Prisons – Hostile Territory in no man’s Land

Most people think of no man’s land as a vast waste area that is unoccupied and always hostile as it divides two or more territories between the good and the enemy. Rarely do we think of it as peaceful and take it for granted that the term serves a purpose for the good of society and the parting of men and women alike behind barbed wire or high razor sharp fences. Hostile territory that brings doubt and skepticism as this land is always under dispute, controversy or conflicts. Whether the conflict is political, financial or moral, the war has been waged for centuries why we have such conditions and what there is to be accomplished by having them situated like this where grown men and women fear to tread without some kind of protection.

Therein exists the fears of rape, murder, assaults and thievery that is beyond society’s understanding. It is almost criminal how we ignore this piece of land and pretend it doesn’t exist except for those caretakers and gatekeepers that work hard to keep it out of the headline news and safe to the public night and day.

It was the Army that first employed the term but it has been expanded to include penitentiaries and other detention facilities that hold convicted felons and devious minds. One must experience the culture and mindset in order to understand it completely but if you do enough research you might be able to envision what is really going on there beyond this no man’s land but seeing only the tip of the iceberg at best. No man’s land does more than separate the good from the bad. An invisible line to some and blurred lines to others, there are deep emotions attached to this term as it means so many different things to different people. To some it means incarceration for life or death; for some it means a lengthy separation from family and friends.  

There are too many people that work there it is a means of job security as it is very likely such a place will never disappear and dissipate into the fog or air. No man’s land is here to stay. No man’s land means doing time and doing time means profits to some. Regardless of what your thoughts are, for the past twenty years prisons and jails have grown and become a major industry in our country. America is the world’s leader in jailing and imprisoning people. Strangely, the United States incarcerates 25 per cent of the world’s prison population when in fact it only represents 5 per cent of the world population. It is no secret that the prison industrial complex has received much needed help from legislators enabled by many lobbyists that have paid a good price to see the industry grow exponentially in size and in costs.

The fact remains, America is under siege with many of their young men and women facing jail time or doing time in the penitentiary for breaking felony laws. Our country has waged an internal war against drugs, the border, Wall Street corruption and violence inside our communities and schools. Regardless of what we have done to make it safer, prisons remain full and alternatives are sparsely used in fear of letting out those that might harm or children or families thus release is guarded and deliberately stalled to control the numbers back on the streets.

The bottom line is we have to realize that this no man’s land is very expensive to maintain – although it may be unproductive and filled with human beings and sometimes void of any living vegetation, resources or structures, it has to be maintained at a top dollar price. The upkeep of such concepts are never ending. This unwanted land saps the financial coffers of local people, states and federal governments beyond their ability to replace the funds draining much more than it will ever give back. Little is realized just how much water and other natural resources are drained into the mouths of dungeons and obscurity.

The only way we can make the costs more bearable is to make it productive. Work on solutions to offer law breakers alternatives while reducing prison populaces and jails so that the costs are reduced and repaid by those who attend their punitive but reformative programs and pay society back.  We must instill personal responsibility and make them aware of all consequences but we need to find a better way to deal with their justice. We need to teach those incarcerated the right ways of society’s rules and consequences for breaking them.

Allowing behavioral and therapeutic treatment plans to work hand in hand with sound security to keep it safe and a better making it more empathetic amongst men and women that find the current existence of no man’s land acceptable although they have never set a foot on such desolate and wasted land.  We need to kill the apathy and bring back common sense and empathy so that we may re-structure what has become our no man’s land in hostile territory.

 

So you want to be a leader? Are you ready – Really Ready?

Not everyone is a leader and not all persons have the abilities to be a leader. There are tangibles and intangibles you have to deal with internally and externally to prepare yourself for this kind of role. Leadership does not come without a price and sometimes it’s the price you pay that impacts your leadership style and consequences for such behaviors. Once you step up to be perceived and accepted as a leader you must conform to some expectations that may change your life.

The way you talk and use certain words, the words you speak and the body language you use could either contribute or take away your effectiveness as a leader. Leadership adds value to a cause, organization or expectations and vice versa it could also draw away those values set due to lack of credibility or attitudes displayed.

We have all experienced good and bad leadership. Some leaders become even stronger leaders because their values and ethics defined them and their personal brand inspired others. Conversely, I also saw who were in the right place at the right time who conformed in the right way politically right amount of risk (typically, all of it) that made making their leadership efforts appear divine.

Regardless, once you show up for work, leisure or pleasure there are certain expectations and it is important that you uphold such anticipations.

1. First Impressions and dressing the part. “Perception is reality.” People tend to assume what they see is what they get – this is where the pre-game hype is realistic and not overly exaggerated.

2. Play the role. The common perception of a leader is one that is extroverted, confident and speaks well in public. Be who you are and want to be but if you feel you lack some insight chose someone who epitomizes what looks good for you. Be yourself while imagining yourself as that person. .

3. Avoid political correctness - Shoot straight -- avoid the Bull Shit. People can detect BS a mile away, especially if they are skeptical already.

4. Never walk away from difficult questions. True leaders operate without boundaries when it comes to answering questions. They know that transparency and openness brings trust and innovation, and keep it in the right context when making decisions, a concerted effort to answer tough questions demonstrates a commitment to your people.

5. Don’t be too anxious to reply to a question, sometimes you just have to listen. Not everybody needs a solution. Sometimes, the best thing a leader can do is just listen to issues and challenges. Demonstrate your interest by actively taking notes and then follow up with an action plan.

6. Be yourself and try to be sincerely candid. How you present yourself on stage, in a meeting or in a hallway encounter should be consistent and authentic, because the second you appear fake it raises a red flag you are not who you appear to be.

Being genuine, sincere and open speaks to who you are and anything less gives rise to skepticism and raised eyebrows. No matter where you go, make sure you show up with the right “leadership hat” on, because a leader’s work is never done.

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Ryan’s Comeuppance

 

 As the director of Arizona prison system, Charles L. Ryan has an uphill challenge on his hands as his prisons are exploding into blazing rings of fire due to hatred racial motives within, while under fire for the severe assaults and attacks on his own correctional officers and employees statewide. He is definitely under fire and as expected, will soon receive his comeuppance through a chain of events that will seal his fate.

There are multiple reasons for his personal demise and professional punishment to occur. He has been a pivotal political figure in Arizona prison strategies since 2009 and has not taken one speck or share for the poor accountability and responsibility how his administration has failed to protect Arizona citizens and its employees. His inactions to diminish violence inside the prisons towards staff and inmate on inmate attacks will draw opportunistic attacks from those candidates that disagree with his management style and will use the pulpit to express such a ruins.

Once a tough talking director that came on board with promises to reduce prison violence on staff and control inmate misconduct, he has pretty much thrown in the towel in succeeding in this mission and has been focusing heavily on making sure that expanding beds becomes a thriving business for the private prison contributors. His statistics indicating failures has grabbed the news headlines and summoned him to the Capitol more than once. It is clear the governor does not want the prison system to become one of her biggest political controversies and if it doesn’t come under control soon, it will be her worst nightmare since taking office.

Tampering with legislative approved rosters / charts and allocated full time employee staffing patterns he chopped these rosters down to the bare bones. Claiming and blaming the prior administration for such cuts worked for a while but then, he started his own butchery and now these facilities are running with skeleton crews on graveyard and severely shorted days and swing shifts with the inmates outnumbering them at two hundred and fifty to one on any given day of the week. This meddling was not just focused on staffing as he directed staff to alter or modify risk assessment policies and inmate classification systems to meet the needs of private prison beds and maximum custody beds in solitary confinement where he is currently planning to expand this custody level to another 500 beds in Lewis Complex.

I remember how he deliberately and methodically demolished the existing inmate employment system and what we called the capacity program under the previous director. Reducing educational programs, mental health treatment, and eliminating inmate jobs led to large unemployment conditions that allowed gang activities to enlarge and cultivate. Idleness, lack of staff and overcrowding are the three main ingredients for a riot and this man ignored each and every one of these elements.

Selected and nominated by private prison supporters to embrace and nurture the private prison growth in Arizona, he has now become the talk of the town amongst his own supporters and likely has become a liability in their eyes. In fact, some are pleased to see this man get a bit of southwestern comeuppance as his records begins to reflect failures rather than successes. Unfortunately there is no suitable replacement for this man that will keep the private beds growing as Charles L. Ryan has.

Some will not forgive him for his mistakes and others will call for his resignation in public even after the next catastrophe coming soon. Although I expect him to apologize profusely and announce that everything is under control, he has weathered a tough road beginning with the baking of a prostitute in the blistering Southwest desert when she was left in the scorching sun and 120 degree red-hot weather without any shade or supervision by staff and died there from a heat stroke.

 

Strangely even with the media pounding him on this horrific death and revision of policies concerning the use of outdoor recreation holding enclosures, there were several instances within the next few months that resulted in staff being disciplined for not following new policies regarding the length of stay inside such closures and the requirements for such placements.

Then the weakness and vulnerability of the Kingman prison illustrated poor judgment by the prison officials to send convicted murderers and high risk offenders to a facility that was designed to hold DUI offenders and not hard core criminals that have links to violence, drug dealing, gangs and murder. It was a nightmare that Kingman residents briefly endured because the escapees (all three of them plus their female accomplice) hijacked a semi-truck and left Arizona as soon as they could heading East to New Mexico where there was a double homicide committed to carjack their truck and camper. Even after the capture of all three escapees, it became evident that Kingman was an easy escape trick.

Gang violence has been escalating and nothing has seemed to stop their blatant disregard for law and order. Although expected, there has been weak counteracting measures taken to stop their predatory behaviors. Now he is facing numerous staff attacks and a racial war that is so volatile a single spark will ignite the entire state within hours. The riots have been minimized by censoring the news but mostly by the inmates themselves as staff don’t have the numbers to quell any disturbance until all resources are gathered statewide to fight the containment and melee. So far, Arizona has been spared a race war but the flames are growing and the hate is mounting.

Since taking office he has not taken one step towards rehabilitation or increased programing to avoid idleness inside his prisons and make his front gates to the prisons accessible for drugs, cell phones and other contraband. In the course of neglecting gang activities he has empowered these thugs to run the yards with the acknowledgment of administrative officials impotent to stop their recruitment and fierceness. Since his appointment as the director, he has eliminated staffing at points of ingress and egress making the introduction of contraband easy for anyone allowed to enter the premises – staff, visitors or contract employees.

He has increased the role of community corrections but has failed to encourage the criminal justice system to use alternative programing for the severely mentally ill and those first time offenders found guilty of substance abuse and other controlled substances. His silence on offering alternatives to incarceration has cost the state’s prison budget to exceed one billion dollars and more expenditures are expected in the next legislative request for prison funds.

Charles L. Ryan has not been held accountable for these catastrophes. What he has done is shuffle his own personal circle of influence and friends around the state to put them at the helm sort of speak and made them wardens to suit his own personal needs and control. Closing these warden’s offices to the selected few ensured him a tight control on communications and disciplinary on staff and keep the prison run the way he has set up his personal agenda since taking office.

His modus operandi has been simple – punish those that fail him –promote those that show loyalty and get rid of those that oppose him. Needless to say, time will tell if this strategy is enough for him to survive or if this becomes part of his comeuppance. He has demonstrated a bully pattern. Through his ultimate wisdom he fought for new hires to come on board as at-will employees which gave him the ability to hire and fire at will if these individuals did not possess the qualities he sought to operate his prisons. He changed the disciplinary due process and created opportunities for staff to be disciplined and sanctions based on confidential information, innuendos and rumors.

Reflecting and citing his inability to control violence, gangs, drugs, homicides, suicides, accidental deaths and serious attacks [including a sexual assault or rape] inside a medium prison] the prison system is going to hell. These incidents are proof that once again the most dangerous place on the earth today is the Arizona prison system. Will these scandals affect his job? Will he be removed by the Governor before her term is over? How damaging is this to Governor Brewer and what will she do?

 I strongly suspect she will leave him alone until her term is expired at the end of this year. I strongly suspect that litigation will be overwhelming in the Parsons versus Ryan lawsuit and that the state will lose or settle that case to avoid further damage or costs. Eventually the truth will come out and illustrate how bad this director performed his job as a state appointed public official. I have no doubt about that.

His criticism will be overwhelming but nothing good can be said about those who kept their silence in check as they endorsed his dwindling performance. I suspect the federal government will launch an inquiry and see what was done to mirror violations of civil right laws within the prisons and healthcare. I strongly expect his critics and opponents in ideology and correctional practices to really dig at him as they are his real nemeses.

Regardless of the end, he will get his comeuppance as when it is all said and done – he owns this mess and fixing it will cost the state much more than what they have invested to tear it down like they have in the past five years. The reversal of the damage done will bring to the attention of the gross neglect that occurred under his watch and how many people, citizens, employees and inmates suffered needlessly because of inattention to his duties and sworn oath to keep Arizona safe and protect those that serve him and the state in the capacity of correctional officers or correctional employees who have always given their 110 percent to keep things going when the support from above was oblivious and non-coming when they needed it the most.

Agree to Disagree: What does it really mean?

I don’t know how many times I have heard this and to be honest, I think I have used it myself before not realizing how it really sit after the talking is done. In all reality, I don’t think the point debated or talked about was ever resolved and still up in the air from where it was in the beginning. Thus my conclusion is that nothing has been accomplished and nothing was really done.

I will be the first to admit that when you put two or more persons in the same room you might get as many opinions as there are people. This is logical because not everyone is going to agree with everyone on points of this discussion. Having opposite views on any subject is healthy and invites a thought process that is good for everyone inside that room.

The last thing you want to happen is a stalemate or challenge that brings the conversation to an end. Discussions and debates should not be curtailed because of phony attempts to make a point that may or may not be legitimate in fact or truths.

To challenge point is one thing but to stifle the other person is wrong. Nobody wants to created conflict yet there are many that thrive off such emotional bantering. Arguing or bantering does nothing to reveal the truth or fact surrounding the topic of discussion. In fact, it is often disrespectful and counterproductive and serves only the purpose of concealing the truth.

When you agree to disagree (ATD) several things happen you may or may not be aware of. First of all the facts remain buried and uncovered by closing the discussion without resolve. Secondly, we deny ourselves an opportunity to learn the facts without challenging the comments made. Third the exchange is left with the person’s last comment that may be false, leaving an erroneous impression.

It is reasonable to conclude that once someone has settled in this type of agreement or disagreement, they will no longer search for the truth of facts related to the discussion. This denies them an opportunity to research, investigate or inquire and examine the truth of the matter at hand.

In my opinion, although you might disagree with me, the use of ATD is a kind way to stop a debate and may have elements that resembles disrespectful or smug thinking. When you really think about it, using the ATD process you really accomplish two things: you avoid hearing or learning the truth or the facts involved and you know you have “rocked the boat.” It is likely that even this personal perspective or viewpoint is enough to agree to disagree.