Pelican Bay SHU Hunger Strike - A Bluff or real Chess Game?

The recent hunger strike in Pelican Bay SHU unit is a chess game with real lives at stake. The King, Governor Brown must win this game in order to maintain power and domination over the prison population. His Queen, the prison director must protect him at all costs. Hired guns such as the Knight and Bishops provide the leadership in this struggle to outwit the other side and gain compliance or domination over the prison grounds and its contents. The Rooks will be placed in harm’s way to draw the fight as the expendables, the Pawns or correctional officers will be used against the expandable prisoners of the other side strategizing a win that will resolve the matter at hand for perhaps once and for all times.

On the other side there is no King or Queen as the pieces have been removed from the board by mere power and authority of the governor and his men. The opposition must strategize how to overcome this leverage acquired by the other side by stacking their numbers and fueling their spirits with pure motivation to win this battle of survival and guts alone. They too have the required Knights and Bishops but their communication has been impaired to some degree thus their wisdom may not be either heard or understood. Their Rooks and Pawns are ready for the fight as their numbers of Pawns exceed the number of pieces allowed on the board squaring off in disproportionate fashion.

Thus while one has no king or queen, their numbers are high in Pawns that are willing to die for the cause. These Pawns, the expendable useless Pawns are thrown in the way of certain demise and domination in this most malevolent game. Counting the pieces there is no mystery why there are so many Pawns provided for this spirited encounter between black and white. After all one must try to use a Pawn to capture or remove a higher piece on the board in order to gain the advantage in power. The white pieces are representing the good and the black playing the evil role.

Altogether, 32 pieces are supposed to be stacked on the board to engage in a war or battle of the wits with the winner claiming domination over the other. This won’t be the case in Pelican Bay for it is almost for certain other prisoners housed elsewhere will join as the fuel ignites other Pawns inside other prisons.
The odds are that the rules of a legitimate chess game will not be followed as many more Pawns will join in the game without an invitation from anyone but do so to join the reason against the King, the Queen and their army of pieces designed to control and dominate the environment.

The strategy is divided into four categories – time, sacrifices, tradeoffs and capture. Such a strategy works inside a prison. Each action has a separate degree of risk or boldness involved adding the mystic approach of playing this game. Advantages are sought as both sides use tactics to impact leverage of the outcome. One side is offensive while the other is defensive in nature but can at any moment seize the opportunity to become the offensive player taking advantage of a key mistake or tactic. The awareness to such mistakes is the key to changing the approach of the strategy. Using unguarded pieces to lure the opponent into the ruse of the game, one must be careful at all times.

Waiting to see the announced resumption of the hunger strike on September 26th makes me wonder just how many Pawns Governor Brown will have to take down and capture before he is overwhelmed by public pressure to stop the madness. My only advice to Governor Brown is simply this, review the management mistakes made at Attica back in the 70’s and remember that although you won’t be using bullets and gas to gain control, you will have to prepare your staff for extensive medical emergencies that may takes lives as they succumb to your order to surrender and stop the hunger strike.

Arizona Killing are up 16 %

Looking at this article in the Arizona Republic today these facts are very interesting as Arizona is begging for more prison money and more prisons to cure their addiction to mass incarceration..

Nationally crime went down.... Looking at the overall crime rate, the number of offenses are down according to the DOJ - but we want more prisons that only leads me to speculate that it is immigration detainees that they are counting on to fill these prisons and not hard criminals off the street committing crimes against the public.

In Arizona, violent crime overall fell by 3.1 percent, and property crime dropped by 3.7 percent.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/09/19/20110919arizona-killings-up-16-percent.html#ixzz1YVBWw0Vy

Read this article by clicking on the link. You decide!!!

Privatizing Prison is bad business..because it's a short term problem to a long term financial obligation that comes back for the citizens to pay off and leaves the contractors off the hook..... giving them the money and the freedom to move on.

WARNING - GRAPHIC MATERIAL - FIVE MAN TWO STEP WITH SHIELD

Tis was the afternoon shift that was fast and furious

For it was on this shift that we rock and rolled

When they asked me to go to the dance, I said I got two left feet

But they told me that four others dressed in black I would meet

He said hold the shield as close as you can

Hold it with all your strength and fire

For we are about to do a dance

To a soul with vertical expressions

But will surely result in a horizontal desire



So we move with fluidity but rigid in desire

And you can’t really translate the feelings oh so higher

As we stand in place with a hostile foe vertical toe to toe

With someone with a horizontal desire



We did the two-step we did the mambo and even the tango

We poured over him like water pouring over polished steel

And the music in our heads strung a tune of adrenalin higher

As the opponent wished and got a horizontal desire



We held onto each other like a link in a stainless steel fence

Not giving the opponent a fighting chance

And when the music stopped and our hearts were on fire

We conquered the soul with a horizontal desire.



Taking nothing for granted we stayed high all night long

So it was time to dim the lights as we ended our dance that night

And looking into the sky where the moon and stars were smilin

We, the five of us knew it was time to retire

As we danced again for the purpose of taking a soul

From a vertical expression to a horizontal desire.

Criticism of Mental Health Care in Solitary Confinement

Correctional Mental Health Care

As a follow up on another article written about the seriously mental ill (SMI) persons incarcerated in our prisons, this editorial is written to illustrate the need for more mental health care inside our prisons and what the barriers are that prevents effective programs and treatment for the many persons suffering with this illness. Today the Department of Justice estimates that due to the deinstitutionalization of our state hospitals, many SMI persons have been imprisoned in our state and federal prisons with serious treatment needs but are actually suffering needlessly because of either receiving no treatment, partial treatment or inadequate placement in a place designed for treatment.

Although this is an anecdotal opinion of the current conditions inside our prisons based on both first hand experience and observation of 25 years inside Southwest prisons as a prison administrator, it has been established that more than a quarter of our prison population [many say it’s as high as 50 %] suffer from some type of mental health illness that requires either treatment, medication or both in order to cope with the stressors and daily events inside the penitentiaries. The reasons given for untreated or ineffective caretaking of these SMI can be based on several facts that are not disputable in all the research that has been conducted in the past several decades. The first and foremost factor why correctional facilities suffer in the area of providing treatment to the SMI is the fact that most, if not all, government budgets are strained and funding for mental health programs are limited causing a domino effect that includes the understaffing of qualified medical / mental health staff and the inability to provide proper housing facilities in which correctional therapy programs can exist and the offenders be housed. This limited access to treatment facilities hampers the ability to appropriately treat all those identified needing help with their illness or disabilities.

Secondary, there is an obvious lack of support within the prison administration and cultural setting that allows the existence and success of prison therapy programs to work and be effectively management without political interference. Associated costs and the need for special training discourages many administrators to implement and seek sound therapy programs within their own span of control due to finances and high costs of medication, staffing and other treatment associated expenses.

Lastly, since we have already acknowledged that there are limited funds, limited qualified staffing and limited space, there should be no surprise that those caseloads that do exist are unusually large and hard to manage. This unusual large number of patients has impacted the quality of the services provided and induced high levels of anxiety and frustration by dedicated professionals working extremely hard to meet their program goals. This ineffectiveness or inability to treat has indirectly caused a continuous cycle of SMI persons coming in and out of prisons creating a high recidivism that can only be reduced if the resources were committed to deal with their issues before they leave the prison setting. The dangers associated with these released SMI persons who have not received care while in prison effects our communities and increases their chances of committing crimes again almost assuring society that they will spend the rest of their lives inside a prison with lengthy and determinate sentences to keep them off the streets in the name of “public safety” and “tough on crime.”

The “tough on crime” mandate has overcrowded our prisons with many people who could in fact receive treatment before they are incarcerated and allowed to participate in outpatient treatment programs with the support of their families and other support groups. Since many treatment hospitals have been shut down or have limited bed space since the deinstitutionalization days, the prisons have become the only alternative for SMI persons to be committed and left behind. Since prisons were designed for those who possess and demonstrated “criminal behaviors” it is important to recognize that many SMI persons do not have “criminal intent” when they are experiencing a psychosomatic psychosis and the matter of treatment, medication and stabilization is important to their disability treatment.
While many state and federal prisons are equipped with mental health services that serve those with mental health problems and disabilities in prisons there are serious flaws in their design and purpose as too much of the care giving responsibilities are placed on the correctional officers who have no special training in the supervision of such special needs offenders. Therefore, due to lack of the number of qualified staffing available and the expense of training staff for these tasks, the programs become fragmented and ineffective as the communication, education and behaviors are not effectively understood and sometimes ignored due to the excessive caseloads or overcrowding. Although is can be said that there are many devoted and professional correctional staff and mental health personnel with the right attitudes to do the job there is just not enough funding or space to give this matter the priority it deserves.
Perhaps it is time for lawmakers who have run for office on the “tough on crime” motto to find funding and implement alternatives for the SMI persons instead of sending them to prisons. It seems only right since it was their approach on the matter that created this crisis inside our prisons today.
Source:
http://www.mhcca.org/mental-health-problems-and-disabilities-in-prisons.html

The Bad versus the Good

Today, it appears to many government has engaged in a policy to hire evil-doers to run their agencies with ruthless and criminal like strategies to exert control over the workers destroying morale and any feeling of satisfaction on the job causing them to quit and allow the management to soak up their financial savings on salaries and benefits bragging to their bosses how much they have saved but not realizing these strategies are actually more expensive than the loss of the good employees. Secondary to resignations are submissions to the evil force joining the culture of the work force that learns these practices of the evil doers are socially acceptable and empowering them to act the same but without positions of authority.
Evil-doers strive for excellence in his or her own manner prescribed by the rules of engagement dictated by the Devil. Thriving to get a choke hold on the very environment they desire to control, their grip grows tighter and tighter as they are empowered by those in power to take more and more control of their domain or milieu. Waiting their time in the shadows of their mentors or former bosses, they are taught the lessons and tactics most commonly used to strike with the swiftness of a Cobra and the venom of the most dangerous reptile on this planet. They will not stop their attack until the competition is either dead, incapacitated or dishonored with false and slanderous innuendos that are far from the truth but very effective in the discrediting of the person’s points of view, truth, credibility and finally, disposal as another disgruntled worker or a selfish whistle blower wanting attention. Toasting their success of decimating others in their world, they gain control of the domain they desired and become more successful in their quest for power. These masterminds have many tools or weapons at their disposal. First they have their position of power and authority. Second they have the resource that allows them rampant use of such to willfully destroy the opposition.
They have henchmen or women who are willing to sell their souls to the masterminded evil-doer dreaming of becoming one in the future. They join him or her with high expectations of profit and power mongering, assisting the boss in his or her quest for domination. Many readers are familiar with the Homer Simpson cartoon series and recognize the name of a fictional villain names Montgomery Burns, Homer’s boss. Well using an analogy of typical corporate bosses, he is a stereotype of Corporate America in his unquenchable desire to increase his own wealth and power, His famous quotation of slaying family, religion and friendship” make a great warning of the methods used. Burns, in his rhetoric to mental evil doers in the corporate world say “These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business” and is presently used the motto of many who desire power and wealth. His methodology of managing is simply ruthless elimination of your rivals without any second thoughts or hesitations. Then takeover as much as you can using your legal resources to eliminate any opposition to you quest. Suing them and making pacts with the devil works quiet well for these type of evil doers and attracts new comers on board who see the financial and materialistic advantages of being evil. Using these tools of fear and intimidation you spend your time gloating as your collateral damage grows and reaping the most rewarding aspect of such behaviors, total control, wealth and contemptible destruction of the workforce.
Thus we create a class of sub-evildoers who are just as reckless and evil as the originator at the top of these pyramids of power builders. Having gained support from the top, they know they can successfully climb the ladder of success without ethical expectations and the more ruthless they are, the more willing the corporate world is to promote them. Executives are hired based on the criteria of choices reflecting those personalities of those considered to be not a people’s person. Hired to turn the workforce into a graveyard of casualties and unaware victims, they wreak their wrath of damage to include the many that are good at their jobs but not considered to be vital to the operation thus expendable.
Hiring these politically correct administrators, managers and supervisors, the boss has decidedly disseminated effective tools of destruction or growth, depending how you see this and found an effective style to spread his gospel throughout the workforce in a most uniform manner. These madmen, allowed to ramble and glibber at the mouth instantly draw in workers and literally have them follow senseless and evil ways of doing the job as all they want to hear is the divine message provided by their leader to suck them in becoming zombies in state of mind and follow like sheep.
The workplace would not be unsettled if it was not for the most dangerous and the most common subordinate work force leader of them all, the fool who is most depraved and malevolent more so than the others with the exception of the boss. This evil doer is the lowest of the low and acts like a vigilante on the hunt for good men and women destroying their religion in life, family and moral ground. They do this because in a culture as wicked inside a prison, they can get away with it with no consequences or no ramifications as they are in tune with their mission statement to seek out the good and destroy them all.
Thus eventually after enduring these constant assaults by evil, people become desensitized to violence, corruptive ways and unethical conduct. They see the ways of Satanism as a way of life and it is what it is. Knowing that they are unable to judge others, they accept the fact that all are born with sin and all crave evil. Some crave the good but must overcome the desires offered by the bad. Being orientated into a new direction or moral ground causes many to believe that evil is good and that by being evil, you can make your job more exciting. Those who do evil will eventually be on the receiving end of evil but in the meantime, they will perpetrate its cause and conform to its principles.
Liking the effects of evil, many feel that hating others, creating fear or bitterness and acting with jealous or destructive personalities gives them unparalleled power and influence over those not engaged in the act of evil,, Surely, one day they will find out they were wrong in assuming such a subjective approach as they fail to quench their thirst for these bitter ingredients and fall like dominos in a game of power.

More on the California SHU Pelican Bay Hunger Strike

This is a excerpt out of an article on Solitary Watch, a publication I don't always agree with but often containing interesting points of view on prison talk and issues.

I a previous article Carl ToersBijns had posted a few suggestions to which I commented on. The following is a condensed read of this exchange.


“The process to place an inmate into the SHU should be reviewed before an initial placement.

(The inmate needs to be aware of this “process” as it progresses.)

Follow up with a full committee review within 30 days to validate information in the inmates file.

(The committee needs to be independent like the Internal Affairs section of police departments to prevent abuse.)

At the same time the process for a prisoner to exit or transition out of the SHU should be reviewed.

(This info should be immediately shared with the inmate upon his entry so he that knows what is required of him.)

There should be evidence based risk assessments to the matrix to add up to points equalling the minimum required points for placement (as determined by national standards for security threat group scoring.)

(A hand book of these “National Standards For Security Threat Group Scoring” and the minimum required points should be made as available as a Bible in any motel room.)

A legitimate appeal should be offered through a three step process up to the director.

(Define this “Three Step Process” and if used make it available to the inmate at a level he can understand.)

Self studies and other evidence based programs can be used to fill an 18 month program for step down.

(I think a program of study should be placed up stream at the point of entry into the system. A new inmate should be schooled on all the false propaganda that he will hear from and the methodology of recruitment of all these prison gangs.)

Debriefing can be an option but should not be the solo option to exit the SHU.

(Why save a flawed system that encourages false testimony? If used at all information derived while debriefing should be received with a skeptical eye.)

The culture within must accept these changes.

(I say the “Culture Within” needs at least an 18 month education program of their own.)

Start small – handpick the first group of eligible participants – know their habits and backgrounds – invite mental health and form a multidisciplinary committee for flexibility –

(I say make it available to all inmates or the other inmates will reject it believing it to be biased.)

Glad someone on the other side is at least thinking about solutions.

Carl Toersbijns wrote these condensed quotes:

I have worked as a deputy warden since 1998. I have worked for good wardens and bad wardens.

The problem isn’t the staff is corrupt. The problem is the administration, with their endorsement of the minority behaving in such a manner to keep things stirred up and “kickstarting” the place to justify their means.

Realize this, there are still many within who want to do it right but fear retaliation from their own and their administrators.

Their culture has barriers, code of silence, selective discipline and tacit approvals of those in charge able to make things happen to create or fuel the hate mentality and justify the use of force e.g. chemical agents sprayed unauthorized into a cell when passing, withholding mail, property or others to show control and power.

That’s why I endorse rotation of staff to avoid groups, cliques and “gang like” activities for those in brown as I am very well aware of their presence… Corruptions and power plays exist when you allow it to happen.

One rogue administrator can do more harm than a dozen rogue correctional officers.

When you multiply this by the number of administrators there are you can see the impact they have made on the environment.

Their lack of ethics motive others to do the same thus you create a mob mentality by tacit approval of “looking the other way.”

Correctional officers, like inmates clique up by race, that is true but overall, they all act the same [but have different targets] because the administrators have empowered them to act the way they do.

Example, if the administrator explains a death in his or her facility by saying “another empty bed” then the officers will condone death without attempts to preserve and copy their attitude by saying to others “the boss said another empty bed” leaving nothing left of any human insignificance regarding the death. This multiplies as the events occurred through lack of medical treatment, the high suicide rates and other factors condoned by many administrators as “facts of life inside the penitentiary.”

I think that…the leadership does not want change; they like business as usual and take a pay check home doing nothing except incite disorder, abusiveness and negligence contrary to their custodial practices.

It is the good ones that suffer the most as they have no support mechanism inside the system today. To answer your question, “who’ll stop the rein” it should be the governor and he or she must have the courage, the intelligence and the fairness to look at change as a positive thing and not going backwards.

Although I agree that prisons are failing, it starts at the top and works its way down.

Transparency, accountability, oversight and audits (yes I agree external auditors) to verify program objectives achieved or maintained are mandatory requirements for a good prison system.

We are close to going to hell as it stands today unless we change the way we do business.”

And I agree with this courageous assistant warden!!!

Attica, A preview of the Apocalypse

I read an editorial in the Buffalo News.com newsletter and saw this headline “Today’s technology might have saved lives in Attica uprising.” Reading the editorial written by Stewart Dan, it was a good report but as I read the story a little bit further I came this comment with a line that said “Forty years later, the “what ifs” continue to bother this reporter. What if we had a cellphone to communicate? What if we had videotape cassettes that ran 30 minutes and could be played back instantly? And, most importantly, what if we had a satellite truck on scene to constantly update the world on what was going on in this isolated community? “
I quickly realized that although technology would have enhanced the communication and the delivery of accurate news, facts or data, it would not have prevented Attica from exploding. The reasons are purely anecdotal in nature with no scientific evidence to support this except twenty five years inside a prison and law enforcement. Speculating if the administration, the governor or even the National Guard would have done things different is a moot point today except for the valuable lessons learned from that tragedy.
Here is where I am going to try to make my anecdotal points. You see, the problems at Attica weren’t anything that could not have been avoided. Attica was under siege of a culture and influence more deadly than the riot itself. Attica was a weapon of mass destruction waiting to happen and nobody paid attention to the signs, the internal problems, the racism, the hatred, the discriminatory practices, the code of silence, the deliberate indifference towards dignity, respect and preservation of life and civil rights.
Still today, the media is missing its calling. The media is assisting the prison officials by condoning the cover ups, the lack of transparency and the lack of interest in prisons until it explodes like Attica did. Then, the media will report how the massacre evolved and how the state was negligent about how it took care of its prisoners and how the place was really operated, out of sight, out of mind. After all, it’s every governor’s mandate to every director that oversees the prison system to take control and handle it. They don’t want to know how prisons are operated and what methods are used. Still the problem is unresolved as prisons are still graveyards of an unusual number of “natural deaths.” The suicide rates and the homicides that occur within the walls are still not investigated with the quality and meticulous science available on the outside mimicking a CSI episode. Mentally ill prisoners are thrown in with those who have severe social behavioral problems and become easy prey. Assaults and rapes are up and staffs are being assaulted in a horrific rate with no goals to bring them down in some states.
If Attica taught us anything, it was to keep an eye on the ball [the prison system] and report accurately, timely, both the good and bad and hold the governor, the prison directors and his or her staff accountable for every mission failure so boldly printed in their strategic plan every fiscal year to operate these prisons with publicly funded money.
Source:
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial-page/viewpoints/article561200.ece