Controlling Trolling
I have been wondering how long it will take for those state
leaders who are trolling the state looking or wandering around searching for
the right person to lead Arizona’s prison system. It has struck me lately that
the frequency of prison happenings since 2009 has resulted in more prison
deaths, more staff injuries and certainly more uncontrolled melees that are
strong indicators of weak leadership and lack of guidance from above.
Reading a lot about these “incidents” throughout the state
and listening to the concerns of correctional officers that work these tough
beats inside our penitentiaries, I can picture a bunch of “retired while on
active duty” (R.O.A.D.) men and women sitting around the large conference table
on the fourth floor surrounded with trophies of personal accomplishments over
the last decade or so but none relevant to the issues on the table today.
None of them are engaged in business-like conversations or
discussions. The laughter is loud as they sip on their custom bought bottled
water and exaggerating their self importance to the group. It’s fair to say
that when you develop a picture of someone in charge you may find an image of
someone intelligent, sober, considered, polite and yes empathetic to the agency’s
needs and troubles.
I am certain you will not find anyone fitting that description
on the fourth floor down on Jefferson Avenue near the Arizona state capitol. Instead
you may find cold hearted, calloused, drunk or under the influence of a liquor
type of attitude running this state agency that only thinks of themselves
rather than those that carry the burdens of this agency on their backs, the
correctional employee and correctional officers.
What they should be talking about are issues pressing within
the agency that start with rule of law and compliance with their own policies
and procedures. Releasing politically correct statements every time there is an
incident, they attempt to do damage control by doing nothing. In the meantime,
employees suffer at the most “difficult juncture” of state leadership and
prison chaos as we find that nobody on the fourth floor gives a damn about them
or anything else since they are all secured with their double dipping paychecks
safely deposited in their checking accounts for an unlimited amount of time.
Acting in an adolescent manner while screaming at their
subordinates, they ignore the rape of the system and widespread anger about
their lack of ownership / leadership of their own priorities and public safety.
Showing no willingness to develop positivity within the agency and implement a
bold strategy to get back on track with sound correctional practices and
following the rule of law, this scandalous behavior will continue until someone
in the Capitol wakes up and realizes this abuse impacts their reputations as
well as endangering the communities and public safety.
To date, hundreds of citizens have been marching in the
streets carrying signs asking for help and attention to those issues brought
forth. Every day, the news prints another failure in ink to remind our
communities that they are not safe with prisons inside their communities. However,
it is clear nobody in the legislature or the governor’s office is listening.
Bland press release statements try to convince the public
and the media everything is all right but in reality these prisons are coming
to a boiling point and nobody is watching and preparing for such a calamity.
I don’t think this is a case of lack of resources or ability
to prepare or to respond to prison problems. I think it is more a policy of
apathy and trolling techniques to allow the inevitable to occur and then take an
“I told you so” approach asking the legislature and the governor for more money
to run the system that has failed because of deliberate indifference to its needs
internally and operationally neglected.
There are no growing pains as the system’s population is
actually shrinking. It is shrinking in prison population and it is shrinking in
retaining experienced and qualified personnel. With empty beds available, they
continue to insist to double bunk maximum custody prisoners in a newly proposed
prison bed bid without first controlling and managing existing maximum custody
beds that contribute to a high rate of homicides, suicides, staff assaults and
delays in medical care as well as mental health treatment for those locked away
in solitary confinement without a due process review making their stay their indefinitely
and finally when their time is done, released back to our streets.
There is only pettiness and bad faith dealings with our
elected officials, our citizens and the communities put in harm’s way because
of poor administrative guidance, communication and closed channels of
transparency that creates tension and anger throughout the state’s prison
population as well as their own 10,000 employees who depend on this
administration to protect them and not throw them to the wolves as are doing
today.
The bottom line is we rely on state leadership to keep channels
open particularly at times of turmoil or disruption. When channels are closed its
inflames emotions and anger and it would be more realistic if they would spend
their time working on these problems rather than spending most of their time
engaging in irrelevant dialogue while engaging in tasks that actually makes
their jobs more difficult than easier because of their own device.
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