High Noon in Cool Town, Arizona

Bob Ortega of the Arizona Republic writes “Department of Corrections officials say they expect to make their final contract award or awards sometime after Sept. 16” in his article covering the public meeting held in Coolidge, Arizona council chambers. A crowd estimated to between 250 to 300 persons attended the meeting led by MTC corporate and their distinguished “consultant” Terry Stewart, a former Arizona corrections director. It was an obvious display of the politically correct posse being back in town to bring a message to the citizens of Cool town that MTC can be trusted to be your neighbor and that regardless of what was said by those opponents present today, they are here to stay for the long run and partner up with the community just like they did with their neighbor Florence where private prisons are thriving from the fees collected from the state. Listening to Sheriff Paul Barbeu in a hurried up speech, he made it clear that Pinal County is good in the corrections and law enforcement business. He bragged about his recent jail accreditation as a certified jail and endorsed the plan to build a new prison in this area.

What Mr. Ortega didn’t write was the inference drawn at this meeting by those who know corrections from the inside. Present there exclusive within this meeting room was a group of people sitting in top state prison management positions, formerly known to have been members for the brand as a posse that ran Florence for decades and still maintains a firm control of the dynamics inside this prison town. This now defunct posse rode the saddle of former director Terry Stewart back in his own prison days and as it are all well-known acquaintances of him as former employees for the Circle A brand. The posse, identify by its former leader, Mr. Stewart, was clearly identified as Charles Ryan, current director, Carson McWilliams, current regional director and two wardens from Marana and Florence respectively. Thus, the posse, obvious involved in the decision making process, saddled up and are riding hard to promote the MTC brand just like they did in the past days. They were there to give support to the corporate entity that failed to perform in their terrible mishandling of Arizona State Prison Complex Kingman escape and made it obvious to those who knew them, they are in favor of building another prison in the Pinal County region.

The city’s unemployment rate was given to be at 20.4 percent at meeting. Present among the throng of blue shirts in support of more jobs, many were not thinking of the deep impact the contract with MTC could influence the town’s future as many were not even concerned about the financial arrangement made between the city and the contractor to build and fund the prison complex. They were only thinking short term impact with a promised revenue boost of a possible $ 2 million dollar infusion into the local city coffers.

Taking the time to give my personal condolences to the mother [Vivian Haas) of Gary Haas and his wife, victims of the Kingman escape and allegedly murdered in New Mexico by several of the escapees, I was moved by her comment to the posse and the community when she said "They were murdered because MTC could not do its job,"
Then as posse co- leader Charles Ryan led the process of letting an announced 40 people talk in the order they signed up to speak, it was former posse member Terry Stewart that bailed out MTC when the question was posed how can they house 5,000 prisoners in Coolidge when the net growth of the ADOC prison was estimated to be 65 prisoners for 2010. His explanation had a mixed message. He stated the obvious telling the very orderly group that Arizona prisons are currently housing prisoners at over-capacity numbers. He suggested bringing these facilities down to their designed capacity would fill the beds of these new proposed prisons.

Doing the math on his explanation, it became of the agencies long term plans regarding prison growth and management of such complexes. More controversy came when someone asked who was funding the bonds to build the prison and challenged the need for growth in prison population, she inferred that perhaps there would be a shift in state to private prison populations in the near future and empty out the state prisons in this transition. Many ignoring this warning could not see the disastrous impact of state employees losing their jobs and diminishing the current regional economic contribution it has provided the county for the past several decades. This ideology is consistent with current political efforts to privatize state functions including prisons in Arizona. When it was all said and done, the posse left on a high note and mounted their state -owned steeds to ride out of town. Mr. Stewart, suspected to be the real posse leader, lagged behind a bit to consult with his current employer, MTC, and was one of the last to leave the building.

“Cool town” citizens have a hard decision to make but with the seemingly strong support for a new prison, the vision is clear and the possibilities are high Pinal County will add another prison to its list of employers. Picking up a brochure in the front lobby where a television set was placed to accommodate the overflow of the meeting, I read the overview and chuckled a bit when I read “pleasing landscaping and no noise or lighting impact to neighbors.” 400-800 jobs and an annual payroll of up to $ 26 million annually (full staffing and capacity).” The hardest line to swallow was their [MTC] promise to deliver more additional jobs due to the construction and the great benefit of local businesses benefitting from new prison in town. Unfortunately, looking at Florence as an example of such bragging, there are no new business growths inside this prison town region except restaurants and food chains that thrive on fast food and carry out for prison workers.

Source:
http://www.azcentral.com/community/pinal/articles/2011/08/19/20110819arizona-prisons-coolidge-voice-desire-new-prison.html#ixzz1VU9sJPGS
Handout – Proposed Coolidge correctional facility overview

Zeven Deadly Zins in Prisonz

Putting two and two together and coming up with seven is a likely conclusion if you have ever been to prison or worked inside of one in the past twenty some years or so. Fact is that prisons and the Bible have a lot more in common as much of the stories written in the Holy Book refer to misery of those suffering imprisonment and the numerous tales of the seven sins of life and how they are interrelated with the way we live our lives and do our work inside these draconic dungeons called penitentiaries. Putting the pieces of the puzzles together, someone from the outside can easily glean and gather enough of a perspective to conclude that prisons are filled with these deadly sins in one way or another as mankind suffers during this era of mass incarceration in our state prisons and jails. The practice of committing sins has not only been a favorite pastime of humans throughout the ages but is a daily event for those who live on the edge of life and ignore the moral compass that has been implanted in our minds since childhood. It is with serious considerations that personal experiences have revealed the ever presence of all sins as described in horror by those who worked and lived inside prisons.

Pride is excessive beliefs in one’s own abilities that ignores the other elements of being a fair and open minded person in a position of power and influence with regards to the lives of those incarcerated and who dutifully work there for a living. Pride is an obstacle to common sense and is often the reason for bad judgments and decisions when the lack of humility allows mistakes to be made without second thoughts. Holding powers of life and death over other human beings created a thing called vanity that distorts the well being of others for the sake of themselves. It is this self-love that destroys the very nature of a good administrator as they quickly sink into the quicksand of the political environment they are now entrapped without escape. Pride turns into arrogance in time that obstructs due process.

Envy is the desire to obtain or acquire the status, the position or the power of others sacrificing personal values in order to gain a foot into the door of success and power. Envy can create a competitive spirit that becomes destructive and selfish as they want to succeed at the expense of others and gain that upper hand of those who they view as smarter, luckier or more intelligent than themselves but are willing to compromise their own principles to gain entry into the management world. Envy will result in the willingness to cheat others and promotes discrimination and harassment.

Gluttony is an enormous desire to want more than they can handle or need. It is a desire to want the things they don’t really need to do the job but gives them the self satisfaction of having it just in case. A glutton wants power, influence, control all wrapped into one ball so they can wield their position of authority on those lacking the statutory or administrative positions to do their job properly. Gluttons squash the desire to do it right and do it with honor as they were taught by their peers, mentors or teachers. Gluttons lack self-control and impose their evil will on others without regards to policies, laws or statutes that exist to protect others.

Lust is a mistaken quality for love of the job or persons as it reflects one’s self pleasures and desires rather than filling the needs of others first. Lust is destructive as it takes away more and more from the soul as it craves the desire for the flesh, the pain and the sorrow that exists in a darkened world filled with human suffering and misery. Lust pollutes the mind and soul of all things that are right and ignores consequences or reckless acts or tacit approval for others to commit wrongdoings denying that they had anything to do with the wrongful act.

Anger or Wrath is another craving of the body and not the soul as it focuses on revenge and retribution for others to suffer and see life as an eye for an eye kind of relationship. Anger manifests a fury that is imposed on others through misguided use of force, living conditions, punitive sanctions and other tools given to management to impose their will upon the prison world and its inhabitants. This political wrath is both irritating and intimidating to others who seek fairness and justice in most situations. This wrath will expose many to needless punishment and torture whether physical or psychological in nature.

Greed is the desire to own everything within your span of control and beyond. It creates a desire to travel beyond your normal realms of reality and puts risk to your own status and ruins relationships that have become covetousness rather than sharing or providing guidance to others to enhance the job, challenge or mission in a more logical and sensible manner. Your willingness to compromise your own morals or standards is in danger of being lost, as your desire for materialistic growth exceeds your ability to cover the costs. Greed will create barriers that will impede your span of control and results in corruption from the top to the bottom as others will act inappropriately without role models.

Sloth is a natural result of expending all your natural energy on projects that require no physical efforts or spiritual awakening. This sin is a quiet killer as it creeps up on you and destroys your very fiber of morality and allows you to be exposed or vulnerable to the other sins already described within the work place or prison world. This laziness can result in a level of complacency that will allow disorder and insubordination to grow and reel out of control. You will lose respect and your expectations are now in left in the hands of others who do not have your best interest in mind as they risk your trust to do wanton ill on those incarcerated and without self-control or accountability by those in charge. Being a sloth in character, work ethics and ideology will result in the formation of work place gangs, mass confusion, assaults on persons and disturbances.
Source:

http://www.deadlysins.com/sins/index.htm