Since writing my three books, I have been asked by many people that have read them – “what is missing?” The question is most certainly loaded and it bring to the front page a deliberate indifference in the media and by the media to eliminate or refusal to cover the entire span of control of the Arizona Department of Corrections focusing on civil rights and life preservation efforts. Many have said that I have taken this stance on the agency personal. To tell the truth, it appears that way but isn’t at all accurate. What I have taken personal is the constant hiding and lack of transparency the agency provides to its citizens whenever a serious incident “kicks off” and since I have accumulated over 24 years of experience while working in corrections, I always wanted to do something about this culture to “cover up” the truth and expose their failures seeking repaired efforts to correct and balance for the agency to work together with the media and demonstrate ethical and professional accountability of their mission, their staff and their programs. When people die as often as they do inside Arizona prisons, there is something wrong with the prison system and it’s the responsibility of the media to investigate and find the truth.
The truth be told, Arizona corrections has many problems as it soaks approximately one billion dollars a year from the state budget. They [politicians] would rather spend these funds on prisons then paying for improving our schools and other wellness programs that helps stabilize our future and our children’s growth. It is my opinion that if the state were to be placed under a federal court order to “clean up” its act there would be less violence, less “natural deaths” and less suicides within these prison walls while at the same time, students would improve their grades, reduce gang activities and avoid more drop outs throughout the state.
Coming onboard in June of 2005, I fell into an abyss of darkness and draconic prison conditions that put my ability to manage back at least ten years compared to the New Mexico prison system. I suspect because New Mexico was under a federal court decree called the Duran Consent Decree, it improved rapidly under the scrutiny of lawyers and judges that held administrators accountable for several itemized conditions ordered by the court. The truth be told, Arizona has not made one inch of improvement since 2005 in my opinion and has rather chosen to regress rather than progress as their problems remain to be at a critical stage and considered by many a “disaster area” in need of federal funds and interference.
I make these comments because I believe that I was a highly successful administrator who participated, planned and strategized important programs to reduce violence, deaths and misconduct. I have seen the positive results of building positive programs to manage prisoner behavior and conduct. I have been involved in programs that increased individual responsibility skills, improve motivational conditions to learn and listen better and allowed prisoners to act and live under near normal conditions in a lockdown setting at SMU II now the Browning Unit. The reason for wanting to improve the conditions inside Arizona prisons is not personal nor is it religiously motivated although it is my strong belief that religions play an important part of the prisoner’s life and tribulations daily to control their own behavior and respect of others.
Since my retirement in 2010, it is for sure that I could no longer be involved in the mechanics of such change thus I must appreciate the works of others dedicated for change and improvement of the prison complexes inside Arizona. Since writing my books I have been criticized, ostracized and condemned for speaking out against an industrial complex that was organized for one purpose and one purpose only – mass incarceration to make profit of human lives that belong to the state and other entities.
Although I can no longer do the work, I appreciate the work of many others who continue to seek change and reforms in this arena where human lives are at stake. I bear no responsibility for the outcome or any credit for any change. I am a strong advocate of sentencing reforms and other alternatives that offer persons a chance to stay out of prison or county jails. I know there are good state representatives working on sentencing changes that could reduce the prison population thereby reducing the burden of keeping our large prison complex from growing into a conglomerate that has been designed by many in the past that include prosecutors, legislators, special interest groups and private prison lobbyist.
My feeling about the way prisons are run has no bearing on the truth or seeking the truth. The current destruction of sound prison programs that began to crumble in early 2009 puts the prison administration without redemption or hope to ever return the programs due to lack of funding or personnel to operate such programs. Today, newly committed prisoners are doomed for failure (a design that allows more prison beds to be requested or allocated) since the focus of changing the culture from a punitive environment to a healthy and productive environment is not likely to happen anytime soon under the current executive leadership in the Capitol or on the fourth floor on Jefferson Avenue. Today, the prisoner and their families have been decimated by the sheer political power and brutal machine that dominates their lives and creates harsh and toxic prison conditions under the current philosophy and correctional practices. They are no better than organized crime that does not care about human beings or their hardships as long as they make the profit anticipated.
In the meantime, this political machine has dealt the employees a terrible blow of confidence and faith in their leaders.
It is difficult to express the mistrust and frustration that exists within the prison system as employees are used as pawns to cater or barter prison employee rights and benefits for the sake of prolonged mass incarceration methods. Employees are not at fault for the dismal performance of this agency. They are just as much victimized as the prisoners and face a reliance on their legislative representatives to pull them out of this chasm of division and conflict. For the prisoners, this has also brought frustration, loss of faith in the system and hopelessness that they will be able to return back to society a better man or woman without being returned back to prison because of lack of training, educational efforts or pre-release opportunities to reduce recidivism thereby reducing the financial burden on the state and citizens.
In ending this comment, the State of Arizona must change its ways regarding the way they run prisons and the way they are condemning the educational and other sound human resource systems within the state. The focus should be on rehabilitation and reforms while funding the schools in sufficient fashion to better educate our kids keep them out of gangs and reduce the terrible drop out rate within the state today. Legislators know this to be true but ignore the symptoms of this disease. This state government, from the top of the ladder to the lowest rung, their contribution in keeping the media involved in prison operations has faltered on purpose for both fear and retaliation for speaking or seeking the truth. They believe that the majority of people inside this state do not care about improving prisons and reforming our school systems. They fear personal persecution and labeling of being “disgruntled” and ruination of their personal careers.
For them, there is only the hope that one day they will realize their silence has ruined the moral fiber within their own bodies and mind and make a change in their approach, their thinking and their actions to redeem themselves and join the others for reforms and change in the current political status quo in Arizona.
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