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Wednesday’s Hotlinks – June 9, 2010

Mag Wright at Corrections.com writes about the win-win scenario in using stray dogs to help the rehabilitative process with inmates.

 

Don’t confuse confidence with arrogance, as one helps create a better correctional officer while arrogance and secretly destroy a productive work environment writes Joe Bouchard.

 

The Spokane County commissioners chose a new site for the second jail and courthouse campus and voting to locate a community corrections center near the existing jail.

 

A Utah inmate who was granted his wish to be executed by firing squad is set to die on June 18^th by five anonymous marksmen.

 

Officers at the Chelan County Regional Justice Centerwere shocked to find the amount of contraband one inmate smuggled into the center. Among other things, a cigarette lighter, rolling papers, and a bottle of tattoo ink were found.

 

And in this week’s news of the weird…

A man was arrested wearing a quite ironic T-Shirt. I’m sure the CO’s had quite a chuckle after seeing this guy walk through the doors.

The Shawshank Tea Party

When does a tax become an illegal tax? Well, that's a loaded question, because if you were to ask 100 people, you would most likely get 100 different responses. In 2004, the Center for Constitutional Rights and prisoners' families sued the New York Department of Correctional Services over what they felt were excessive calling rates for inmates. (According to this NY Times article, the telephone vendor charged $.16/minute plus a $3 surcharge).

In January of 2007, newly elected governor Eliot Spitzer enacted legislation that made it illegal for the NYDOCS to accept correctional telephone commissions, thus reducing the rates charged to inmates and their families. However, the CCR and inmates' families were also asking that they be refunded for the commissions paid to the prisons through high rates, or what they called an illegal tax.

Opponents of telephone commissions say that these rates hinder communication between an inmate and his/her family. By taxing these families, it not only hurts the chances of a successful reintegration in society, but also sets the family back financially substantially.  

Proponents of this issue will point out that correctional facilities and entities already operate on a shoestring budget and these commissions help hire and train employees and pay for overtime. In a lot of counties and states, the commissions received can only be used towards an Inmate Welfare Fund (IWF), which helps pay for amenities the inmates use and for educational programs (i.e. GED completion programs, vocational training) that will give an inmate a head start when he/she leaves.

So, I think it's high time for a little social experiment. Let's pretend for a second that I am the Governor of your state (yes, your imagination section of your brain would need to be quite large to comprehend that). Are you for or against commissions? Do you think there is enough middle ground for a consensus compromise that would appease both parties? Leave your comments and thoughts below. I'd like to come back to this issue in a few weeks or months and follow up with everyone's thoughts. Or, if you don't want publicly voice your opinion (or you're shy), email me at spackard@dsiiti.com. I'll promise to keep all info confidential.

It's What's For Dinner

In my ongoing quest to bring the good news of self sufficiency, I found an article the other day about 1,150 acre farm in Tulare County, California that is able to feed all 1,700 inmates housed in the county.

According to the article, over 3,500 pounds of pork and beef are culled from the farm, as well as 50,000 pounds of vegetables. This entire program is  managed by the Tulare County Sheriff's Department.

I, for one, applaud the efforts by the Sheriff's Department to be self-sufficient. There are several positive outcomes for such an endeavor.  The biggest benefit is that the County saves money by reducing their dependence on outsourced foods. In today's economic environment, anything that can save cash (big or small) always adds to the bottom line. Taxpayers are happy to see that their taxes can be spent on other items such as funding for police and fire services. Another positive aspect is that this is a valuable learning tool for inmates. Many inmates, unfortunately, are from urbanized areas that don't create an opportunity to realize the many benefits for farming and self-sufficiency.  If this experience can teach an inmate about a hard days work and lessen the impact to the taxpayers, then I would call it a win-win.

I think if California, or any other state, wants to cut down on recidivism, then I think it might be valuable to offer a co-op or extension program to help these inmates after they get out. When inmates return home, there are ways to start a small individual or community garden that they can be taught.

The big picture is that to reduce crime, the biggest factors are education and engagement. If we could start a cycle of educating communities about buying locally produced food and engaging them with proper tools to keep the cycle going, then I think we could reduce the incidence of crime in young individuals.

So do you agree, or disagree? Any other ideas we could share with the rest of the corrections industry? If so, please leave a comment at the bottom!

A Sobering Reality

Earlier this month, on the night of August 9^th, the Reception Center West at the California Institution for Men in Chino, CA erupted into chaos and mayhem. Reports estimate a total of nearly 250 injured prisoners with 55 requiring hospitalization. For eleven hours, black and Latino prisoners with gang affiliations engaged in combat.

Because of the quick response of the CO's and prison authorities, this melee resulted in zero prison employee injuries, zero fatalities and zero escaped inmates.

Every day, correctional employees, correctional vendors and other prison personnel wake up and find themselves conducting business in a dangerous environment.  Although 99% of the time everything seems normal and running like a well oiled machine, we must keep that small "What If' thought in the back of our minds when walking the concrete corridors.

Thanks to efforts by national, state, and local correctional associations and other entities, jails and prisons across the country are able to conduct business as usual within that 99% window.  But, as Chino showed us, when that 1% event does happen corrections personnel will be ready.

This incident shows why millions of dollars are invested each year into continuous training and more effective and efficient products and services to jails and prisons nationwide. For example, the Arizona Detention Association holds classes throughout the year for CO's within Arizona and the association holds an annual leadership and technology conference.

So, another question for the audience.

What efforts have been made by your facility or association to keep you and your fellow employees on the front line of defense?

Do you have any examples that may benefit other readers?

Let your thoughts flow in the comments section below!

Can you really do more with less? Or even the same with less?

It's the time of the year again where two sides square off and theatrically dance around until both sides come to agreement.  No, it's not a revival of "West Side Story", it's the arrival of the budgetary blues.  Yep, your elected representatives are digging down deep in their respective trenches and going to battle.

Of course, corrections and law enforcement are almost always caught in the middle.  Many stories over the past few months within the corrections industry are tied in with ways jails and prisons are coming up with ideas to save money.  The Washington state DOC is looking to release seriously ill inmates to save on incarceration and health costs.  Some states, like Illinois, are considering cutting back their already depleted DOC staff.

Unfortunately, it seems more budget cuts like these will continue until the national (and global for that matter) economy starts to get better.

In the mean time, corrections staff and administration have to come up with creative ways to reduce cost.  Some of the most common ways that I've seen to cut costs are reducing the number of CO's and executive staff, arranging group transportation of inmates to court and other places and lowering health and food costs.

In other creative examples, Broward County is looking for a volunteer entity to run a jail, Los Angeles County was considering freeing 4,000 inmates and some state DOC's are looking into relaxing some of their prison policies.

As I reported before, there are other jails and prisons across the country looking for ways to cut costs.  So, to ask my readers again, what ways are you looking to cut costs?  

Maybe you found something that has worked and want to share with other readers?  

Let your ideas flow in the comments section below.

Big Screen Heroes

 

 

It seems that Hollywood brushes a large stroke over its portrayal of law enforcement on TV and in movies. We've all seen the whole range of characters- from the archetypical "stand tall and don't take crap from no one" character to the evil and conniving rogue cop.  This is especially true when it comes to sheriffs.  The sheriff (in most states) is the head honcho for law enforcement in his or her county.  This makes them easy targets for Hollywood.  Unfortunately, a few bad apples every now and then help to keep the image of the evil sheriff alive in the public imagination. 

Anyways, I thought I'd create a list of memorable sheriffs portrayed on film and television.  If you think I've snubbed someone, please let me know.  I may do a part deux down the road!

1) Sheriff Bart in ‘Blazing Saddles' - Ole' Bart was just a railroad worker when he was "hired" by Governor LePetomane to be Sheriff of Rock Ridge. (Where everyone had a last name of Johnson). After defeating every villain known to man (including Nazis and bikers), he is able to enjoy the ending of the movie by sitting beside his sidekick, the Waco Kid.

2) Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in "The Dukes of Hazzard" - Sheriff Roscoe is the right hand man for Boss Hogg and must have had some of the highest auto insurance premiums known to man. (I think even the Gecko wouldn't go near him). Between him and Enos, they never did catch those Duke boys, but it wasn't for a lack for trying.

3) Sheriff Buford T. Justice in "Smokey and the Bandit" - Now, here is Sheriff willing to do anything to catch a criminal, even if it means driving outside his jurisdiction. Again, he never was able to catch the Bandit or the Snowman, but he did have to deal with his less-than-competent son, Junior (I'm starting to notice a theme here).

4) Sheriff Andy Taylor in "The Andy Griffith Show" - Here we go. Now we have a portrayal of a kind and competent Sheriff. Sheriff Taylor was able to foil the attempts of moon shiners and nefarious criminals and protect the good citizens of Mayberry. Of course, he too had a bumbling sidekick in Deputy Barney Fife.

5) Sheriff of Nottingham in "Robin Hood" - As with any good story, the protagonist needs an equal antagonist. The Sheriff of Nottingham is the right hand man to Prince John and has tried for a long time to capture Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Alas, every version of the story always ends the same for the Sheriff and it is not putting Robin behind bars.

If we were to believe Hollywood, the one surefire way to become elected as Sheriff is to A) have a bumbling, yet lovable, buffoon as your second in command and/or B) be the right hand man to an evil Prince or County Commissioner.

Facility Spotlight - “The Alcatraz of the Rockies”

Every industry has its own "famous" quirks. For example, architects have their Guggenheim and Fallingwater; doctors have their Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinics.

The corrections industry has its own famous facilities. On occasion (read: when I can't think of anything to write about), I'll shine the spotlight on a famous facility, whether domestic or international.

Today, I'm looking west towards the snowcapped Rockies. Here we find the United State Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX), but many people may know it as ADX Florence.

ADX Florence is nestled in Florence, Colorado, about a 2 ½ hour drive south of Denver.

ADX Florence opened in November 1994. With all the talk today about housing the Gitmo detainees, it's noted that the citizens of Florence and Fremont County had welcomed the prison into their neighborhood.

The worst of the worst currently call ADX Florence home. It's also reads as a "Who's Who of Criminals".

Some of the inmates include:

Theodore Kaczynski - AKA ‘The Unabomber'

Terry Nichols - Oklahoma City bombing conspirator

Eric Rudolph - 1996 Atlanta Olympic Park bomber

Robert Hanssen - Former FBI agent convicted of spying for the Russians, and inspiration of the movie "Breach".

Interesting Facts:

1) Most of the furniture inside the facility's cells is made out of poured concrete; including the desk, stool, and bed.

2) TV channel selection consists of recreational, educational, and religious programming

3) Telecommunication is forbidden

4) It has been dubbed by the Guinness World Records as the most secure prison in the world

5) Most prisoners are held in solitary confinement for 23 hours every day, with 1 hour of exercise. Of course, it's probably a little tough to exercise while restrained with leg irons and handcuffs.

Interesting place, huh?!