Pay for your Stay inside Jails or Prisons ~ the big picture

Wasted Honor -

Carl R. ToersBijns is the author of the Wasted Honor Trilogy [Wasted Honor I,II and Gorilla Justice] and his newest book From the Womb to the Tomb, the Tony Lester Story, which is a reflection of his life and his experiences as a correctional officer and a correctional administrator retiring with the rank of deputy warden in the New Mexico and Arizona correctional systems.

Carl also wrote a book on his combat experience in the Kindle book titled - Combat Medic - Men with destiny - A red cross of Valor -

Carl is considered by many a rogue expert in the field of prison security systems since leaving the profession. Carl has been involved in the design of many pilot programs related to mental health treatment, security threat groups, suicide prevention, and maximum custody operational plans including double bunking max inmates and enhancing security for staff. He invites you to read his books so you can understand and grasp the cultural and political implications and influences of these prisons. He deals with the emotions, the stress and anxiety as well as the realities faced working inside a prison. He deals with the occupational risks while elaborating on the psychological impact of both prison worker and prisoner.

His most recent book, Gorilla Justice, is an un-edited raw fictional version of realistic prison experiences and events through the eyes of an anecdotal translation of the inmate’s plight and suffering while enduring the harsh and toxic prison environment including solitary confinement.

Carl has been interviewed by numerous news stations and newspapers in Phoenix regarding the escape from the Kingman prison and other high profile media cases related to wrongful deaths and suicides inside prisons. His insights have been solicited by the ACLU, Amnesty International, and various other legal firms representing solitary confinement cases in California and Arizona. He is currently working on the STG Step Down program at Pelican Bay and has offered his own experience insights with the Center of Constitutional Rights lawyers and interns to establish a core program at the SHU units. He has personally corresponded and written with SHU prisoners to assess the living conditions and how it impacts their long term placement inside these type of units that are similar to those in Arizona Florence Eyman special management unit where Carl was a unit deputy warden for almost two years before his promotion to Deputy Warden of Operations in Safford and Eyman.

He is a strong advocate for the mentally ill and is a board member of David's Hope Inc. a non-profit advocacy group in Phoenix and also serves as a senior advisor for Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council in Chino, California As a subject matter expert and corrections consultant, Carl has provided interviews and spoken on national and international radio talk shows e.g. BBC CBC Lou Show & TV shows as well as the Associated Press.

I use sarcasm, satire, parodies and other means to make you think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Pay for your Stay inside Jails or Prisons ~ the big picture

There has been much discussion on whether jails or prisons should be public or privately operated. The concept is simple ~ many say that if public prisons were to be turned over to the private prison industry they would say operating money. Others have said that giving the public prison industry their jails and prisons saves no money for the state or county but does show a profit for the private prison entrepreneur-minded or their contractual partners.

For example there is much profit to be made from the rental of the prison bed, the food served, the commissary goods sold at that prison, the pay phone system, the medical co-pays of their medical services etc that helps infuse funds into their respective budgets. Whether this is right or wrong is up to the individual morality of the person but is the most interesting ingredient for the growth of the private prison world. Charging a fee to be incarcerated is regulated by state legislators who either agree or disagree via the passing of bills that turn into laws permitting such activities. Making profit from inmates is hardly a new concept since slave labor was used in the past for those who had influence with the corrections commission, the wardens or the contacts set up for such business.

You can save costs on supplies by using different companies that make soap, mattresses, towels, sheets, etc. Food costs can be reduced if your state prisons will allow you to purchase their premixed foods (frozen) and then just reheating them at your facility.

Commissary goods are charged at more than retail cost; phone rates are higher than competitive public rates and there are many ways to charge an inmate for these services more than once if you do it smart. Contracting phone services and vending machines creates revenues of unbelievable proportions. Involved are some simple solutions to make money through rebates or revenue sharing benefiting the prison to some degree but essentially set up to benefit a third party who ‘piggyback” off these contracts and provide products or services creating a lesser cost for them through greater volume buying and lower prices that will be doubled or tripled at retail cost or higher.

On top of this pyramid structure of sales are opportunities for all involved to participate in expanding their ability to make money and expand to offer services in cash bail bonds, fines, court costs, child support payments etc offering the agencies with a flexible yet controlled method to make money and offer essential services to the inmates that have to meet court ordered sanctions or conditions either in pre-trial status or post trial status while in jail and then onto the prison where they are sent. In other words, the payment of such services offsets some of the costs of keeping them inside the facility offering quicker and an increasing ability to secure release, comply with court orders and reduce their stay while in the jail with the use of a credit or debit card.

Again depending upon the state you operate in, there may be other options such as providing programs for inmates such as work release, periodic imprisonment, and/or electronic monitoring that can reduce the number of inmates in your facility and generate fee revenue for your department, thereby reducing your costs and possibly generating revenue for your program and department.