aca.org/government/employees.asp

[2]http://blog.quantumunitsed.com/2010/11/11/after-the-battle-7-health-problems-facing-veterans-psychological-psychosocial-and-physical/

[3] http://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(09)00881-5/abstract

[4] http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/search?fulltext=pstd+war+veterans

Counsel to Satan

Counsel to Satan

Today, it seems that no matter what approach you take politically, it will upset somebody. No need to go into details, this sensitivity has caused many to avoid either direct or indirect involvement or participation in political affairs or government details causing a high level of apathy helpful to the deliberate indifference government elected and nonelected officials want you to take. Thus they manage to hide their true motives within the lack of transparency of government and remain a blurred, bored, nameless or faceless figure to the media and the general public even though their faces are plastered on billboards and repeated vigorously on television in political ads that costs millions of dollars every election.

There is no doubt that many of these officials have sold their souls to the Devil. In fact, it must surely be recognized these faceless bureaucrats provide Satan his success in this world. Thus it is fair to say that today, almost every eager, greedy and corrupt official has joined up with Satan as he has promised them power in exchange for their souls.

These faceless men and women once had principles. Through time and political corruption, Satan has whispered in their ears the very thoughts evil to mankind and allowed them to grow in stature and influence inside government. Once in office and in power, they make compromises in order to win their positions and afterwards, their soul belongs to the Devil as his evil spirit desires.

Don’t be fooled, these evil individuals know what they do. They know their true allegiance is to Satan. In order to fulfill his plans, they must followed his words unconditionally and do what he says to do to make things come true. There are no limits to this evil influence as there is no limit to the power sought by these greedy and corrupt men and women promising to serve a cause but in reality serving only the Devil.

With the Devil’s influence, they know how to make small compromises eventually leading to making larger compromises. They no longer know the difference between right and wrong and find themselves in a filthy swamp of quicksand that allows no escape without retribution or vengeance by the Devil himself. They quickly learn they are now the property of the Devil and they are on a slippery slope to hell as they follow the leader.

Compromising between what is permissible and forbidden, their agenda becomes acts of evil and always ends with the common phrase “end justifies the means” as they destroy moral fiber and values along the way. There are no choices left when you work for the Devil, there can be no stubborn resistance to his will as Satan will only relent his wickedness until you have given him your “total surrender.”

Wanting to be an inspiring leader has a high price to pay. You can no longer expect them to make the right choices. They will be oblivious or unaware of righteousness any longer and journey into chasms of corrupt leadership and governing methods that will doom any government or organization to their death.

They will have corrupted and decimated their own personalities as well as others as this is a joint venture to counsel Satan. Those that joined them will lose all their personal and individual control abilities, lack self-confidence in their own abilities to succeed and lose their strengths and character to the Devil as he pulls the strings tighter and tighter with every compromise made.

Their appearances in public will make it difficult to determine fact from fiction. In other words, they will leave no true impressions and keep you off balance of their intentions and motive so they can destroy the very fiber of the justice system as it exists. Thus today, you have persons elected to office that proffers to the Devil without taking any responsibility and without paying any price for such evilness.

 the video on YouTube

Rumor Control inside prisons

Rumor Control