Correctional Officers – Working inside the Belly of Hell

Correctional Officers – Working inside the Belly of Hell

 

Not much has been said about working inside the penitentiaries. The press is unkind to those that walk this blue line. Not much talk among those that work there either. The silence is deafening as the work within the belly of this place is pure Hell and works on your brain like drugs cooks the human mind. Many have been able to separate their body from the mind or the temptation made upon their souls but in the end it always makes you think about what you do for a living and how it impacts your own life working among the demons cast into a pit of fire called Hell.

Neither a glorious job nor an appreciated one but regardless how the public perceives it, it is certainly a necessary job. Walking inside the belly of Hell takes a very special person as not too many volunteer to do such tasks with negativity and vehemence all around them. Whether a high school graduate, a military veteran or a college graduate they come from all walks of life to work inside the penitentiaries. Their journey begins at the bottom of the devil’s mouth and goes all the way down to the bottomless pit called Hell.

The stench is awful and the air is filled with a noxious gas as the environment is toxic and creates hate, greed, revenge as well as a Hellish blindness for justice for those that live there. This is a journey hardly ever talked about and although the pain inside this Hellish Hole is mainly mental, there is also the physical pain to keep the law in order and the place safe and secure. There are times where the presence of the Creator is absent and the stench of the devil is predominately influencing the actions of others to incite and create a fever of detestation.

The only sounds you will hear are echoes of pain and anguish that surrounds the walls twenty four hours a day and seven days a week without letting up on the madness. The bottom of the pit is no place to be if you are meek and weak. It is not for those that cannot walk alone among the thugs and murderers that live there and prey on every person that enters the pit. Although there is a lot of praying going on in there is little salvation or forgiveness of sins committed as their bones and flesh burn in this Hell Hole.

The power of darkness keeps the evil alive and drowns the spirit of man with pure Hellish hopelessness that the end of suffering will never come. It is not a world you want to be in nor is it a world you can understand unless you walk the beat of those that dare and face the devil in his hour of darkness. One cannot speak of revelations unless they have witnessed what Hell does to men. One cannot write a book or make a record of things unless they witnessed it with they own eyes and ears as your body is actually suspended in a state of animation and takes you to your journey in Hell.

Hell has many faces and consists of many things that others do not want to know about. The public turns their eyes and ears to another direction when the words are spoken and do not want to know the truth or even imagine what you will experience many times over walking this beat. You and your fellow officers will walk through Hell together but you will leave reality behind as no one follows you into the abyss of darkness.

You will never be praised for your courage but you will be condemned if you error your ways. Your soul will be tempted often and sometimes out of body while you do your job and your heart will leave at the gate when you enter the dark house of pain leaving all your senses behind and are comforted by the thoughts of those that share your journey through this house of pain.

 

 Although you should be afraid, you show no fear for these gateways to Hell makes you stronger and resilient in thought and contrary to expectations, you keep your stride as you walk the beat nobody else wants to travel without a gun or other weapon by their side. You took this job and knew your only comfort was your self-respect and assistance from others to do this job designed in Hell while separated from the rest of the world.

Some penitentiaries are above the ground and others lay far below the ground covered with steel and concrete to hide the sun and earth. You can recognize the peril as you travel the funnels that lead you through long solid corridors that echo your steps as you walk them alone.  These funnels have toxic air that spins the hate, the greed and the urges for revenge as you see only the things others will never see or experience in their lives.  Working inside these gateways to Hell is not for the meek and sorts out the weak as you learn to adapt and survive.

Some funnels resemble tunnels and some are shaped like the worm holes of time. Once you enter these portals there is only one way back out alive. Your mind starts to spin as you meet head on with the sin around you and spirits of the dead embedded in the walls that surround you. You hear the cries and screams of the past as you deal with the evilness and the greyness of the tunnels around you.

Once inside the belly of Hell you will see great sorrow, pathetic sadness and indiscriminate horror. You draw a deep breath and draw one step closer as you rely on yourself to give you strength and protection as you travel the gateways of Hell. Surely you recognize the humans that surround you as society’s castaways and demons with souls that rest in Hell.  The sounds of torment consume you as you shed off your feelings and avoid being taken by the spirits of Hell. You know they are everywhere as you can smell the evilness as a thick green horrible odor that covers the hallways with a stench like no other outside the gates of Hell.

So you walk the green mile over and over without a second thought of its perils and temptations. As an officer of the law you have seen the pits filled with fire and smoke everywhere there are signs of corrupted souls and caged burned skeletons of those of yesterday and never recovered. The red hot coals burn images in your mind as you fight off any temptation to start your own fires and rise up against the evilness around you.  You, just like the burned souls around you, can feel the flames as you walk among those that experienced excruciating pain for committing their crimes against the world. The difference is you get to leave this Hell Hole while those around you must stay there every day and every night.

Many will give Hell and the Devil years of their lives as they were sentenced and  committed by a court of justice to pay back to society their souls and retribution condemned by the righteousness of justice and society and the laws of the land.  You walk from cell to cell and can see many others suffering from great pain and the heat from Hell. Their bones and flesh are scorched and burned from the fire amongst them and their decaying flesh falls right off their bones. Worms and rats are common and depending where you live in Hell scorpions can be found along with other creatures that spew out evil and poison to crawl within you or bite you outside.

Last but not least you brave the lakes of fire covered with smoke as you deal with the cries of regret that surround you. As you pace yourself you come nearer as you can see these burning souls chained together and under the weight of criminality that brought them to this Hell Hole you work in. You are among the unbelievers. They are the lost souls of this earth you have chosen to protect while others chose not to deal with them at all. It is a thankless job and as you walk closer you realize that there are blurred lines that separate the good from the bad and that justice is vicious and unforgiving when thrown into the belly of fire and evil called Hell.

 

Debra Milke death row inmate free on bail for retrial on murder case in Phoenix AZ

death row inmate freed - out on bail video

Recovery Matters

Everybody needs to recover something in their life at one time or another. Every person has a different recovery to make. Some have lost relationships, some their health and some their confidence in themselves or others. The fact you have recovered yourself matters. It matters so much that one has to dwell on its importance in order to understand the concept completely.  Whatever it was you had lost is always there to reclaim unless you are not aware of what it was you have lost. Recovery is more than just rebounding or reconnecting with yourself or others. It’s about identifying what you are made of and what you can or cannot handle in life.

 It’s about survival and the ability to overcome and adapt on matters close to you and important to you as well. It’s about healing the mind, body and spirit back to the point where it can again endure life’s pressures and stressors while effectively deal with the stimulus that causes such stress around you.

Thinking about the process we must determine it what we believe to be a recovery process is fact or fiction. Is it the truth in regards to plausible evidence or is it with utter suspicions that it may not be possible at all? Is there a reality involved or is it just a perception. Are we interpreting things like we want them to be or how they actually are? The answer is to look at every angle and determine just how effectively we can recover what we lost and how much we got back from our efforts to attain such a reclamation process successfully.

The act of recovery is an action needed to restore a balance of systems within your body, your mind and your spirit. What happens if you don’t do this right? One can apply even more stress than there was before you started this journey to recovery. Failing to identify your goals and your purposes is detrimental to your success and may make your recovery only partial which may impact your confidence or realization.

One must be cognizant that if one is to completely recover, one has to replace the energy and effort spent during this process with added efforts and energy than ever before in your life. Doing it wrong will cause a breakdown either psychologically or physiologically and create more stress and anxiety thus there is a certain determination level of commitment that must be made before you being the process.

You must be prepared to be worn down, exposed to other risks or injuries and replace what you lost with more sweat and tears. Your mind should be focused on your resilience towards adversity, your need to rehydrate your body and in all cases, protect your immunity to other influences or powers that can impact your strength politically, physically and psychologically. Thus you must bring about an attitude that nothing is going to deter you of reaching your goals and nothing will stop you until your work is done completing this challenge to recover whatever you may have lost.

The more of a recovery you make, the better you will feel. Don’t be fooled by false securities or sensations and quit or lower your energy prematurely. Resist the temptation to ease off and keep the pressure on yourself to keep on going. The more you recover the further the gains made. Being productive and vigorous is the key to success. Try not to compensate for the pain but endure it. There must be pain associated with the recovery. It keeps your mind focused on why you are doing this to begin with and keeps you from slowing down or stopping completely short of your goals.

Trust yourself and trust your instincts to stay on track. You will reap the rewards as your recovery gains the momentum you know you can attain and soars you to your desired level of your plan. Become a believer and strengthen your confidence to accomplish anything you set out to do even when you may have lost that strength for a moment in your life but you decided to fight and get it back. In the end you will be stronger, smarter, more balanced and effectually healed to face the world with the energy and spirit that brought you success.

 

PTSD - a new video on Veterans going to jail or prison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ykTmbzrZo

Collateral Damage inside AZ Prisons - the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmgrn8benm8

Collateral Damage in Arizona Prisons

Arizona‘s prison system is suffering from collateral damage as it continues to fall into a financial abyss created by poor leadership and wasteful spending since 2009. The writings have been on the walls for many years but everybody in state government has either been looking the other way or failing to read the signs. That is with the exception of Chad Campbell, a leading Democrat lawmaker who recognized this failing performance by our prison agency leader and director, Charles L. Ryan and therefore calling for his resignation on Tuesday, July 23, 2013

State legislators, the governor and the public should not be surprised at this announcement to remove Director Ryan. It has been long coming and if your look back to the infamous Kingman prison escape, I have been calling for his resignation from that moment as he has done nothing to fix our state’s public safety issues and manage our prisons in a sound and responsible manner while bolstering the private prison industry inside our state. Today the state suffers severely from collateral damage and changes must be made immediately.

Collateral damage is politically harmful in many ways. First and most it implies urgent and serious ethical implications of not doing your job as you had sworn to do when you take the oath of office. Second it is harmful to innocents and this is a most coincidental side effect that can run a course of destruction. It basically is a statement of not doing your job with due care and commitment.

Collateral damage consists of at least four categories of failures with a doctrine that shows negligence, oblivious to the truth, malevolently knowing what wrong and reckless behavior is as you ignore these warning signs. Since taking office, the director has created an order of chaos that is not morally permissible under the rule of law and moral standards.

He has implemented a personal doctrine that has had a double effect. The first being a negative and wasteful prison system failing to perform up to legal and moral expectations as a government service and the second is the increase reliance and use of private corporate prison contractors to fill in the voids of his failing prison policies and send unlimited state funding into a hybrid governance doctrine that is without scrutiny or reviews.

One could argue that this double doctrine should be permissible but the loss of human lives, the destruction of internal personnel procedures and performance / disciplinary structures, the excessive litigation related to medical and other essential services as well as the higher costs associated with such inefficient operational methods are not feasible at a time of responsible fiscal constraints and higher taxes to run government. This is especially true when other states have demonstrated lesser spending with better prison management alternatives than Arizona has and this is highly noticeable at the budget hearings in Phoenix.

The question is whether this call for his resignation is legitimate or politically motivated. It is my trust if Governor Brewer would consciously and deliberately review his record of performance she would agree it is time for change in leadership.

Good change can bring Arizona prisons back into the spending commitments of lawmakers and the return of rule of law back to those relatives that rely on ethical decision making to keep their incarcerated relatives safe from excessive suffering, physical and mentally incurred harm and a high risk of accidental or natural caused deaths that includes suicides that rank as some of the highest in the country. After all is said and done, our leaders must recognize that collateral damage is in no way permissible and tolerable in good government practices.

 

Dehumanization of prisoners

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DhOWXy7nUY

Domestic Violence, Abusers, Stalkers, Fearless Killers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is1srdy1eG4

Jodi Arias = Dead eyes

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

Interviewing psychopaths in prison video

Interviewing psychopaths in prison video

Jodi Arias, Romancing the stone cold jury

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCvnu13fPoc&feature=player_embedded

Jodi Arias and the dance, a personal perspective video

Jodi Arias, the dance

Jodi Arias,, now what ?

What is next for Jodi Arias?

Jodi Arias, the continuum or risks = her sentencing decision by the jury

The continuum of risks

How does the Stockholm syndrome impact the Jodi Arias case or does it?

Jodi Arias and the Stockholm syndrome

Death Row - Silent footsteps

Death Row

Jodi Arias, Alpha girl punked by her peers?

Jodi Arias, Alpha Girl Punked?

Will Jodi Arias test the AZ prison suicide watch system?

Jodi Arias versus Arizona suicide watches video

Working with Sociopaths like Jodi Arias inside prisons.

Sociopaths

Will Jodi Arias were a code red stun belt on her way to prison???

Jodi Arias transport to death row video

Jodi Arias - new house rules at Perryville state prison

Jodi Arias - new house rules at Perryville

Jodi Arias, the dangers of manipulation

Jodi Arias master manipulator?

New Jodi Arias video on solitary confinement.

Jodi Arias in Solitary Confinement

Let me introduce myself on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kM24x4VJLQ8

Narrated video on Jodi Arias dream statement to the jury deliberating her death sentence -

YouTube video on Jodi Arias

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJTBLd-72fg

Jodi Arias’s Rose Colored Glasses

Convicted murders in Arizona face a challenge like no other prison in the United States. They face the ultimate test of survival and try to stay alive for the term sentenced or awaiting the execution date for the death warrant to be served when put on death row. Arias showed no level of rational or logical understanding of our prisons system when she addressed the jury on Tuesday. She was totally in another world that showed a dramatic disconnected viewpoint or expectation between reality and prison worlds.

She will experience one or the other but they are in actuality the same in this darkened environment where the public has no idea what goes on. She will never see “programs I can start and people that I can help and programs that I can participate in."

Her destiny after the trial, whether she gets put on death row or serve a life sentence has been set. Fate will demand she will be isolated and kept away from others for the rest of her life. She may manage to cope but it is likely she will contemplate suicide like so many others in Arizona prisons. Her changes are slim to survive this ordeal and it’s likely she will be dead before her sentence is completed.  Wearing ball and chain wherever she goes, she will experience mental and physical pain. She will be tortured by her own device and suffer at the hands of loneliness and despair. Those around her will taunt her to no end and drive her crazy. It’s just that kind of world she is going to and nothing can stop it.

She will leave her isolation cell for three or maybe four reasons. It depends how compliant she is with the officers that escort her. She will be stripped searched each time the cell door opens and either walked or put on a gurney to places she need to go with the exception of recreation, showers and maybe non-contact visits by attorney to work on her appeal.

Starting a book club will consist of a book club of one. If she recycles it will be her own recycle bin inside her cell but likely disposed of as contraband for she is not allowed much property while there. Reality will hit her sooner than never. Arias will have so much time to stare at the walls her mind will search for voices to talk to her when alone.

Cruel and unusual it may be to many but in Arizona prisons the standards are one hundred years old. There aren’t any accommodations for compassion or empathy. She will be housed in the same area where Marcia Powell died in the heat of the Arizona weather while kept in an outdoor enclosure that now has shade and water but nevertheless a cage.

It is likely Jodi Arias will realize that what she had done will never out do her sentence. Whether life without parole or a death sentence, Arias has already began the journey to the walking dead as she enters the Perryville prison completely unaware what is in store for her and how cruel it will be to her sanity, her health and her existence on earth.

Source: http://www.azfamily.com/news/The-truth-behind-Jodi-Arias-grand-plans-for-prison-208611471.html

 

 

 

Maximum Risks

Dear Rep. Campbell,

 

For the past several years there have been calls for the prison director’s resignation which has led to hundreds of suicides and a no confidence vote by the correctional officers’ union. It appears the director’s record of delivering sound medical / mental health services along with a booming institutional death rate is far from being acceptable according to national healthcare standards of care. Arizona ranks about sixth in the nation on suicides and nobody seems to be too concerned about this matter. In fact, Governor Brewer has praised the director several times saying she thought he was doing a very good job and impressed with his handling and understanding of the Arizona prison system. To this day, the director has only admitted superficial flaws exist and that he is working on reducing his conditions of confinement from maximum risk to changes that will lower those risks. So far, his plan is not working very well.

It is with some certainty he is reorganizing the healthcare services as he terminated one contractor and hired another in mid contract due to contractual deficiencies that delayed the delivery of medical care and sound healthcare practices inside prisons. However, he has failed to reduce the maximum risks that are currently impacting the current rate of deaths inside the prisons that are routinely written off as natural deaths, suicides or homicides.

The fact remains these numbers have not been reduced to any significant level and continue to exist while burdening the correctional officers with the laborious tasks of maintain a status quo with less resources and staffing than ever before inside the lockdown units. In this matter, these correctional officers are tasked to do the impossible as there is a shortage of staff at those critical positions that are legally and morally responsible for sound correctional practices.

It is highly recommended the Arizona legislature conduct an review of the whole system through independent impact statements related to staffing deployment plans of medical/mental health staff, custodial employees and other resources dedicated to handle treatment and programs of the high risk offenders susceptible to committing suicides or become victims in a violent assault or death by predatory gangs or individuals housed with the severely mentally ill in general population and lockdown units. Many of these offenders are unable to cope with this risk of being harmed on an open yard and are asking for protection in the lockdowns where the suicide rate is the highest.

This oversight and interview process should focus on conditions of confinement and the quality of care, training and communication with special needs offenders that are dying at an alarming rate weekly. It should also focus on leadership capabilities within the agency and the administrative oversight of medical, mental health and other specialized needs to ensure compliance with constitutional rights for fair treatment and quality services.

It is suspected that there are a variety of reasons for this deficiency, not because of people doing bad things but rather systems not in proper working in order to accomplish better delivery of services rendered by either the private medical contractor or custodial staff. There needs to be better accountability for the high number of deaths and putting his hands up and saying that is part of being incarcerated inside a penitentiary is not a suitable response. A plan needs to be devised to ensure the numbers are reduced and suicide intervention methods are active and working. I pray you will offer a solution to this problem as you have researched this matter as well.

While the legislative oversight committee is researching causes for the above mentioned concerns, it might also want to review standards of care and practices to concerns related to AIDS / HIV, Hepatitis, MRSA, Staph infections and other communicable disease concerns that poison the community upon the offender’s release. It should also review the care of the elderly and the medical costs associated with such incarceration care and review alternatives for those eligible for early release and non-violent offenders in crime committed and institutional adjustment history.

Insight on Suicides in Arizona Prisons

Looking at the high fatality rate inside Arizona prisons has got to be disturbing to those families impacted by the sudden deaths of their loved ones. The fact is today, with one of the highest suicide rates in the country, Arizona officials have not dedicated sufficient attention to this most critical problem inside their prisons.  A closer look at the individuals committing suicides no longer suggests that suicides are committed due to their initial crisis of incarceration but rather, an isolated problem or sign of an inmate’s inability to do time under conditions imposed by the Department of Corrections rather than their length of sentence. Hence it is suspect that conditions of confinement are the driving forces in this disproportional higher rate of suicides being committed inside the more restrictive custody units than general population.

It must be clear that there is little research related to this theory that more suicides are successful in the higher custody levels than general population however looking at the press releases delivered whenever such a death notice is prepared, there is a distinct pattern of behavior and incidents at the higher custody levels than in general populations. This must support my theory that conditions of confinement inside level 4 and level 5 units offer little hope or relief that gives the prisoner a sense of doing time and returning back to general population to finish out their sentences.  

It is with high hopes that this document will encourage the Governor, Director and other prisons staff to conduct research, training and development of comprehensive prevention policies that include environmental impact statements on the psychological state of mind as well as the physiological impacts on the human body and wellness.  Of course there is my own theory about suicidal behaviors among Arizona prisoners housed in Level 4 and 5 custody units. It is my belief that suicidal behaviors are abnormal results within a solitary confinement setting and are orchestrated, manipulated or even deliberate wrongful attempts to gain attention and fulfill some desire to excite or create sympathy from staff to obtain some sort of favor in return for not doing such an act again.

This would make an assumption that the individual has the mental capacity to perform such manipulated acts or willful self-harm and not mentally impaired or otherwise under such psychological state of mind that he or she can’t execute or plan such deliberate attempts to gain the attention desired. It would also make the assumption that staff assigned make routine or mandated unit checks within time frames that could in fact abort such a deliberate attempt to hang or cut themselves with the staff arriving and treating the injuries within time frames that makes the act survivable and successful as a manipulated attempt to control the environment by negative behaviors.

Individuals depending on staff making their rounds on time for a successful discovery and intervention is a high risk factor with staffing patterns sparse and sometimes critically low to begin with on each shift. Their desperate desire to have contact, human contact, interaction and perhaps even an confrontation, fulfills their desire to be getting the attention wanted and the physical chastisement that comes from these pernicious practices of attempting suicides for the purpose of being recognized and treated as a person in need and not a person neglected.

However, my theory is completely flawed and subject to harsh criticism when the individual possess a mental impairment or is medicated so heavily that they cannot design or device such a deliberate plan for attention and actually experience real suicidal ideations that are based on current psychosis experiences due to diagnostic conditions left untreated or neglected for numerous reasons explained later on in this document.

It is my own opinion that many suicide attempts or successful acts are based on a form of concentrated anxiety and inability to cope with the environment and the conditions of confinement imposed by either policy designed to restrain the individuals in chemical or mechanical restraints every time there is human contact justified for either an escort to the shower, recreation or a visit or appointment out of their cell. It is likely the relatively condoned routine of keeping them inside a small 8 x 10 cell for 22 hours a day is enough to trigger their psychosis and belief that there is no hope for change and this is how they are going to life for the rest of their lives or are so disconnected from reality they are in another state of mind and become unreasonable in behavior.

 From a former deputy warden and  layman’s viewpoint, this enough to drive any human being crazy and if that mindset has already been established in the past or history, it is easier to be pushed over the edge whether they want to or not, it is a last resort to express their humanity.

Hence we need to look at precipitating factors and zero in on cause and effect of these two categories of human beings locked away inside level 4 and 5 custody units. Since one is more on the behavioral scale and the other on the mentally impaired scale, it should be prioritized to address the two separately to ensure all conditions are met related to risks, tolerant levels, individual coping skills and predictability. Secondary, we need to establish therapeutic environments for both categories of behavioral and severely  mentally ill to ensure there are no cross- over treatment / program elements that can taint the treatment process and cause a negative impact on those severely ill housed with the behavioral prisoners that may in fact taunt the mentally impaired to commit suicide.

It is highly probable that the conditions of confinement are primary causes for prison suicides. Other than the initial crisis of facing long prison terms, there are other risks associated with this perspective of “doing time” that involve factors ranging from protection from predatory or gang associated individuals, ridicule or abuse [physical and sexual] by other prisoners and harassment or misunderstandings with staff assigned to supervisor them and ill trained to comprehend or manage severe mentally impaired behaviors causing conflicts and misunderstandings that often result in aggression or altercation justifying their placement in a higher custody level with or without treatment intervention from mental health providers aware of the misconduct.  This is an abbreviated list of coping problems but the point is clear and should be addressed in thorough training and awareness of those signs related to the mentally ill.

Another perspective from a prisoner’s viewpoint is the unquestioned lack of trust between the prisoner and the administration or correctional officers. Already dealing with their own crisis of being incarcerated and losing control of their freedoms, decision making and apparent control of daily activities and programs, they are also isolated or abandoned by family and significant others.

Hence their custodial requirements are squarely based on what is perceived to be a total authoritarian environment unresponsive to their own needs or desires as well as necessities and treatment needs.

Focusing on the dependence on an authoritarian environment or correctional officers working around them, the need to communicate is often impaired and ineffective. It has been my experience that it is these are the exact barriers that offer the prisoner a chance of survival or hope if removed and replaced with a culture that is unresponsive to their medical / psychological treatment and their practical incarcerated needs. In many cases, a prisoner may have told someone he or she had been thinking of suicide but the message is never clearly understood hampering intervention methods. Whether this was triggered by “bad news” or other instances, there are significant references that demonstrate the predictability of behaviors when such a risk or event triggers their depressed behavior that also includes shame and remorse regarding their crime when it hits them all at once.

Since this is the first link in communicating risks or changes in behaviors or thoughts, there is a distinct operational factor that plays into the formula for disaster as there are predetermined logistical and other support mechanisms absent in the higher custody units where these suicides are more prevalent and occurring at an alarming rate or frequency.  “They often suggest such behavior be ignored and not reinforced through intervention. In fact, it is not unusual for mental health professionals to resort to labeling, with inmates engaging in “deliberate self-harm” termed “manipulative” or “attention seeking,” and “truly suicidal” inmates seen as “serious” and “crying for help.”  (Haycock, 1989a)

 Finally, this document will end on a note that is most discerning to those working on this problem. Inside Arizona prisons there are multiple offenders suffering from different levels of emotional imbalance that requires special attention. Arizona prison officials have determined [with the support of mental health staff] that the prisoner is not dangerous and simply attempting to manipulate his or her environment. This suggests that the correctional staff assigned there adapts or accept this manipulation game as a pre-condition to accepting a suicide watch and not pay attention to detail or specific behaviors that includes being distracted from their duties, leaving the suicide watch area and not making timely rounds as required by their post orders.  Perceiving the threat as not-real, they are complacent in mannerisms and duty.

Source:

National Institute of Corrections -Prison Suicide: An Overview and Guide to Prevention By Lindsay M. Hayes Project Director National Center on Institutions and Alternatives Mansfield, Massachusetts June 1995

Rape Culture inside Prisons

Is there an American “rape culture” inside our prisons that is gaining energy? Does it run parallel or analogous to the mainstream ideological concepts that there is a “rape culture” within our society as well? If this is true, what fosters such idea and what attitudes are associated with such cultural influences that allow rapes to be condoned and accepted as a part of the overall prison culture. Sexual violence inside our communities are a grave problem as well as inside our prisons. There are no barriers to keep them apart as those that work the prison system will tell you that the only boundaries inside prisons are those of individual freedoms and controlled movements.

 

Prisons are ugly, that’s a fact but what is uglier is the attitude that exists that condones rapes and sexual assaults as a cultural norm that is often underlying cause why such cases are not investigated thoroughly and concluded decisive enough to avoid digging into the truth of the entire matter and deal with the tip of the iceberg rather than the entire episode. This jeopardizes individual respect, dignity, equality and their ability to seek protection as it endangers those that are raped, victimized and neglected.

There appears to be a high tolerance towards prison rape. The fact that many rapes are elements of coercion and not consensual practices is irrelevant as no rape is justified at any time anywhere. Thus a departmental investigation might not reveal the continuum of the rape and leave it inconclusive to the leave the fact in the shadows and never revealing the truth of what really happened.

 

Employees perceive the presence of homosexuals, lesbians, gays and gender transsexuals as freaks and unworthy of protection or consideration for those treatments and policy making for the heterosexuals in prison. They are alienated with extreme prejudice and therefore ultimately placed in danger. Looking the other way or refusing them protection according to their own policies engages a behavior that encourages attacks eager to show their supremacy and power over the others as they are expected to be met by approval of their peers and bystanders of such sexual assaults inside our prisons.

 

It is this concept of “permissive” behaviors that set the prisoner up for sexual violence and little recourse of getting help when reporting such threats or deeds to employees of the prison. This also leads to further acts of violence either related or indirectly related to the sexual assault to conceal or hide the fact someone on that yard committed a homosexual act and is now under the scrutiny of their peers.

 

Let's look at some commonalities of this “rape culture” inside prisons. First there appears to be a conflict of whether the sex is consensual or non-consensual. According to the law, none of these fall under consensual. Second there is s conscious effort by assailants to perform this rape by force.

 

Sentiments such as being gay, lesbian and transsexual in behavior condone the invitation to the rape. Like many rape cases in our society rape is routinely condoned and validated and investigated with falsified or out of context facts that distorts the actual event and creates the victim-blaming perception.

It is my believe that if prison officials educate staff and condemned such behaviors, the rate of rapes inside of prisons would actually be reduced and in some cases, prevented. Instead they are permitting an “adolescent culture” to exist and not hold them responsible for their actions.

 

In other words, non-consensual sex is not rape in the eyes of the prison culture rather it is more of a norm and custom to be victimized and raped when in prison or jail. There is nothing new about this revelation that has allowed adolescent behaviors to foster under the negligence of the prison administration as it does nothing to prevent such events. Prison rape is a cautionary illustration about attitudes that facilitate sexual assault than may lead to further serious injuries or death.

 

On a daily basis there is zealous talk about real and false rape allegations. Although it is hard to get reliable facts or statistics, it does happen and is under-reported. While in prison a victim would have a hard time proving rape or sexual assault. He or she would have to face their accusers and deal with the aftermath of snitching someone of a crime that could endanger them forever, inside of prison and outside when released. This is not a case of good morals versus bad morals but rather a case of victimization and justifying the need for protection of such violence.

 

Victim-blaming is the main catalyst of negligence in this matter. It alters the meaning of the rule of law and puts the victim on the defensive in the matter as they have to prove their own conduct was not a contributing factor to the rape or assault. There appears to be a presumption of 'you asked for it by your own behaviors” that justifies then inaction taken to resolve such matters. There is no presumption of innocence; there is no gender equality and there is no equal concern for the rights of those that become victims.

 

The negative impact of this “rape culture” falls on:

• the protection of the potential victim
• the rule of law that applies to the potential victim as legitimate basis for protection needs has bee compromised by "norms" and attitudes
• the norms and attitudes that defend taking no action to protect or report any wrongdoings
• a brief discussion prior to the final report that summarizes self-blame and victim-blaming attitudes that shifts the focus of the report on no conclusive findings and no further action taken
• a “blind-eye” approach on any future complaints or concerns aired by the victim after the sexual assault if reported and documented by the agency.

Human Life to the Highest Bidder

Since the mass incarceration of the past decades, there has been an auction going on in many state and federal prisons that resemble those days of slavery and the misery that goes along with such practices. Today's prisons are filled with masses of human beings auctioned and sold to the highest bidder on the profit margin determined by Wall Street and stockholders of private prison contractors. People must become aware that human lives have become a commodity and that not humans are equal in value or importance. It appears that many in society are either oblivious to the concept or are joining in the profitability of selling mankind.

One main reason for concern on this current trend is with stockholders there is only one priority; money and money means greed, corruption and the need for more power to make more money. Selling a human being would appear to be immoral in the past but today's stock market has placed a higher value on some and a lesser value on others. The food chain has been altered to indicate that people can be sold according to their societal value and purpose in how they fit in the economy. Greed and corruption, along with the inequalities and inequities of such goods makes it important to sort mankind out according to class or ability to make money for others. You might even say that because of the commodity market, morals have been devalued in order to conduct the business at hand.

Not all goods are valuable thus not all people have value. One must sort this out and determine which have the most value and which carry the lesser value of the trade and transformation that turns people into goods. Therefore, the economists must use a political continuum of significance to determine those that are worthy to sell and worthy to buy. The trade is not new. Human trafficking is common in most foreign countries and it has finally arrived in the United States in a perfectly legal concept. Politicians have transformed the need for goods to the needs for people and the prison industrial complex has been most accommodating by selling its prisoners for less than a dollar a head.

Everything is for sale these days. It has been said if you have the means to buy you have the means to possess. The use of human trafficking in our economy has reached its peak and society has not winked an eye while it is happening. Directly or indirectly, they all profit from selling human beings on the market under the prison tag. It is fair to say that public interest has turned into private interest as public value has changed into private values. Judges, law enforcement and the criminal justice system has been accommodating to the private prison industries as they turn over their incarcerated masses to those that promise to feed them, put a roof over their heads and keep them for prolonged periods of time in order to receive maximum returns on their investments.

One must not fool themselves if they are not incarcerated as the chances of them becoming a victim of a crime and charged as a criminal has increased blindly. Prosecutors re focusing on those low on the food chain and unable to defend themselves with an attorney or worst, unable to comprehend or understand what is happening because they are severely mentally ill and taken for granted as another commodity sold to the prison industrial complex to fill a bed regardless of what their treatment needs are. Once can easily see that these type of people are expendable and deserve no second thought about placing them in jails or prisons for a long term so profits are high and acquired to the fullest extend of the law.

The irony is that there are people between the mentally ill and those that have skills and an education that makes them more valuable than others. Skilled workers and intellectuals do well in prison and are well taken care of in sense of housing, medical care and employment. They are exactly what the prison contractors are looking for as they can make money from their fruits of labor that resemble slavery wages and confined living conditions that stifle independence and freedom. They are however, more fortunate that those illiterate and physically or mentally disabled. The prison complex is much kinder to those that can walk, think, use their hands and stay of sound body and mind. It reduces their overhead and custodial costs to keep them and all they have to do is keep them longer and uses quantity as a guide to profitability.

The rest are discarded and devalued and at the same time their existence has no urgency for treatment or other expensive overhead costs thus largely neglected or ignored for their routine, chronic or acute needs of food, medical and mental health treatment, dental and other commodities now identified within the proper definition of the environment. One can be proud of supporting those politicians that have managed to guide state and federal laws to accommodate such a prison industrial complex and ensure their growth has been successful and profitable for everybody that is a stockholders in the business of selling human beings to the highest bidder.

A brief video on the Mitchell and Everly Debrief model for PTSD nightmares and bad dreams

Bad dreams and nightmares related to PTSD

The Genesis of Cruel & Unusual Punishment

 

A Continuum of “Deliberate Indifference”

By Carl ToersBijns

 

Solitary confinement has many warning signs. Unfortunately it often takes a scandal for change and develops the necessary actions to change corruptive practices. Therefore, administrators must have the courage to address the environment and have the integrity to conduct productive changes under their supervision and control. Keep in mind that administrators will be defensive and resentful of such accusations and will use their defensive tactics to respond or deny such conditions indeed exist under their command.

 

The main contributors are the hiring and selection process and lack of ethical training. Although they may claim sound hiring practices and topics on ethics, the truth is that many skip over these important requirements. Therefore a prisoner is left at the free-will of those that have their own brand of justice. This is where the genesis takes place as there are options with this oppressive force; compliance or non-compliance. There is a third force that impacts the prisoner being in the wrong place and time resulting them being placed in segregation.

 

Living with oppressive attitudes impacts the prisoner in many ways. They could be wrongfully targeted for different reasons:

Weak / strong individual personalities / bully personalities

Sexual harassment personalities/ Gay / Homosexual behaviors / Bi-sexual behaviors

Mentally ill / bizarre or unusual conduct

High-profile cases / nature of crime offenses

Gang membership or tattoos associating with gangs (street or prison)

Assaultive behaviors on staff / general offensive behaviors / nuisance conduct

 

The fact is many bad employees lack the moral turpitude to have such positions of authority. Hence there are similarities between prisoners and staff that create and escalate aggression.  Employees believe the prisoners are believed not to be held accountable for their crimes. Ironically unethical officers are also not held to be accountable for their own integrity. Both often demonstrate a high level of anger and frustration. Unethical officers resent these prisoners as they personalize and focus on punishing them as both engage with a code of silence and demonstrate loyalty to each other creating the “us versus them” barriers.

 

Under this progression, prisoners will experience significant increases in personal problems as well as loss of privileges causing pain, suffering or difficulties.  One can imagine the impact of these abuses as this process is detrimental to the seriously mentally ill not having the coping skills to withstand such provocation. Many unethical officers continue “poking the bear” until the prisoner demonstrates a desired behavior that “threatens the security of the institution” or creates “harm to self or others” justifying the means.  

 

This continuum showed how a prisoner makes this journey from lower custody to maximum custody as the administration developed a track record demonstrating the prisoner’s unwillingness to follow rules. Red flags on larger solitary confinement placements consist of excessive number of prisoner on prisoner assaults / prisoner on staff assaults; increased rate of suicide watches / security watches, uses of force and use of detention units. There is also an increased rate of discipline and grievances for both staff / prisoners. Finally there is an increase in homicides /suicides.

 

Management does not address or recognize this as a problem because weak administrators refuse to stop it as they just don’t have the courage to make change. This is the primary reason why misconduct is able to flourish or grow with confidence that they won’t get caught. The hypocrisy is the denial that such red flags exist within the penal settings.

 

 

AZ officers work hard to save inmate's life video

http://www.azcentral.com/video/#/AZ+inmate+Anthony+Brown+dies+while+prison+nurse+says+he%2019s+faking+his+pain/2280543424001

Film documentary on Gorilla Justice book

A personal note about Gorilla Justice - the book is doing well and I have been asked to assist a film documentary film producer to help establish the mental ill situation in Arizona. This film will be a documentary related to the lack of services pre-arrest - lack of services at pre-trial and the devious plea bargains that take place with the DA and public defenders with no interest whatsoever for the mentally ill person and - last but not least the lack of treatment and services in post trial albeit incarceration situations inside prisons.

When they interview me this week, I will bring up many concerns by family and parents of those incarcerated with seriously mentally ill diagnosis as many suffer from dual diagnosis that includes substance abuse as a result of self-medication and addiction from such self treatments.

Pandemonium & Delirium by Carl ToersBijns –

 Pandemonium and delirium swings between the past and the present. Thoughts of escaping this confusing feeling of hopelessness and searching for a momentary sanctuary in the present will allow my thoughts to break on through to the other side of the future. Haunted by demonic memories of the past, a realization occurs that brings the mind to accept the surrender of the truth would never allow life to be the same again forever.

Under the influence of the wrath of a corrupted control, the truth is hidden well as we struggle to find the light disguised as a fallen angel. A dark angel guided by sinful demonic thoughts trying to escape through twin evil doorways that enter either perdition and or a blazing fiery hell in either direction. The physical struggle exceeds the human mind as the body’s spirit has fallen to the torture of twisted emotions that brings down the strongest oxen and the boldest eagles to their knees.

Curing emotions that will never heal are the result of naïve thinking and trusting those in power that lied to me telling me life could be hot and sweet if I just followed the light to the end of the tunnel. Unable to move in either direction left or right, I was rigidly led up a path of self-destruction without an opportunity to look behind me in my imaginary rearview mirror and see all those good things in life disappear as if I was dead or forever lost in the fog that hovers the ground hiding all things from plain view and spirits.

Working up enough resistance to fight this feeling, I got torn apart between right and wrong. Gone are those wonderful moments and sentimental stories that took me back to my childhood days as I jump between a matrix of time and dimensions that included the past, the present and the future in no prearranged order. Struggling to stay alive, I have found a new identity to fight the devil as the scars that surround my heart begin to heal as I fake the cure to love the demons buying me time to save my own life.

My life was mixed with pandemonium as much as with delirium although I loved the way I felt at times that caused me to feel a sensation never felt before. Eager to get my hands on the devil and his wicked ways, I am completely determined to fight this feeling and end this struggle as I suckerpunched the demon to end this devilish struggle between right and wrong.

Finally, I feel the spirit in a good way while still, my suspicions of the demonic influences hide behind my new found boundaries that separate the good from evil. Pinching my skin to see if this is all a dream or reality, I found this struggle worth fighting as I can clearly distinguish the difference between right and wrong and my dreams and my realities.