It is becoming clear by the chain of events that have
occurred since the beginning of 2009 the Arizona Department of Corrections has
been on a slippery slope resembling a house of cards that has been identified
to have a flimsy and instable structure and a very fragile internal arrangement
of management that is undependable and ineffectively put together that is
definitely in danger of collapsing or failing public safety and the safety of
those employees that work there.
Without targeting or identifying any specific position or
person it is fair to say that its entire performance records has demonstrated
ill and poor prison management principles that have cost the state taxpayers
excessive amount of money due to its inability to control prison bed growth and
its lack of using and implementing innovative sentencing alternatives within
the community.
Applying the funds provided by the legislature that total
well beyond the sum of one billion dollars and with the realization that the
prison population has not grown in the past year and more plans are in place to
expand beds, it would behoove the agency to re-allocate some of those funds and
fix these systems that are barely kept together with a thread of hope that they
don’t break down completely. Realistic assessments of the DOC will reveal weak
infrastructure in many of their systems that have been neglected now for years.
Specifically we need to address funding and attention to the following systems:
·
Information network system
·
Inmate classification system
·
Security perimeter alarm system
·
Fire alarms system
·
Staffing pattern and deployment system
·
Personnel retention system
·
Preventive maintenance system
There are many other sub-structured systems that are
impaired or fragmented but essentially, these are the core systems that provide
the public safety for our citizens. The fact of the matter surrounding such
weaknesses is the necessity to fund restoration programs and prioritize capital
layout funds to address these immediately if Arizona public safety is going to
be taken serious. The reason for such dereliction is the lack of financial and
administrative attention paid to these systems and the lack of funds directed
at these important functions that keep the prison system as a whole accountable
and secure in its mission.
Lawmakers should immediately draw up a plan and ask the
current administration a preventive maintenance plan that will avoid a
systematic failure or partial shutdown of essential operational elements in the
near future that may cause the entire prison operation to be interrupted and
have a cause and effect that could impact the safety of the public, the safety
of the employees and inmates and the safety of visitors that enter these
facilities on a regular basis.
Using the house of cards metaphor should illustrate
vulnerability that exists today after years of neglect. Small house of cards
are easy to rebuild but when a large house of cards fails, removing one card
could make everything collapse. There is too much interdependency on these
systems to risk such failure with such various individual systems. The large house of cards where the
independent systems form above, are at the bottom and the integration layers
are built on top. Here we also need reassurances to repair as you can see one
card being removed and where the house of cards have collapsed.
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