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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
































































































































Saturday, July 26, 2014

Corrections Commits Complacency during Executions




United States Senator John McCain spoke out on the “botched execution” of Joseph Wood on Wednesday, July 23, 2014. For the first time in many years I agree with the U.S. Senator who is removed far enough from the politics of the event and used his horrific experience as a former prisoner of war as a perspective of how the execution was handled. Calling the execution “terrible” and a form of “torture” is likely an understatement but nevertheless a good description of what happened that day inside the death house. 

The issues is not the death penalty. The death penalty in Arizona is a legitimate tool of justice administered by the state once a conviction and sentence is acquired. The issue is the competency and the complacency in place to conduct such executions. The Arizona Department of Corrections is just not prepared to demonstrate competence to perform these highly visible sensitive tasks. This is not the first time the agency has failed to perform such a delicate task while the inmate laid on the death table. 

Richard Stokely, a death row inmate convicted of murdering two 13-year-old girls in 1991, was put to death by lethal injection at the Arizona State Prison in Florence. What was not revealed to the public was the fact that this execution went awry as well when it was time to put the needle in his veins and inject the lethal cocktail potion. 

The agency, in a hurry to inject the cocktail and finish their legal obligation to kill him forget several things that should have been addressed prior to the administration of the cocktail. When Stokley was executed it was a debacle to get a vein so much they had to place it in his leg. Then to make matters worse his pacemaker went off during his execution because they did not deactivate it with a magnet like they should have. 

Again, this is not about whether the death penalty is good or bad but rather, the manner it is performed or handled. It should be done with due diligence and careful planning that appears to be missing in the rush to put the man to death. 


 http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/2012/12/arizona-executes-richard-dale-stokley.html?m=1

Friday, July 25, 2014

Arizona Prison Boss says execution not botched video conference

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Letter to Governor Janet Brewer via ACLU

 Dear Governor Brewer, 


Until state officials can assure the public and the individuals facing death sentences that the process will be transparent and in compliance with the Eighth Amendment, the death penalty must be put on hold.

Arizona had clear warnings from Ohio and Oklahoma. Instead of ensuring that a similar outcome was avoided here, our state officials cloaked the plans for Mr. Wood's death in secrecy. It is impossible for the Arizona Department of Corrections, or any state agency or employee, to offer an unbiased assessment of Mr. Wood's execution. Our state officials cloaked the plans for Mr. Wood's death in secrecy and they cannot be trusted to conduct a thorough and honest review of July 23's horrific events.

Governor Brewer, The best way to describe this process is to label it under the Arizona Department of Concealment and the best way to describe the methodology used by the Arizona Department of Corrections is to compare the agency to an onion and use the onion as a metaphor to describe sequentially removable layers that conceal something that is important or in many cases a right for the public to know more about their business. 

Peeling away such layers in a deliberate and thorough manner we can visualize a central concept that is buried beneath the organized series of obstacles put in the way to prevent getting to the core of the matter at hand. 

One can assume such movement towards the inner circle would reveal truths but the fact is you will never get to the center or ‘bottom of the matter” because of the protective layers put in place to keep you from reaching that section or layer of the onion. 

At every layer there is an obstacle. Some are natural and others are man-made or created to buy time or allow damage control to occur while the incident is under investigation. Layers peeled back include lengthy delays in providing information; abbreviated or incomplete press releases; delayed investigations; pending investigations; staff unavailability etc. etc. 

Designed to give you nothing but air between layers, you grasp at what you are given. Knowing you can keep digging but realizing you may be empty handed, you accept what you have and use that to make your case. 

There is no fresh air in this dirty laundry bag that holds this onion firmly in place as it peeled back as it remains in control of the time, the method, the pace, the depth and the purposes provided.
Layers of the onion could be construed as cover ups, blankets of secrecy, stalling, incompleteness and finally a blank destination as there is more fortifications in place the deeper you go. The only way you can divulge the real core of the problem or matter at hand is to peel the onion from the inside out so that you get the information at the beginning rather than at the end. 

Sadly, Governor Brewer, an implosion would likely result in a serious breach of public safety or threat to the security of an institution and we all pray that does not happen on your watch or anybody else.
Respectfully,
Carl R ToersBijns


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Email receipt - 

AZGOV

Why Botched Executions are Dangerous Practices --




(Disclaimer - this is not about the practice or the implementation of the death penalty - it’s about the administrative responsibilities that adjoin such an activity when scheduled and taking the appropriate steps to ensure public and staff safety) 

Whether or not the public decides the legal and moral issue of the death sentence in Arizona is to be determined in time and public pressure to pursue dialogue and examinations of the practice. The fact is Arizona is putting the public at risk when they exercise their legal and statutory right to execute in the way the execution is carried out while keeping with statute, case law and professional practices.
It is the last part of this effort to plan and prepare for an execution that puts people at risk. 

Specifically the way the execution is carried out is detrimental to the safety of corrections employees who are directly exposed to such dangers when things go wrong during executions.There appears to be a lack of concern within the agency to prepare for the execution process when it comes to what is commonly referred to as cruel and unusual punishment based on the fact of how the execution was handled and perceived by the prison population that sits idly by under a temporary lockdown while the execution takes place. 

Policy is clear that the execution should be “handled in a manner that minimizes its impact on the safety, security and operational integrity of the prison and the community in which it occurs.” What this means to those working the shift during an execution are the concerns there are sufficient staff and resources in place and available to provide an adequate response to unlawful civil disobedience inside the prisons as the threat exists inside the penitentiary as well as the outside grounds where the protestors may gather. 

As a former prison official with the Arizona Department of Corrections, I have been assigned the task of maintaining a “population assessment” role and responsible for the coordination of monitoring and evaluating inmate activity at ASPC Eyman and ASPC Florence under the guidance of one of the regional directors assigned to the execution event. 

The truth be told, the only purpose of such an assignment is to continuously monitor and assess the inmate population for any activity related to the execution or its impact on the prison’s operation. The dangerous reality is the “imminent danger” conditions that exist before, during and after the execution that is not addressed by additional staff available to handle such an event if it was to disrupt statewide or within the prison complex where the execution takes place. 

The reality known by inmates on “lockdown” status are the facts that lockdown in dormitory settings are impossible other than locking the run gates and lockdowns usually only require a temporary halt of movement. In fact, only two out of ten complexes are locked down for the event.Elsewhere in the state, we have a business as usual in work assignments and other routine institutional operations are normal and carried out even while the execution is ongoing as well as before or after such an event.

The real concern of a botched execution is the impact it has on the inmate population after the facts are released and publicized. There are no contingency plans to handle a negative reaction to such impacts as an execution brings many levels of emotion into the population as well as anger, fear, frustration and other disruptive feelings that can often be taken out on corrections employees doing their jobs. 

It is true there are partial elements of the Special Operations Team (TSU) present and serving in execution team activities such as traffic control, crowd control, restraints, escort services and other designated functions per the policy but there are hardly any assigned internally during the execution activity thus they would have to leave their assigned posts and respond to the facility reported to be in distress.

In addition, if the event lasts longer than one hour, there have to be contingency plans to feed and provide essential services such as medical treatment etc. to facilitate the mandatory services required by standards of care. 

This brings me to the final analysis that during execution especially a botched execution that last well over two hours after the event is a possibility of prison population disruptions [anywhere in the state] and that we have insufficient staff on site to handle it at the moment of flashpoint when the news reports such results via the television stations all have access to in prisons.

It is the DOC’s presumption the general population doesn’t care about what happens during an execution and are anxious to resume normal movement and return back to the normal scheme of things in their environment. It is the DOC’s decision to implement monitor and assess systems throughout the state and have their special operations teams (TSU) ready for such happenings.

Today there is a brash attitude and a cavalier created culture within the prison administration that such civil disobedience within the prisons will never take place and therefore not warrant extra staff on hand to handle such an emergency. It is feared that this arrogance carries over in the quality of these assigned monitoring and assessment modes assigned elsewhere and the risks will be misjudged impacting public safety, staff safety and inmate safety. 

Regardless of self-creating this “imminent danger” risk factor, it is business as usual and staff are expected to handle whatever problems arise with those resources available until additional responders arrive at the facilities to take control and contain the situation. Should the Arizona Department of Correction take executions a little bit more serious and protect the public and staff accordingly?