The Role of an Executioner [Arizona]

Jim Klein spent 20 years as a correctional professional who has spent much of his time as a correctional officer preparing for the most controversial task given to a corrections official in the role of the state of Arizona’s executioner in the death chamber. Realizing this story is sensitive in nature and restricted to the data made available for the public or outside the agency individuals, Jim has agreed to talk about his role that very few executioners in the United States have ever talked about or revealed to the public.

Introduced to Jim just about a month ago, we met in a Mesa restaurant to discuss some issues related to the agency as we were contemplating a partnership in consulting employees with their administrative problems. Never asking this man’s personal opinion or feelings about the death penalty, this story is told to show what type of person mentally prepares and trains to perform strictly confidential and regimented procedures related to the death penalty in Arizona. Jim Klein is no doubt a true professional with an outgoing personality that one would not connect with that of an executioner. Finding no stereotype for such a job, it can be said that Jim is an earnest man with empathy and concern for many of his coworkers, peers and comrades. A perfectionist at heart, he does his job and carries out orders well. Without exception, the execution policy has some of the most rigid criteria ever written to ensure the process is performed with integrity, honor, and respect. It is fair to say that after every execution, another element was discussed, either medically, legally or conditionally making the process a little bit more refined or dignified than it was before. Cloaked with secrecy for intentional purposes, the policy is refined constantly to meet recent law cases and litigation related to the death penalty and rulings accordingly. This writer has participated in three execution practice rounds and two actual readings of the death warrant involving inmates Jeffery Landrigan and Daniel Wayne Cook. Both executions were put on hold pending a U.S. Supreme ruling on the method of lethal injection challenged by an inmate in the state of Kentucky. Today, the state is preparing to execute inmate Cook as all legal hurdles have been cleared and a date is to be set. Knowing first hand how tedious and detailed this process actually is, meeting this legend was most informative as he shared a large portion or Arizona history with me that Thursday afternoon. Stressing how important it was that the execution team practiced and practiced over and over until the agency director is satisfied with its proceedings, he shared some insight on his role as an executioner.

Jim has performed the duties assigned to participate “in a total of twelve.” He goes on to say “I ran the controls on the two lethal gas executions, and either performed escorts or worked behind the mirror on the rest. Working behind the mirror meant we did the needle sticks and pushed the drugs through the syringes when the order was given. I only did escorts on two.” Asking Jim to recall the names of those he participated in executing, he ran off a list of death row inmates that started with Don Harding, April 6, 1992, the first inmate executed in Arizona for the past 29 years. He then goes over a few more names and identified Jimmy Wayne Jeffers, Bob Vickers, Michael Poland, Karl Legrand, Walter Legrand and Randy Greenwalt. Some of them were high profile criminals that did some hideous crimes in the state but Jim said he never took his job personal. When asked if any of them were most strange or eerie, he replied “None of them were eerie. If asked, he would surely say that the nights and days were particularly challenging for him before and after an execution. The strangest was one of the LeGrand brothers, I can't remember which, but he was the first to go. They had made a pact to go by the gas chamber, but he kept flip flopping on which way to go, so we actually were set up to carry out either method right up until the last minute. 30 minutes before, he decided on lethal injection. It took a lot of time to clean up that night, because we had to clean up the injection side, as normal, then the gas chamber, because it was all set to go.”

Jim stated that his selection to the execution team was by coincidence as he was involved in a disturbance inside Cellblock 6 where he took a shot at an inmate [Steve James] with knee knockers while “I was a sergeant when he was attempting to kill a child molester with a prison made spear. He was hiding behind a mattress. My first shot bounced off the wall and hit him in head, my second shot hit him directly in his right knee when he lift the mattress to cover his head.” After the CB 6 incident, he was asked by his Tactical Support Unit (TSU) commander, Tim O’Conner to describe what was going through his mind when he prepared to shoot the inmate and said he replied with “The principals of marksmanship, sight picture, sight alignment, breath control, trigger squeeze." He said, "No, I mean about the fact that hitting him in the head might kill him." My reply was to repeat the same thing over again. It was at that moment that “he asked me to join the Special Operations Team.” However, it is more likely that it was the manner of Jim’s professional demeanor and his self-control of the matter that drew attention to him rather than the incident.

Jim Klein’s resume is that of a person whose humility and courage is hard to describe with words as his deeds were best described as exceptional and valorous. His employment with the Arizona prison system started in Florence Arizona, a prison town that is currently one of the largest in the nation as a CSOI and CSOII at East Unit, a Sergeant at North Unit, a Lieutenant at East Unit, a Captain at East Unit and CB6, a Major at Central Unit, Eyman Complex, and Florence Complex, an ADW at South Unit, and a Deputy Warden at Bachman Unit, ASPC-Lewis. “I spent 12 years on TSU in Florence and Eyman, and I was also the head of the Florence Negotiator Team. I am FBI certified, and also hold a certification with the National Tactical Officer's Association. I was the first responder to the Lewis hostage standoff, and spent 13+ hours on the phone with Ricky Wassenaar.” On January 18, 2004, two prison inmates, Ricky Wassenaar and Steven Coy, his cell mate, took over the kitchen at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis and set in motion the longest prison hostage stand-off in United States history. It was to last for fifteen days until February 1, 2004.

Retired in 2005, Jim Klein has tirelessly continued to help the employees of the agency through the use of his strength in knowing the policies so well and assisting them with the administrative relief granted through the employee relations grievance process and statutory standards as applied to the agency. Executioners, for obvious reasons by policy and privacy, almost always remain anonymous.

Chemical Castration for Repeat Sex Offenders

The rate of incarceration for Arizona citizens reported in 2008 by the StateHealthFact.org shows a rate of 571 persons for every 100,000 in the state compared to 504 persons for every 100,000 in the United States. “The crime rate in Arizona is about 23% higher than the national average rate. The rate of incarceration for Arizona reported for 2009 was 579 persons per 100,000 compared to 447 persons for the nation. [1]

According to the Arizona Department of Corrections published website, there are approximately 14,500 registered sex offenders in Arizona. These sex offenders range from all social classes and are male and female, rich and poor, unemployed and employed. They have so religious preferences and are both educated and non-educated. Some sex offenders are strangers to their victims about many are known by the victim or victim’s family members. Their method is to gains the child’s trust and take advantage of that trust. Sex offenders are pedophiles who seek out single parent mothers for the purpose of victimizing their children. Potential victims are poor, neglected, loners or runaways and many are groomed by the sex offender before victimized.

The Associated Press reported that “A Virginia legislator is proposing castrating sex offenders as an alternative to the increasing costs to detain and treat them after they've served their prison sentences. Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger's bill would require the state to study the use of physical castration as an alternative to civil commitment for sexually violent predators. A similar proposal was vetoed four years ago. The civil commitment program's budget grew from $2.7 million in 2004 to $24 million this year. Gov. Bob McDonnell has proposed spending nearly $70 million over the next two years to meet the increasing demands. Eight other states allow for some form of castration for sex offenders, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only Louisiana and Texas allow for physical castration” [2]

Perhaps it is time to look at chemical castration for repeat offenders in Arizona. The term "chemical castration" was first used in reference to a punitive measure for sex offenders in 1982 by the Arizona Supreme Court. [See State v. Christopher, 652 P.2d 1031, 1031 (Ariz. 1982)] (Explaining a probationary treatment alternative recommended by a psychiatrist, but not ordered by the trial court). The media also described the court-imposed administration of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) to sex offenders as "chemical castration” which requires weekly injections after release from prison. Research showed that California was able to pass such a law in 1997 on conditions the offender was a “twice convicted” child molester and the procedure was to be implemented in order to gain approved parole. [3]

According to an article written in the Houston Journal of International Law, Wntr, 1997 by Stacy Russell, titled “Castration in the United States: The Debate at Home “ the time has come to re-visit this method of dealing with repeat offenders endangering the communities and our children. At the present time, there are eight states that permit chemical castration. Many other states have tried to pass laws similar but were found unconstitutional by their supreme courts thus ending their efforts to implement such an action. These laws are voluntary for sexual offenders as the United States Supreme Court has ruled that involuntary castration is unconstitutional. [4]

The matter most urgently addressed is the fact that many of these sex offenders have committed hundreds of acts that victimized not just one person or child but many more. This method or castration is to allow the children more protections against future violations and victimization by these child molesters and registered sex offenders. Like the death penalty, in order to perform these voluntary castrations, medical staff, doctors, would have to be hired and located to perform the requested castration procedure. Then the matter of who pays for the procedure has to be determined in advance for clearing up any issues state officials may have regarding the liabilities involved. “About eight U.S. states - including California, Florida, Texas and Louisiana - allow some form of chemical castration for repeat sex offenders.” All are voluntary and are conditions of shortening their sentences and being approved for parole. It has been argued by many lawyers if giving consent to such an operational procedure is “truly free and informed.”[5]

Death Row Inmate Daniel Wayne Cook

The United States Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Arizona death row inmate Cook requesting that his death sentence be overturned. Cook was convicted of murder for the 1987 strangling deaths of two men in Lake Havasu City. The justices did not comment on their order. Cook says his death sentence should be reversed because he has post-traumatic stress disorder and organic brain damage. In a separate appeal, Cook's lawyers are challenging the use of a controversial sedative used in the execution process that could potentially cause Cook a little pain before he dies. (1) At the same time, a judge in Arizona informed the Tucson shooting suspect he could be facing the death penalty for his deeds that early Saturday morning where he recklessly fired his handgun into a crowd meeting with Congresswoman Gabby Giffords on her Congress on the Corner event at the Safeway supermarket. The article cited stated that the “judge asked if he understood that he could get life in prison — or the death penalty — for killing federal Judge John Roll, in the shooting rampage. Giffords was a vocal opponent of the law and a supporter of Obama's healthcare law widely opposed by conservatives. Loughner is charged with one count of attempted assassination of a member of Congress, two counts of killing an employee of the federal government and two counts of attempting to kill a federal employee. Those are federal charges.” (2)

A 1993 California study argues that each death penalty case “costs at least $1.25 million more than a non-death penalty murder case and a sentence of life without possibility of parole.” Opponents of lethal injection argue that far from being humane, the procedure actually can cause excruciating pain. This allegation - that the current, three-drug method of lethal injection can cause inmates significant levels of pain - was at the heart of the Baze case. In order to establish an "objectively intolerable risk" of pain, those challenging lethal injection or another method of execution on Eighth Amendment grounds need to show that the method in question creates a "demonstrated risk of severe pain," Chief Justice Roberts wrote challengers must show that there are feasible alternative methods that significantly reduce risk of pain. Although seven justices voted to uphold Kentucky's lethal injection protocol, there was little agreement among those in the majority. Longer term, the tough standards laid out by Chief Justice Roberts in the decision will make it difficult for death row inmates and death penalty opponents to challenge lethal injection or other methods of capital punishment on Eighth Amendment grounds in the future. A national study of 4,578 capital appeals over a 23-year period found that 68% of the death sentences were reversed because of serious error. (3)

“Smart on Crime” is a new report from the Death Penalty Information Center that explores the prospect of saving states hundreds of millions of dollars by ending the death penalty. The nation’s police chiefs rank the death penalty last in their priorities for effective crime reduction. Criminologists concur that the death penalty does not effectively reduce the number of murders. New Mexico abolished the death penalty and the Connecticut legislature passed an abolition bill before the governor vetoed it. As the economic crisis continues, the trend of states reexamining the death penalty in light of its costs is expected to continue. The money spent to preserve this failing system could be directed to effective programs that make society safer. California is spending an estimated $137 million per year on the death penalty and has not had an execution in three and a half years. Florida is spending approximately $51 million per year on the death penalty, amounting to a cost of $24 million for each execution it carries out. A recent study in Maryland found that the bill for the death penalty over a twenty-year period that produced five executions will be $186 million. Other states like New York and New Jersey spent well over $100 million on a system that produced no executions. Both recently abandoned the practice. The report that follows analyzes the costs of the death penalty as measured in various state studies. (4) The movement to abolish capital punishment has an equally long history. In 1847, for instance, Michigan became the first state to effectively end capital punishment. As noted earlier, there have been just over 1,000 executions since 1976, when the Supreme Court ruled that states could once again employ the death penalty. Opposition to the death penalty also has helped to change the way people are executed. According to the American Medical Association, in 15 states, laws require medical doctors to at least be present during an execution because lethal injection is a medical procedure. Physician opposition has made it difficult for some states to find adequate medical personnel to conduct executions. No Western European or Central European countries execute felons, regardless of the severity of the crime. Moreover, many countries that still have death penalty laws on the books, including Russia and Brazil, have stopped executing inmates. In Europe and elsewhere, the worldwide abolition of the death penalty has become a major human rights issue, and countries like the United States are routinely criticized for continuing to execute inmates. Capital punishment has a long and nearly uninterrupted history in the United States. (5)

This writer was formerly employed with the Arizona Department of Corrections and the past unit administrator of Arizona’s death row section in 2007 - 2008, and can attest to the conditions and dynamics involved in the management of such death row inmates. Having been personally present for the death warrants served during his term as a deputy warden of death row, it was observed with first hand knowledge of the tremendous amount of resources the state of Arizona puts into the housing, the custodial responsibilities, the preparation and the legal termination of a death row inmate in Arizona. Robert Charles Comer's execution on May 22, 2007 was the last in Arizona and the first in the state since Donald Miller was executed on Nov. 8, 2000. The trend however, is definitely not over as there are currently 134 inmates on Arizona’s death row awaiting their turn. The notes for the reading of death warrant on inmate Jeffrey T. Landrigan, ADC#082157, on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 show a somber and a very quiet moment as he is being advised that he will be put to death. Landrigan's scheduled execution was postponed by the Arizona Supreme Court after the U.S. Supreme Court said it would decide the Kentucky case. The warrant on inmate Daniel Cook was read and also postponed by the Supreme Court. The Arizona Supreme Court ordered the execution of inmate Jeffrey Landrigan, #82157, on Oct. 26, 2010. Today, the U.S. Supreme court rejected the final appeal of inmate David Wayne Cook who will be scheduled to be executed here in the near future.

Sources;

(1)http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/01/us_supreme_court_rejects_appea.php
(2) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/arizona-shooting-suspect-could-face-death-penalty-2181450.html
(3)http://www.azdeathpenalty.org/
(4)http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/CostsRptFinal.pdf
(5)http://pewforum.org/Death-Penalty/An-Impassioned-Debate-An-Overview-of-the-Death-Penalty-in-America.aspx#worldwide

Disgruntled Employees

The person believed that his boss had unjustly mistreated him, and remained disgruntled for a long time. How many times have you heard a referral to another employee or former employee as a disgruntled person? What components of “disgruntled” actually apply and how many other factors are injected into the thought or conversation that can mislead someone to think the person talked about has no credibility or validity in what he or she says to others, including the media.

In most cases, these “disgruntled” employees were bright and creative individuals before being labeled a troublemaker or malcontent. The reasons for such mislabeling is obvious if you take the time to read into each and every individual case to glean the purpose of such deceptive administrative approaches and practice to dishonor someone who may have served you well for many years but is now considered to be someone who should be dismissed as a viable source to contain the truth.

Unlike whistleblowers, people who speak the truth and break their internal code of silence or organizational cultures are portrayed to be “traitors” to their peers and administrators. Deflecting anything these persons say or write, is imperative to ensure their own credibility remains intact even though they may have engaged in deceptive practices that were social acceptable through tacit approval methods and the political correctness of today’s society.

Many administrators will never admit they have failed to observe and manage such persons before they resign or are terminated. It is a lose-lose situation for many organization to lose creative and bright individuals who have and still can contribute to the organizational productivity by have been mismanaged at the curve of their change in mindset. Admitting to failure, a no-no in the political arena, a good defense is a solid offense of spiteful words and innuendoes as it also deflects the wrongdoings or the misconduct away from the entity.

In law enforcement, there are many highly motivated and productive people doing a very good job at what they were hired to do. It is alleged that when these people lose their personal focus on the organizational product, they spend more time sabotaging and undermining administrative actions than anything else. Managers, unprepared and untrained to deal with such actions are outmaneuvered and lose control of the situation allowing more damage to be done in the meantime before the problem is handled.

A thorough survey of what a “disgruntled” employee looks or acts like revealed qualities that serve as a common thread to many situations. First symptomatic indicator revealed was a continuum of administrative actions consisting of excessive supervisory interactions to meet and discuss problems, responding to union or labor organizational initiated grievances, informal and formal disciplinary actions indicating this person is problematic in nature and not happy at the workplace.

Supervisors, quick to blame the organization for not helping them managing the behavior are baffled when they realize that their inaction and their lack of documentation regarding behaviors and incidents contributed to the problem. Not holding the person or employee accountable compounded the problem and creates a weak personnel file to act upon. A police report regarding this subject matter states “ This allows problems to continue and get worse, gives tacit approval for inappropriate behavior and performance and opens the door for employee claims of a "personality conflict," unfair treatment, discrimination and a whole host of other allegations. It is these failures, and not the system, that often gives attorneys and labor organizations more than enough ammunition to successfully defend these employees at appeals, in arbitration and in the courts.”

Blaming the first line or middle line supervisors for lack of managing the problem employee is common and often misplaced. The solution to this apathy towards disciplining or holding someone responsible comes from the top to the bottom as administrators demonstrate a strong will to lead by example and give clear direction so to become mentors for the first and middle line managers. Failure to do so creates frustration and changes the mindset and the culture of those who follow. It renders supervisors powerless and eventually gives them the urge to give up any attempts to correct behaviors.

Looking at this criteria researched to identify disgruntled employees or former employees you will seen that this label is often misplaced by top administrators to dismiss their existence or their message. Having to admit these voices of reason speak the truth would be an admittance of guilt that the organization has not managed its own ranks starting with the supervisors and then middle and top management.

Conceivably, these persons were just the opposite and “gruntled” employees or former employees. Gruntled employees can be described by the Oxford Dictionary as “pleased, satisfied, and contented.” It is quiet possible that fed up with the inconsistencies of the organizational moods, rules and culture, these people recognized the opportunity to avoid being sucked into such a dark culture where there were larger issues looming that were harmful to their individual integrity, their conscience and their principles. Perhaps, they realized that the job they once had and enjoyed has been changed [politically] to the degree they can’t be of the same mind with the others in power and relied on fairness to sort things out for them to understand the direction they were headed. Maybe the fairness was denied and they sought other remedies to resolve their issues including speaking out and letting it be known that the mindset and the politics of their [former] employers are harmful to others and endanger matters such as public safety, individual safety and organizational safety to the point they no long want to be associated with such destructive policy.

Source:

http://emotionalsurvival.com/malcontent_and_disgruntled_employees.htm
http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1252578#m_en_us1252578

Man vs. Man

The physiological effects of working solitary confinement inside one of those SuperMax facilities requires special conditioning and special preparation for those hard core staffers who often volunteer for such an assignment within a maximum custody prison. Counter-acting and attacking the psychological effects of those inmates housed in solitary confinement, already documented in many different books and mental health articles as horrific, draconic, inefficient and extremely costly, this perspective is from the officer’s ears and eyes where not many have dared to tread due to the extremely dangerous element they work in. It is only whispered during a cold brew or a casual talk. In reality, this approach may be considered a straight out of the box Maslow’s theory and not without controversy, an insight on why officers assigned to the max custody units behave the way they do. How they rationalize their behavior or conduct as well as the justification to act in such a manner. Through the eyes of those who share their perils, you may understand their undertaking. You might say this is the face in the mirror of solitary confinement, only instead of wearing an orange jumpsuit; it wears a uniform that is consistent with law and order.

The matter of fact also remains that these same factors drive the opposition to its goal to dominate each other through competition, misunderstandings and fear. The difference in this competition is the ability for the staff member to leave and normalize their activities and enjoy their freedom. This temporary absence from the place is very significant in their ability to survive the conflict as it gives them a mental re-charge that avoid the negatives impacts made by solitaire, desolation and no human contact. Purely from a strategic point of view, this makes the inmate more vulnerable to suicides, self mutilations and disruptive conduct. Make no mistake; their minds are restless and filled with sleepless nights by thoughts of what occurred that day on their tour of duty inside one of the most ghastly places one could possibly stay alive. The various acts that occur within this phenomenon called prison are horrendous and non-gratifying to all that work there. Working in an environment of intimidation, they can’t afford to relax one moment.

Depending on the physical space and the design of such a underground colossal unit, staff prepare themselves daily by learning how to endure eight to sixteen hours of hostile territory impacted by a combination of chaos, phobias, disorder and many times, physical altercations that can test a person’s endurance and stamina to the limit. Sharing commonalities already documented to be valid elements of a hierarchy established for control, these officers focus on many specific ideals to remain effective at their work and minimize the risks associated with doing the job. Their hearts beat faster upon entry of the walls and their minds race at neck breaking speed to process their duties. In addition to control these officers require safety, self-esteem, motivation, acceptance as well as many other growth needs that lead to their self fulfillment and reaching their full potential.

It is complete job satisfaction when there is a feeling of "complete actualization" and dominance takes place that resembles adrenalin high as their spirits soar freely with a slight euphoric sensation associated with their power and control of the milieu. In return for such a conquering advance, the officers must also attain those physical condition that allows them to feel physically supreme and in control of the situation when presented to them spontaneously inside the joint. Stacking the challenges, officers recognize there are many obstacles to their conquest. For example, their interconnection with the daily events created by a natural occurrence of repetitive and habitual motions that require meticulous execution to make no mistakes. Frequently imposed by regulations, they are mechanically performed to satisfy the minimum conditions of confinement. Thus the introduction of complacency adds to the doldrums of the environment.

Just like the inmate, their psychological state deteriorates over time and the heart and mind becomes insensitive or even dull to some extent. Robotic in their actions they deliver the inmate’s food, mail, clothing, toilet paper, etc. in a simple but yet cautious manner as they know that every time they enter the cell block, they are likely to be victimized by an assaultive inmate who has grabbed something to throw at the officer upon entry or worse yet, sharpened a piece of steel to make a shank capable of killing a man if placed in the right place on the torso. This false sense of performing their tasks without added concern allows the inmate an opportunity to catch the officer by surprise. The more vehement the inmate acts, the more of a conflict is created. Many staffers, not looking for a fight, will try to avoid confrontations and dispatch a supervisor to defuse the situation whenever possible.

Such intensity breeds more resistance and the clashes grow to no end. Treatment and medication offered to the inmate would incapacitate their ability to fight the opponent and thus they cheek it and flush it down the drain to maintain the upper hand of his ploy to maim someone, capture a hostage or escape from the confines of his cell. Psychosis and all, inmates housed in maximum custody cope very well in the gladiator environment and claim to condition themselves daily for the encounter with the combatant of their choice or opportunity. exiting their cells for recreation, they workout their stress and anxiety through rigorous physical exercise within the confines of the exercise enclosure and under the watchful eyes of the officers.

Mental health professionals and penal experts have suffered for decades on how to break this vicious cycle of violence and mistrust inside the joints. They have offered chemical restraints, therapeutic communities as well as establishing behavioral units to control both the sociopath and the mentally ill. Many staffers do not distinguish a difference between these types of inmates and impose the same level of understanding or expectation on either of their classes housed together inside these concrete walls. Thus disciplinary serves no purpose for either the lifer or the mentally ill as neither care of know of its consequences yet staffers continue to write tickets regardless of their mental status. Again, training of the proper approach would enhance order and understanding

Compounded by ill prepared non-evidence based programs, poor funding and poor training, staff have endured the task at hand with little or no success in diminishing the mayhem inside the joint. Two sub-cultures, at war with each other prepare for the battle daily and taking "no prisoners" in the frequent engagements of cell extractions and forced movement. Doctors and nurses, working hard to maintain the level of treatment required for such conditions strife over the uncooperativeness of their “patients" as security has to bring them to the infirmary as it is too dangerous to enter the cell wings. Fearing their own licensure and responsibilities they are cautious in the delivery of service and limit their potential to exceed the expected number of patients to be seen on any day.

So how does this stalemate come together and be successful in treatment and operations you must ask by now. The only way you can break on through to the other side is to break the cultures that control the environment. Staff must learn to "trust” each other and communicate openly without the code of silence; they must follow ethics first and allow their loyalties to come in second in the workplace. Contrary to their belief, this will solidify teams, not weaken them. They must be re-trained in de-escalation methods and crisis intervention. Their learning must include critical intervention methods and audibly and visually be able to pick up the symptomatic responses of each illness or disorders. The perception that mentally ill inmates are "malingering psychopaths" should be dispelled with proper identification of the various disorders inmates may have inside the joint. Again, training and more training.

Inmates must follow rules and regulations and submit to the idea that this conflict is not productive and a time wasting effort. The sociopaths should be separated from the mentally ill and not allow their destructive energy to dominate the psychotic population. Separated by both body and sound, their behaviors must be managed accordingly. The sociopaths, demonstrating their gladiator skills to other inmates may elevate their social status but increases their conflicts with staffers that are prepared to deal with such a bizarre and violent behavior. The mentally ill, weaker [in mind] than the others, must be allowed to grow in confidence and allow staff to foster them into a sense of trust so they can be treated without the use of chemical or mechanical restraints.

Doctors and psychiatrists must persist on sound and timely treatment both medically and mental health oriented. Administrators must endure these variations of tradition and customs and allow a variance in operational protocol to exist without conflict or controversy. Legislators must fund the treatment elements and the public must understand that if prisons are to ever reduce their population and reduce the costs of incarceration, they must sacrifice their tax dollars to ensure the implementation and operations of such treatment programs within such a strange but explainable setting. A secondary advantage of such treatment programs are reduced recidivism rates that can free up resources to handle other problematic areas of the prison systems and a reduction in expensive psychotropic medication that is a mandatory requirement for stabilization in the process.

This setting is not exclusive of maximum custody and must be addressed at all custody levels. Overcrowding, poor classification systems, reduced rehabilitation programs and incentives creating idleness, poor training and poor management skills are all ingredients of a clash that can’t be avoided if they are not addressed in the immediate future. The focus of the need has been allocated for the maximum custody inmate as they cost the states more money to keep than any other inmate.

Source:

http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/regsys/maslow.html
http://solitarywatch.com/2010/09/23/how-to-create-madness-in-prison/

Public Safety

Public Safety and the wellness of our citizens is our number one public service priority, yet we have faltered in both areas. We are currently furloughing essential correctional employees, perhaps not the correctional officer II series but the rest of the group(s) who will be mandated to take time off for fiscal savings due to severe budget cuts thus creating more work for the already under staffed correctional workers that work one of the worst prison systems in the United States. Translating this severe cutback and its impact will result in more homicides, suicides, serious assaults on staff and more inmate to inmate conflicts that are created because of overcrowding, understaffing and idleness that create the devil’s work inside the prisons.

The wellness of our state has been jeopardized by the state’s version of Medicaid being cut severely affecting more than a half a million state residents and families. Preventive care programs are becoming severely limited in services thus elevating the risks of death for many who depend on these services to recover from illness or diseases or just to maintain a life style that is either physically or mentally challenged with no hopes of getting better. AHCCCS preventive care was the core of our salvation that there was hope to recover or get better as their coverage for routine medical services to transplants for live saving procedures have been severely impacted. Between these two state reductions alone, there will be severe job cuts and leave the state in a more frightful situation than ever before. Other cuts on the planning table will cruelly cut back education, mental health services, basic public works services and many more to make the state a disaster area with no federal relief in sight.

The only hope for a recovery is based on more jobs coming into the state and a better economic recovery. The state leaders owe it to the citizens to spend their time and efforts on creating a stimulus plan that will inject new life into our state’s economy so that we can reverse the trend we are on now. I urge the state legislature and the governor’s office to do the right things for our state and work together in harmony striving hard to get us back on our feet and provide us with some stability in our pursuit of happiness, well being, and prosper like we have in the past. This is the time to set aside your political affiliations, your personal opinions and your stubborn stance on your own particular issues. Open up your mind by discussing these matters and more with the kind of spirit that will enhance and open communication between parties and demonstrate that as a solid team, you can pull this disaster plan together and develop sound and rational ideas and strategies to bring prosperity back to Arizona.

Dark Days - Black Knights

Written by:
Jim Klein
Carl R. ToersBijns

DEDICATION

Special dedication to:

The Men and Women
working behind the
walls and fences to
Keep Us Safe.

The Poem

A grim, odd arcane sky
Looms about the darkened castle
Looking up into this sky to find
Any god, Is mark sacred.

A masked cry adoring
These White Knights are exploring
Seeking justice and fairness for all
Instead they find a sick dragon,
Whose flame has destroyed so many hearts

Dark days and Black Knights
Appear before the secret world
Imposing their wrath and anger
On those who threaten their evil globe

So on to this Quest for honor
Standing tall to save the day
For dark days and Black Knights
Only symbolize the most evil way


INTRODUCTION

The fort was quiet as the full moon quietly slithered behind the heavy gloomy clouds, burdened with heavy anticipated precipitation and thunder and lightning creates a magnificent light show in the distance. There in the coldness and damp air, stands a shadowy figure posted upon the highest part of the ridge built by men centuries before he came. This wall made of stones and mud endured the tests of time and remained to be one of the more stoutly built walls of the fortress. Slightly moving and swaying his hands as if he was talking to a God up above, stands a man dressed in shiny white armor, carrying weapons capable of inflicting death with a swift strike, that included his personal custom made dagger and his special trusty sword, made of titanium.

This man, referred to as the White Knight, is the leader of many knights who live inside this partially ruined abandoned castle waiting and yearning to begin their journey spoken of a Quest for Truth, Justice, Safety and Transparency in the operation of its nemesis, the Evil Empire. Soon, this group of knights armed with the truth and justice for all, will ride with the White Knights on this mission to decide and destroy the Inquisitor and his clique. Thinking out loud to himself of his words just spoken a few hours ago to those many brave warriors who gathered to fight with the White Knights, he called his battle cry for the quest before him as he shouted out loud to all present in the halls of knights “Tomorrow morning we shall ride into the fields and meet the Evil Empire.” “Mount your trusty steeds and ride with us on this Quest for freedom and transparency so that we will no longer be required to wring information from gauntlets of the Evil Netherworld Inquisitors.”

The White Knight impatiently paced himself back and forth on that rugged walkway to devise a plan of attack for the morning assault. Echoing his words out loud to the sky, he spoke to motivate the warriors into battle in the anticipated morning misty splendor. His thoughts were focused on the reality that the Black Knights are up to no good as they were hired by the Evil Empire to spread their vindictive scheme to impeach everyone with extra burdens so that the cause of the Evil Empire would maintain control over its subjects and minions as they have done so for the past several decades. Tonight he must sleep and rest for the coming day’s events as the upcoming combat with the dark knights, will surely attempt to wear him down, as the Evil Empire will launch every man and device against this force of do-gooders and attempt to defeat them at their cause for justice and equality for all.

The lodging was meager and the bedding was thin for such a damp and chilly night. Rather than sleeping in the own individual huts tonight, they chose to gather at the castle to be ready for combat within the sound of the command. The warriors, all gone to bed to face their destiny in battle tomorrow, took this opportunity to pray to God to keep them safe and unharmed for the much anticipated fight that will determine victory or death to the causes they so strongly believed in and willing to fight for to preserve so others can live without oppression and false indictments of acts fabricated to make them guilty of gross negligence rather than common mistakes.

Each character that signed up to fight with the White Knights has promised to swear their loyalty to the principles of righteousness and pledged to never quit until the battle was won. Knowing well that each battle would takes its toll on their numbers and stamina; they worked hard to maintain a most fit physical and mental condition that matched the most aggressive fighter the Evil Empire had enlisted in this war. Inside their minds, as they lay there trying to fall asleep, they practice their combat skills as the night is ending and the dawn is quickly approaching. Learning the words spoken in the past of dark days when the sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness, the serfs are counting on the white knights to prevent this from happening in their Quest with the Evil Empire.

Echoes from the sky have promised to darken the sun and to prevent the moon from giving them light. This fear of death and gloom has put a burden on the region to ensure that the world they know it will not come to an end. Surely there must be a way to defeat this colossal sense of fear and strike it at the heart and soul so that the evil and wickedness disappears from their souls.

CHAPTER ONE

The territory has a new ruler and the states of affairs are changing quickly. This new territorial ruler had called upon many provincial rulers to come to assist him in his new endeavors to serve the many people of this most vast territory that was divided into fifty provinces. Each province had a head of state that would rule as if it was an independent part of the territory and have the sovereign powers required meeting all constitutional and custodial responsibilities of taking care of its serfs and population.

Suddenly, overnight, the head of state of a province called Arizona was hastily dispatched to the new rule’s home in the D. C. territorial capitol and asked to take a new position with the new regime. The head of state for Arizona commonly referred to as Queen Nappy by the lords, the commoners and serfs who loved her, was visibly excited and filled with emotion for such a nomination and quickly vacated her castle to make the journey east. Before the morning sun was partially visible over the Superstition Mountain, as the overnight shadowy clouds parted to allow the sun to shimmer the air with heat waves to start the new day, a new ruler appeared before the court and ready to take the reign so hastily left behind by the former leader. Just as quickly as the former leader left the castle, the new resident moved in. Formerly known as Lady of Phoenix, she was hastily inaugurated as the Queen of the region. Expressing both merriment and appreciation for the appointment to the throne, she wasted no time to appoint her friends and political allies to positions of influence and power.

Formerly an illiterate bookkeeper who never finished her preparation for leadership or education, she was blunt and spoke with a foul mouth that offended many except those who were willing to put up with such an uncouth woman. This new leader, appointed to the throne by default due to the politics arranged within the state by local leaders, rose to power and appointed her henchmen to implement her new royal biddings. The populace, regardless of her background, opened up their arms and invited her to rule the province with new ideas and new direction. Her first act as the new leader would be to order all the provincial agencies to stop submitting newly created and proposed rules and regulations in order for her force to be granted the opportunity to review the policies and procedures enacted by her former leaders. Through the provincial bulletin she announced her actions as a freeze to evaluate all things she had covered in her inauguration speech just days before. Sharing her ideas and on lowering taxes and lifting restrictions to improve her provincial economy, she called for this temporary regulation to determine how their impact her serfs and businesses within her domain. It would appear her second official act would be to appoint knighthood to the many loyal servant leaders who were standing in the shadows, waiting for the sword of knighthood to fall upon their shoulders and become a knight for the newly appointed queen.

The provincial prison system was in dire straits as the former director had been called upon by the vacating queen to serve at her pleasure in the territorial headquarters near D. C. It was imperative that the new queen appoint someone quickly to assure the prison are managed and taken care of so that she would not face public embarrassment and ridicule for the many flaws she was told existed within this system. The wicked Lady Dorien, famed throughout the land for her love of witchcraft and magic, demanded loyalty of the serfs in the kingdom, rewarding them with trinkets and baubles whilst the evil doers amongst them grew rich and fat. Lady Dorien believed all were created equal, serfs and evil doers alike, alas, the evil doers were born under a cloud of despair and angst which only Lady Dorien's magic could cure.

The serf's were of little concern to Lady Dorien, had they not their freedom, their huts, and their cherished families to welcome them after their daily toils? The evil doers, wretched souls that they were, had fine castles, but such was their nature, they could not or would not leave unless the serfs were careless. Verily, even when allowed to purchase their freedom, many found their way back, as the dark clouds surrounding them wreaked havoc on their mortal souls.

Lady of Phoenix now named Queen Jackie officially announced the appointment of Interim-director Chuckles and appointing Charlie as interim deputy director for the province. The town scribes and bulletin writers decried these appointments as they were reminiscent of a previous appointee for the prison system by the name of Sir Terrance. This Sir Terrance was an evil doer, who was a former prison chief and an advisor to the territorial former ruler Bush administration for a crusade in a far away land called Iraq where he was paid to run their reformatories and dungeons far away from here.

The queen, knowingly and needy on her closest advisor, Sir Senseman, made this appointment an interim one so she could find another person to run the prison system if this man didn’t work out in his provisional reign of power. Not known to be a reformer like his predecessor, he was known for being a hardliner in the way he prefers to rehabilitate prisoners and was accused of having a mentality that worried many of the queen’s subjects in her provincial state. Regardless of the voiced outcries and denouncements of his governmental skills and abilities, he was knighted by the queen.

On this gloomy day, the queen, took the knight’s sword to the shoulder of Chuckles and said out loud for all the witnesses to hear “In the name of Graft, Corruption, and Malevolence, I dub thee Sir Chuckles” thus knighted him to be “Sir Chuckles, Director of the Evil Empire.” Unlike Lady Dorien, who was deemed to be more senile than incompetent, Sir Chuckles was about to stir things up a bit and treat the prisoners in the exact opposite method Lady Dorien had taken to manage the flock and treat the serfs as poorly as he could to pit them against each other creating chaos and dissension among many. Surely, he agreed that his strategy must be that they must fear him and close the ranks of loyalty based on fear and intimidation. Enlisting the help of other evil doers from his past regime and tenure, he carefully appointed “good ole boys” to manage the serfs to begin his quest to conquer the remaining non-compliant and disloyal serfs who would threaten his very survival and supremacy. Carefully, Sir Chuckles divided the round table in his castle and chose those who were amicable and compatible for his power growth and those who, if they were to ascend to positions higher up in the pecking order, not protest his evil and pitiful ways to rule the Evil Empire.

CHAPTER TWO

The Dark Days were upon the Empire, for no one dared stand in opposition to Sir Chuckles, lest they became subject to wanton retaliation, recrimination, and nefarious investigations. Many serfs fled the Empire. Others simple became eunuchs in thought and deed. The few brave serfs who stood against the Black Knight found themselves subjects of evil acts. The serfs cried out to the dark skies for a ray of hope, but the clouds remained tightly closed. What this? In the distance, armor shining brightly despite the darkness, a few hardy knights, mounted on sturdy steeds of white was cantering into the fray. Who were these brave warriors, this small band of White Knights? Each Knight was a rugged individualist, specializing in a different brand of warfare. With no need for titles, and no egos to feed, they disdained the use of “Sir” in addressing them.

Trace, a tall man with a contemptuous sneer permanently affixed to his face, was a double agent, capable of donning the serf’s rags and toiling as one of them. Trace was about The Rules, and followed them to the Letter, expecting no less from anyone, nay not even Sir Chuckles.

Carl, a heavyset man with closely cropped hair under his gleaming helmet, loved to scribe, but was also a fierce warrior, especially for the Safety of the serfs. He was a lion hearted man.

Jim, he of the cold blue eyes and battle weary, sagging frame, lived for the fight, be it words, fists, or sword and dagger. Jim had also studied under a magician, and was capable of creating colorful visions on paper, icons that wove stories as well as any written word. Together, these three would comprise the core group known as The Warrior Against the Evil Empire.

All three knights have been invited to eat at Sir Chuckles’’ castle but have refused to eat his bread. Sir Chuckles, an evil man who can be very hospitable, possesses devious powers to greet you with a smile but with fierce thoughts of disarming you and harm or maim you just the same. One must be kept a fair distance afar him, as he will order his legion of evil doers to kill you where you stand and hideth the body somewhere in his castle. Never a kind man, he does not hesitate to give the order to “kill the intruder” and will attack you no matter what you say to him to provide assurance of truth, justice and equality for all serfs.

As you walk the narrow walkways of his fourth floor castle, you noticed small men crouching and bowing to Sir Chuckles as he walks among them. You can see the fear in their eyes as they quickly look the other way as they know not to stare into the man’s eyes or even look at his face. Sir Chuckles, a knowledgeable heathen thinks he can “eye fuck” people better than anyone until the day he meet the White Knight Jim.
After a drawn out staring challenge between the two, it was Sir Chuckles who broke the gaze as he briefly looked down, cleared his throat and started a distraction to hide his weakness from the good knight. It was at that moment, Sir Chuckles realized that this knight could ruin many things for him if he was to be chosen to stand with him and serve the Evil Empire. Jim, on the other hand, recognized Sir Chuckles’ attempt to recruit him into his evil doer legion and have him join the other Black Knights, changing his shell to a deep glossy black armor and punish the serfs who have served Jim so well in the past. Sir Chuckles, reaching into his trick bag of potions offered Jim a magic invincible potion to give him power and influence over the serfs. Jim, disgust on his face, stood up before Sir Chuckles and left the chambers. As he headed back to the entrance of the fortress he had to pass a guard who was there to warn him not to enter the castle again as the messenger made it clear this knight was no longer welcome in this castle. Outside, Jim stared up to the fourth layer of the castle and said to himself, “Here I stand, a free man, not under the influence of the wickedness and wrath of the Evil Empire”

The story told in the village was that Sir Chuckles was on the rampage and out to destroy the White Knights and their followers. Many still do not understand the ways of the White Knights and their reasons for riding against the Evil Empire. Little do they know of its origin and cause, thus a notice was posted on the town square to alert and make all serfs and peasants aware of their cause and reason.

Posted on the bulletin near the town water foundation where many met to chat and whisper, was a scroll which read “ The White Knights rescues serfs in distress, they fight for justice and equality for all men and when someone is wronged they try to save the day by bringing forth the truth. “ Do not fear the White Knights as they only seek to help you by driving away the darkness. They will slay the evil doers and free you of the illnesses of the past. They shall rescue not only one person in need but rather any or all who ask for their help. They will ride to restore the damage done by the Evil Empire and his wrong doers.”

It appears the White Knights have chosen to take the cover of an extinct empire to represent their goals. Each of these knights has assumed the roles of supernatural heroes who have chosen to participate in the war between “good and evil”. Although acclaimed to be ordinary men, not wearing any special armor other than white, these men have offered to stave off the evil and fight for the indentured slaves or serfs who cannot stand and fight for themselves. Fighting unseen human created monsters and evil doers who threaten the very existence of the modern world yet their methods are so medieval, they can be slain with not modern weapons but words and actions that are noble and truthful. Pretending to be blood sucking vampires and demonic in nature, their reality is revealed to be more mortal than any human being, once their black armor is removed, their faces uncovered, exposing their weakness and flaws. So what does it take to be a White Knight and what is the difference between them and the others you ask? Surely, the answer is simple but yet complicated as it involves difficult styles to perform their expected roles into our society.

A Black Knight is a ruthless individual who replaces serfs and management with its own people and formulates its own principles to act upon. Their hostilities are often subtle and well hidden behind altered strategy and authorizations providing them cover from the laws of the land. At other times, these Black Knights spread disease and famine to infect and reject opposition to their ideals and intentions. To be a Black Knight one must sell his or her soul to the dragon and allow all that is wrong to prosper and grow. The Black Knight is under the influence of Sir Chuckles’ potion that makes them feel invincible. They are powerful when within the Evil Empire’s home castle but once they wander out there beyond their castle’s boundaries they are susceptible to harm and infection. A guardian by nature for the Evil Empire, they seek to destroy all those who stand up against the evil and wickedness of the empire they represent.

A white knight is a friendly and rational savior in the trade of helping others in their tasks and their endeavors. They intervene whenever a hostile act is performed allowing the serfs to maintain a sense of safety amongst them. Sometimes the White Knight can be a single person or a group of caregivers. Their common intention is to save others and help maintain a minority interest in a possible scheme or evil takeover. Thus it can be said that White Knights are friends of the people who will benefit from their abilities to restrain vice and wickedness in the spirit intended by the good gods. Unlike the Black Knights who wear their black armor all the time, these White Knights wear their shiny armor only when going into battle. Never establishing certain rules for engagement, they each wore their own surcoat or shield as they chose. Allowing this individuality conflicts with the Black Knights as it was preferred by the White Knights they must all maintain their own personality, their own honor and their own reasoning for fighting this struggle against the Evil Empire.

Another distinction is the absence of the military type of orders the Black Knights receive on a daily call. Not all oriented in the manner of the evil doers, these men are creative, independent thinkers and wise as they have their own magic and their own crystal ball to gaze in to see what the Evil Empire is doing to upset the balance of nature within their realm. Lacking this uniformity in leadership, they wisely discovered their strengths and weakness from each other as they heed the challenge of taking down the ways of the Evil Empire by joining the Warriors Against the Evil Empire.

CHAPTER THREE

How did this hardy band of warriors come to be, you ask? Through magic, peering into crystals for hours on end, they came upon each other in a mysterious land known as Facebook. Each soon discovered the warrior qualities in the others, and the common enemy each had sworn to defeat. The three swore an oath of allegiance, that the Warriors Against the Evil Empire would, from that day forward, devote their skills to conquering the dreaded Sir Chuckles and dispelling the dark clouds that hung heavy over the Empire.

Trace quickly waded into the fray, calling Sir Chuckles himself into battle as the Empire begrudged him his pittance, arrogantly withholding coins for another day as they saw fit.

Jim peered into the Empires’ dungeons and observed the hundreds of abject serfs suffering the lash under the iron hand of Sir Chuckles and his abusive minions. Jim wove a tapestry of colorful icons for the serfs to gaze upon and learn from, to learn the harsh truth of their fearful leader.

Carl saw the serfs exposed to illness and degradation due to the whims of Sir Chuckles, whom had decreed that all serfs may wear facial hair, whether it was safe for them to do so, or for naught. A dreaded plague was sweeping the through the Empire’s Evil doers, the terrifying TB, which robbed the serfs of their ability to breath, and brought illness and pestilence into their families. Carl looked into his magic crystals, and saw that Sir Chuckles had gravely wronged the serfs, so he prayed to the ADOSH Gods to bring relief to the serfs.

The ADOSH Gods sent their earthly priests among the serfs and the Empire and found Carl to be truthful and lionhearted, and they rewarded his efforts with a heavy tax upon the Empire for the pestilence and illness the Empire had wrought, and they declared, “Thou shalt wrong the serfs no more, lest we visit upon you taxes and fines so heavy, no mortal may bear them.” United in front and divided in tactics, they each carry their own swords and wisdom coming together every now and then to consolidate their thoughts. Taking the time to read some of their individual interpretations and understanding their text can cast doubt at times but often results in maintaining a matter of faith in what they are doing. Either way, their efforts will pay off against the Evil Empire as they each present to the gods, their own way of slaying the sick dragon and easing the suffering and pain of those cast under its spell. None will make predictions or revelations as they are aware of the many evil spirits that reside within their nemesis’ grasp. Each is armed with the knowledge that will lead the Evil Empire into eventual desolation as their abomination inflicted upon their own will surely break up their unity and fragment their forces. Herein lays the key to defeating the Evil Empire.

Equipped to act as an anti-leverage team, they seek to disrupt the evil team of Black Knights in their own games and measures. Admitting the Evil Empire has the strategic leverage of holding the high ground such as the hills and the powers of persuasion and governmental controls, the anti- leverage team aka the White Knights, must seek to overcome such strategic advantage by using other tools and devices available to them to fend off any attacks or invectives. There are new tools available today that were not available in the ancient or medieval days of old and are essential for survival and completing the job thoroughly and accurately.

Today the use social tools are used to slip in the leverage that the social media can provide those who seek attention to their cause. The White Knights, after consultation and agreement, suggested layers in the attack of three proportions. First create a profile for the serfs, media and the enemy to provide a positive identity. A good profile will make the most of the exposure and allow maximum benefits. The second social media layer will be the ability to network the cause with other groups that share commonalities or reasons for change. This represents a growth in numbers connected or contacted thus perceived to be more powerful and influential with other entities or people.

The third and most difficult layer to develop is the brand or how the group intends to differentiate the lineup from other teams. Deliberations should be held on how to build you’re the reputation and decide whether it will be an individual or a group. If individually, there must be some sort of collaboration and consistency in the message or deed to avoid contradictions and suspicion of motive or intent. Sharing the resources or knowledge is most certainly suggested as there was no personal ownership of standards or principles involved as a team concept brings the message bolder and much more enhanced. Here, there is a need to establish the integrity, abilities and willingness to deliver the service and build a name for the brand proposed to represent the mission of all involved. Preparing for resistance is sure, as this action may result in an immeasurable amount of disclosure and possible condemnation by those who question the validity or sincerity of the group to produce this brand as a legitimate means to address the matters. The quality of this social media effort should be a factual, collaborative and a sound planning implemented with support and consideration by others who can influence the design of the attack and the implementation phases.

Stressing quality and not quantity, the plan is to reduce the labor involved while maximizing our efforts to leverage our ideals and principle, in other words, the concept, to those who can influence the outcome and establish positive examples to eradicate the existing leverage of the Evil Empire as it stands today. The use of the social media such as newsletters, blogs, Facebook and many others will spread the word to every corner of the world without impacting costs as they are voluntarily carried over from webpage to webpage to inform others of the strife endured by the serfs under this current regime led by Sir Chuckles and his henchmen. The White Knights already know how cleverly Sir Chuckles manages the media both internally and externally. His perception is that they only need to know what he wants them to know and he has adeptly created a solid wall to protect data and prevent leaks from his castle and his Black Knights who at times tend to boast of their conquers and under the influence of wine and liquor have often spilled information that should have been kept closer to the heart.

Herein lays his weakness and frustrations as he has been known to execute a Black Knight for loose tongues and bad judgment in the delivery of a message to the public. Never subtle in his wicked style of execution of others, he takes the time to meticulously describe, defend and explain his actions in words that are contradictory to his actions but shielded from the sun to prevent the light from exposing the truth. The White Knights experienced with wisdom and pen in hand and with sword in battle, know the impact of telling the truth. Their decision to battle the friends of Sir Chuckles and his evil doers has consequences. They must brace themselves for repercussions that can be mortal to the weak and the frail in intellect. One must have the courage to co-exist within a most hostile environment that in filled with retaliatory hazards and personal vulnerability to their health or welfare.

In cases where Sir Chuckles disagrees with the message sent or the messenger, he will create certain behavioral changes in the workplace to cause the truth seeker to perform differently and eventually become less productive or efficient prompting the use of leave or other absences. Eventual demise of the integrity and ethical performance of such a messenger can create doubt of the reliability and sources provided by this transporter thus labeling the truth seeker a “disgruntled serf” to suit his own needs rather than others. One important fact to remember is to treat all information as alleged until such time the accusation is proven or established with either facts or with evidence related to the message. Truth seekers are common people with common problems. These White Knights, more powerful and wiser, have demonstrated too many evil doers they are mentally and physically prepared for the impact for carrying out such a mission. Focusing to upset the Evil Empire in its evil doings their damage is become known to many and has enticed others to come forward with the truth. Knowing full well they will suffer recoil from the intense anger or resentment their exposure may lead to by others, they must prepare themselves to be vulnerable and prepared to recall details that make their message truthful and complete.

White Knights who serve the serfs who tell the truth must ensure they are protected from guiltiness and intimidation by others who stand up for the Evil Empire. Most fear reprisals at the hands from their supervisors and fellow serfs as they relinquished their once well-liked and well respected status. Feeling alienated within the workplace, it is likely these truth seekers will be unable to achieve any further progress and choose to retire, resign or transfer to another place to work to avoid the constant harassment of being labeled a scoundrel. White Knights use the evil empire’s laws against them, holding them accountable to some degree but mainly to keep them back at a safe distance. In the end, the will and the power of good deeds can overwhelm the power of the evil doers but it is not often that the survival of such a messenger or transporter remains intact as a serf in dispute with others and who chose to enlighten the truth and is at this moment harmed forever.

Dark days come and go but none as frightening as those where there are no eclipses to explain the phenomena that have just occurred. Serfs run to call their families to find out if they are safe as the world they know it has turned into darkness without an explanation. On those days, when the sky turns black, serf make sure there are plenty of candles lighted inside their houses as they noticed the sounds around them have turned into an eerie and different manner as the birds were not chirping and silent, they dogs not barking and the chickens and fowls were not gathering to roost.

These occurrences create intense alarms and distress to multitudes of minds who were wondering why the day has suddenly turned pitch dark when the clock has not even struck the noon hour of the day. Appearance of gloom and nightly surroundings in the mid day of the week, the serfs panic to the streets as they fear the Armageddon that has been promised for so many years in the past and finally come to an end.
As the multitudes of serfs and indentured servants gaze into the sky, they noticed the moon had turned into a full shaped bloody red object. Fearing the worst, they pray to the gods this episode of insanity would not last much longer as the fear and the mayhem of such phenomena has already started a riot in many places as people charge to their dwellings to be safe with their families and loved one. The darkness continues to exist as the serfs kept gazing into the sky for a sign of relief. Suddenly, there in the height of the heavens bright lights of falling stars shower the earth as it was raining fire, falling from the sky.

What must have seemed like a century this shower of falling stars lasted for hours. Setting the heavens ablaze with an apparent everlasting inferno, the shower lasted no more than four hours from the time it began. Many serfs, now safely inside their houses and dwellings, sighed with relief that the world did not end but yet they know that one day, the heavens will fall and the earth will crumble like a giant earthquake tearing apart the continents of the world just like it has been prophesized by the many who read the bible.

There are many tales of many dark night and countless dark days when it came to the tyranny of evil powers that have fallen to the wayside in the past. Many say that the dark days are indicative of the end of the Evil Empire and signals to many, the birth of a new beginning. These declines are almost always signaled by the coming of darkness whether night or day and is a reassuring sign the gods have not forgotten the good and is punishing the evil doers for their corruption, their savage and ruthless manner they treated the serfs and the establishment of anarchy when the order to rule was given by Sir Chuckles contradicted common law and common sense.

Loyalists, formerly giving their hearts and soul to the Evil Empire, sensing a shift in power, rebel against the Black Knights as their grasp of power and influence began to waver. Inside the hearts of many is a birth of a feeling common of mutiny and treason. Many, wearing the Black Knight armor, were still flattered to fight to the demise with those White Knights who have stirred the emotions of the countryside to create a new attitude, a new beginning and a new idea for all to live in and enjoy. One by one, their numbers began to weaken as they scurried back to the heavily wooded gates of their fine but threatened castles. Sir Chuckles, sensing a loss of instrumental affiliates of his dark durable dark force, designed a new wicked arrangement to recruit and hire on additional Black Knights so he could maintain effective control of the empire.

He decided to offer them a bonus to come onboard and allow them to earn twice as much as before by simply changing the paperwork to allow them to double dip into their retirement and earn new wages on top of the pensions already drawn. Reassuring the Black Knights that this would prevent them from ever being poor and never having to fear in losing their earthly possessions, they signed on with the Evil Empire and reaped the profits with merriment and laughter. Now, with their double dipping earnings, they began to set secret future dates for an abrupt and inexplicable departure, thus leaving the dark force to do battle never no more.

Sir Chuckles has done immensely well for taking care of his cronies as he arranged the paperwork to be arranged so they can retire from one job and move right into another pre-designated and pre-approved position by the Evil Empire during the course of a conversation over some food and ale inside the castle. These bookkeeping moves bring big financial benefits to those Dark Knights who are willing to give Sir Chuckles their body and soul in return for the payments they will start to collect within a short period of time. The town crier, aware of these backroom paperwork deals, attempted to cry foul to the populace but was received with deaf ears as the practice had gone and spread throughout the region as quickly as famine of small pox or measles.

In the meantime, Sir Chuckles had to adjust his expenditures and sought the advice of those geek-type bookkeepers who served him well up there inside he fortified castle where he kept them hostage. Keeping his legion of subordinate clerks and record keepers close to him and giving them false hope of ever becoming important, he devised a plan to show the governor of the region how he could cut back the expenses of the prisons by reducing the amount of serfs needed to operate the prisons and how much they could cut from their pay to show a significant reduction in operational costs. Directing his chief Black Knight to alter and reduce the number listed within the current staffing patterns that shows how many serfs are needed to run those prisons, he does this with an ax on the heavy oak table located in the fourth floor castle. By design, this will reduce staffing costs at all of the prison complexes. Since the Evil Empire is suggesting less full time positions be allocated than before, he is allowing less money to be spent on respective benefits and services and redirecting those funds to other matters approved by the governor and her loyalists to the cause to save money. The drawback of such a plan is the void these expunged positions have left behind for the others to pick up the slack and do more work with fewer resources. This also increased the pre-determined criminal to serf-force ratio which is kept in line or balanced to ensure a safe and secure work situation with reasonable and acceptable supervision intensity.

Second, he takes away the serf’s performance pay and some stipends to trim down their monthly earnings and deduct more taxes for health benefits and other considered imperial benefits that need to be covered with a greater sum than before. The serfs, taking home a smaller paycheck, will eventually feel the sting of such mugging and fight back in time as they begin to undergo a period of dark days at the hands of the evil empire ruler, Sir Chuckles. Third, Sir Chuckles allows his Black Knights to create a furlough list for all those who are not the main line serfs within the reformatory and makes them take off time within the pay period equaling a day’s forfeit per months so they can impound the coffers for reduced operating cost and contributing to the overall deprived state of affairs within the empire.

CHAPTER FOUR

Very soon after being anointed by Queen Jackie, Sir Chuckles devised an evil plan to punish the serfs of the crime of complacency. Sir Chuckles, in his dark heart, saw all mistakes the serfs made as the result of this malady, and rather than allow his Black Knights to selectively move the serfs who required it due to this complacency, he ordered this be accomplished throughout the land. Such was his arrogance, Sir Chuckles could not see this would cause the serfs to make mistakes in greater numbers, and allow the prisoners to take advantage of their ignorance of them in their new workplaces.

Sir Chuckles also failed to recognize the depths of the blackness in the hearts of his own loyal servants, whom utilized rotation, the great solution to the Empire’s ills, to punish serfs by casting them into strange new work areas, changing the days they need not toil, and rotating them according to whim and fancy, not seniority as the evil Sir Chuckles’ own rules required. Jim heard the cries of the serfs, and he donned his armor. Carrying his magic crystal before him, he confronted Sir Chuckles in his lair and demanded satisfaction. Sir Chuckles ignored the White Knight, so the steely eyed knight began whispering incantations into his crystal, until, overcome by fear and anger, the black hearted Sir Chuckles relented and forced his minions to as The Rules required.

Emboldened by his victory, Jim began looking into Sir Chuckles’ dungeons using his magic crystal. What he found appalled him and again using incantations and magic, he illustrated the sad news with colorful icons the serfs could understand. Sir Chuckles somehow discovered Jim’s magic, and ordered the dungeons emptied of all but the worst offenders, those whom even the stickler Jim could not even argue in favor of leniency.

Lobbyist make Policy no Lawmakers

It has been said many times over that the politicians are making good and bad laws to protect society and their constituents. The truth revealed, it is not the politicians who make policy but rather, it is the lobbyists who vessel and form our every day lives, influences and ideologies. Lobbyists, funded by other people, organizations or large corporations that you may never be aware of unless you understand the genesis of a particular project or direction not often revealed in public. S o as you can gather by knowing that these politicians that we elect to public office are not directly responsible for your city’s, state or nation’s economic conditions or strategies and the promulgation of laws and rules of society that are designed to protect you and offer you an input of the quality of life within your own political districts.

Lobbying impacts the way as most people thinks it does. It is a person or a group of persons who are trying to influence, direct or sway political decisions through different forms of advocacy provided to policy makers on behalf of other persons, organizations, or political groups. Lobbying is regulated by the US Congress and various states thus giving it a structure or legal definition as applied. However, these regulations only cover paid lobbyist and not those who lend their time and expertise to serve a particular cause. This is the area where ethical grounds may mix or be contaminated as there are large proportions of unpaid lobbyist that work full time to influence policies on religion, labor, manufacturing, trading etc. In lobbying, the key word is ethics and conflict of interest concerns.

Through customs and traditions, the government and its entities has already accepted the fact that lobbying is a legal and ethical aspect of policy making. This results in a controversy between informed decision making processes and uninformed decision making conflicts. It also divides the process into different behaviors that are driven by the need to undermine fairness and transparency of the process that does not contribute to the common good of others. This element of the process needs to be applied to the open business laws and other ethical guidelines to protect the public’s welfare and safety.

The public meeting laws exist for two main concepts which are to ensure all meetings of any public body shall be public meetings and all persons so desiring shall be permitted to attend and listen to the deliberations and proceedings.” A.R.S. § 38- 431.01(A) It is the public policy of this state [Arizona] that meetings of public bodies be conducted openly and that notices and agendas be provided for such meetings which contain such information as is reasonable necessary to inform the public of the matters to be discussed.” So why do we have these laws you ask? The answers are simple and easy to essay as the law itself states these laws “protect the public / avoid decision-making in secret / promote accountability by encouraging public officials to act responsively and responsibly / protect public officials / to avoid being excluded (notice) / to prepare and avoid being blind sided (agenda) / to accurately memorialize what happened (minutes) / maintain Integrity of government / better informed citizenry / build trust between government and citizenry.

Lobbyist hate transparency and are reluctant to reveal everything they have done and everything they are asking thus going back to the open meeting laws circumventing procedures already in place to protect the public. At a state and local level, this can be translated into a simple access to the lawmaker’s “appointment books” which will reveal their meetings and identify those specific clients or visitors by the lobby related business. Today, all the politicians feel the current open meeting laws are sufficient and have no desire to change the way business is being conducted.

Recognizing the legal and illegal aspects of rewarding or giving gifts to lawmakers the public has an expressed interest in how policy is made and how laws are developed and eventually passed by the legislature. Knowing fully the impact of such violations, there are other subtle acts that substitute the actions of open violations to provide such gifts as there is no spirit of fairness when it comes to this process. If there was a sense of fairness in existence, the fact that lobbyist pay for travel, expensive meals and tickets to games or concerts would be covered by the law. Another element of fairness other than direct influences or gifts is the fact that lawmakers are not easily accessible for any long duration or time making it difficult to bring your issues to their attention. Fairness should include the frequency lobbyist are given access to the various lawmakers and their revolving door policy to greet everyone and anyone controlling their corridor to power as well as a control mechanism to control access to their office from their personal friends.

Summarizing their role it is clear that these lobbyists do not act in the interest of many but rather defeat the common good with their own specific goals. They don’t play fair and they want to get their points of view to the lawmaker’s desk as effective as possible to gain favor in their direction, proposals or desires. They are advocates and they represent certain industries, groups or organizations. It is logical to say that the more powerful the lobby group is, the more attention they get from the lawmakers.


Sources:

http://www.azleg.gov/ombudsman/Open%20Meeting%20Law%20101.pdf
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/government_ethics/introduction/lobbying.html

Political Correctness

Many people know that transparency used a social context which usually implies openness, communication, and accountability. “It is a symbolic expression of the meaning a "transparent" object is one that can be seen through.” Transparent events include open meetings, financial disclosure statements, freedom of information legislation, budgetary review, audits, etc. The definition of Deception is acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth (as in half-truths or omission). Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment.

Someone once said that “Political correctness is simply a speed bump in the traffic of truth, free thought and speech.” In a world of political correctness, there are ample amounts of both transparency flaws and deceptive practices to deceive the public of the government’s actual state of affairs or purpose for engagement. The rationale why these practices are used comes back to illustrate the need governments to refuse to show people or others how they actually conduct their business and minimize negative impacts that may influence their credibility or social desirability. More commonly, it’s not the way you actually do things but rather, the way you say how you do things. The difference between the two is substantially important to the degree of accuracy involved in the reporting. On the other hand, it’s not a question on how you do actually do things but rather a question on how things are done. One requires more detail than the other and that procedure can be harmful if too incriminating or distasteful. That is the only purpose political correctness serves; damage control.

Reporters, being intuitive in nature, are failing to ask the proper questions of public official and are letting them off the hook with dishonest and partial answers. Misleading the facts, they [public agencies] have conditioned their responses to meet the social expectation regardless of the distraction such an answer may provide the public. One method of controlling this environment is to hand out questions and answers before the interview offering a sort of debriefing when in reality it is a deceptive way to avoid being asked the wrong questions that may commonly lead to an imperfection or misperception.

Objections to false transparency options or deceptive methods are becoming more and more scrutinized whenever the practice reveals a weak link in the reputation of the agency or public official making the statements to the media or public. Learning how to balance the two and projecting this “credibility” is tricky and requires repetitive practice to appear to be sincere, open minded and willing to cooperate. This is why many agencies have public information officers who can stand the glare and anxiety of releasing information to the press. The objections however follow political paths that create the image that if the party in power has the majority, then they are provided more credibility and more coverage than those in the minority.

The lesson learned here is the media’s ability to reach the politicians is only as good as their reputation to not infringe on the political party in question and not challenge their creditability and treat them with velvet gloves. In this manner, they are the recipients of favorable access to the news and given “scoop” assignment advantages over the others who report it “like it is” falling in disfavor immediately and denied the access to those who control the politicians and their activities.

Tacit Approval

Merriam Webster defines tacit approval as “expressed or carried on without words or speech - implied or indicated (as by an act or by silence) but not actually expressed. One must ask why these words are so important when implemented into a strategic plan or mission. The impact of such conduct determines how a set goal may ultimately change the direction or intent of legitimate goals and objectives designed to facilitate an operation within organizations or public service agencies. Putting examples towards this concept will reveal how destructive such ambiguous or vague direction alters the behaviors and ethical conduct of those held accountable for desired productive and results.

Within any military or paramilitary organization, tacit approval leads to misconceptions and corruption as the various acts or silence creates a culture that thrives on the concept of Colin Powell’s quote “You don't know what you can get away with until you try.” This type of unauthorized but yet condoned flexibility build into a management concept or strategic plan may ultimately weaken the ability to be successful as you inject personal opinions, variations and principles into a directive that has been mutated from the original design or intention. Conceptually wrong, the presence of such a potentially poisonous management principle allows corruption to foster, unethical conduct to be ignored and wasted resources to be spent on activities or programs not contained within the original design or prospect.

Tacit approval can break or create cultures and be used to sabotage the establishment of one. It can provide conflict and break down the work force and create dissention, discord and hatred if injected by the right people at the right levels of the organization. This poison can destroy every effort to perform at expectable levels and create a division that fosters fear and intimidation. The key to minimizing this type of approval is to hold each and every person employed by the agency or organization to their job description and ultimately hold them accountable for specific objectives attained and through a pre-approved method not subject to alterations unless brought to the table for conference and unanimous approval by all decision makers. Realizing that this type of action could be a very effective staff method for those wishing to sabotage a program or direction, it must be viewed through a microscope by competent and free thinking individuals or committees. Free from undue duress or influence, approvals for alternatives to the original design must carry with them a validation of evidence based results or content that can be measured and tracked for flaws and improvements.

The reason so many agencies have inspector general positions are to conduct such a review on many matters that pass through their office. These would focus on ethical and legal matters more than anything else. On another level, an local internal coping system must be established and adhered to in addressing all internal alterations or suggestions that deviate from the original proposal or plan. Each administrator must be held accountable for their group of supervisors and maintain a tracking system to illustrate upon demand, actions taken according to the plan and how they were implemented meeting both desired objectives and time frames.
Without oversight of the quality control of any strategic plan or desired objective outcome, the potential for failure is multiplied for every instance where the element of tacit approval to make a change or decision that drifts away from the original intent. Not suggesting micro managing the elements of the workplace, there can be checkpoints of accountability along the way to reaching the summit of the plan and make the appropriate changes based on the original intent or design to accomplish a certain task or goal. Rather than using tacit approval to make the change, it is strongly recommended that those same recommendations are brought forth to the proper authority to bless such a change as it is productive to their arrangement and goals contained within the strategic plan.

Code of Silence

This piece of writing is an informal attempt to put together an organized and truthful impression into the symptoms of the Code of Silence. Digging for the facts inside law enforcement and how it impacts those who participate in this type of conduct either willingly or under duress is a task that is most difficult to understand. One important fact to remember is that the code will vary from agency to agency but shares many commonalities. This critique is a rational explanation of the culture that exists. It is important to illustrate how administrators handle the risks associated with hostilities and challenges in the profession as it has recently become recognized that there are significant numbers of administrators who endorse the code of silence through passive enforcement.

First distress sign for the rookie officer is the feeling of vulnerability or needing help fresh out of the law enforcement academy. Strange enough, it is here, in a learning environment, where their judgment has already been prepared to react to the expectations of the Code of Silence. About 4 out of 5 cadets will acknowledge that such a code exists within their agency and that some of its reasoning is both logical and comprehensible as 50 per cent have indicated it won’t bother them to work within such a customs. Through the natural process of being involved with the team concept from the beginning, they learn how to follow the culture from within. Quickly, they will be acquainted with good ethical conduct versus bad ethical conduct and many other performance issues. It is most likely that in their early contact with such events, they will remain silent and studiously listen to their mentors or training officers. Many react in the manner trained; these officers act on impulse and must act quickly. Overcoming this rookie feeling of vulnerability first will require them to accept feedback from the supervisors and peers. Based on their academy training, they must identify the events as justifiable incidents and show how it could not have been handled different. Explaining their role as a public servant, they are there to help each other and identify perpetrators who demonstrate anti-social or disruptive behavioral problems. Second, whether a participant or a bystander, they must understand the rationale for the action taken based on the potential risks of the violent event occurring.

Distinguishing between verbal and physical harassment and translating that into imminent danger or possible threats to inflict injuries, the officer must take into consideration substantial information or data before acting. This has to be a lightening quick process. Watching another officer being assaulted requires a transformation from bystander to active participant. Abrupt or sudden action on an observed threat requires taking risks in doing the right thing to help the involved officer and requires acting out the compulsory response. A response that has a two-fold consequence as their actions will indicate the ability to respond and protect; the willingness to engage in the encounter. In addition, there is a social expectation and the legal option to consider in every such case. This sometimes creates a loyalty versus ethical situation that is often decided on loyalty.

In the effort to prevent further violence, the officers focus on controlling the situation and use the tools available as issued. Almost immediately after the incident is under control, there is a pivotal moment of doubt whether or not the actions taken were either sufficient or too much. Because it’s likely the event took place either in front of another officer or a supervisor, the violent encounter is psychologically scrutinized and evaluated by all involved. At times, this presence of others actually stabilizes the environment for chances of de-escalating the threat. However, whenever such an event is isolated and nobody is present, your ability to control the environment is very limited when confronted with potential violent situations. Thus de-escalation might not be a viable solution at that moment. Taught not to allow the ego to get in the way, officers are taught to stand up for their authority and defend in place, protecting the public. When successful in preventing an escalation of violence, the officer pauses to reflect the action taken and looks at the entire event to see if there was anything that could have been done differently. This entire psychological chain of events contributes to specific an element that leads officers not to talk about the matters at hand for many reasons. The officer will anticipate an administrative review of the actions as the perpetrator or their families will claim allegations that inappropriate action was used and imply that the act by the officer(s) was unnecessary and excessive. This mode of Monday morning quarterbacking situations can lead to poor morale yet it is done in almost every incident recorded.

Rather than focusing on ethical conduct, some supervisors judge these events by loyalty rather than ethics. Whistle blowers are not accepted within this culture and pay a high price if identified as one. In fact, many administrators will deny there are any ethical issues within their command and encourage others to cast whistle blowers out of their ranks from within. In addition to their denial, officers are often secretly or subversively ostracized and “black balled” from promotion or other career assignments or leadership decision thus adding to the incentive to remain silent. In the end, they justify their silence through the “root cause” of feeling alienation by others as they feel they are being victimized by other people in their own workplace.

Setting aside the preliminary questioning and constitutional issues at hand, the officer is taught the confidentiality of such events and issues. Maintaining silence has become a tool of the trade to protect both the innocent and the guilty. Minimizing their involvement creates a buffer for the facts while it enhances the officer’s credibility to work closely with coworkers. Proactively seeking resolve on these matters through silence, the officer knows that unless there is other evidence out there that contradicts the events are reported, this matter will pass. Hence, the presence of dashboard and surveillance cameras, recordings and other technology has expanded the administrator’s role in the investigation and places more emphasis on finding the answers and the truth. In the study of the National Institute of Ethics, the writer explains that The “rotten apple” theory that some administrators propose as the cause of their downfall has frequently been nothing more than a self-serving, superficial façade, intended to draw attention away from their own failures.”

To summarize the code of silence, it has long been an acceptable practice to shield and protect the innocent as well as those few who are guilty. The threshold issues of custodial responsibilities are heavy burdens and handled the best way by the majority of officer most the time. The American criminal justice system and in particular law enforcement, has been negligent by not attempting to resolve the negative impact the code as it has been found to nurture other unethical conduct. Realizing the reality that such a custom or practice is difficult to measure; the only ramification for combating such a culture is to conduct intensive training on the subject. Lurking at the top of negative consequences are the main reasons for silence as whistle-blowers or snitches, are not supported by the administration as hypocrisy and fear dominate this culture. Identified to be much more destructive than the support from field supervisors, administrators must encourage positive role modeling and strong moral courage to openly acknowledge such misconduct when it is identified. To ignore such a priority would to allow other ethical misconduct to occur. Historically, it is the people outside such law enforcement circles that divulge the ethical issues rather than its own employees.

Source:

POLICE CODE OF SILENCE FACTS REVEALED Legal Officers Section Annual Conference International Association of Chiefs of Police By Neal Trautman Director The National Institute of Ethics