Up in Smoke

An apocalyptic vision

Watching the news, the common headline read, “A prison was up in flames today after inmates went on a rampage, apparently sparked when they were ordered to lock down after a racial war broke out on the recreation yard spreading to the housing units almost immediately.”

Today, the Nebraska state government is dealing with a riot as other states have been over the past few years as prisons are overcrowded, understaffed and cutting costs that hurt inmate idleness and programming.

Nobody wants to read or hear about a prison riot where the prison goes up in smoke because we all have someone dear to us who works there and who might be put in more danger than there already is working inside a prison. Hopefully, staff will be evacuated and treated for injuries immediately and the areas is locked down completely.

Under current and past practices, staff would be forced to retreat from part of the effected sites due to understaffing and the inability to control and contain the areas until emergency units or back up resources become available and take back the prison. There will be millions of dollars of damage and the fires, flooding, wrecking ball destruction will create a budget deficit Arizona can ill afford as it climbs back into the saddle of economic prosperity under the new governor.

Hopefully, prison staff will be rushed to medical sites and a joint command center will be created to control and contain the disturbance. The cost of such resources equals those of a natural disaster but this disaster was man-made and totally unavoidable if prison management was based on best practices rather than the ad hoc manner they administer the policies today.

The signs of a prison riot are very common and predictable. First there will be a small disturbance that diverts the attention from the area where the main disruption is planned. Inmates know staffing weaknesses as they assess manpower daily and gangs in control of designated territory will always try to manipulate a power grab from such shortcoming as they increase their pressure to control the drugs, weapons and contraband.

All these disadvantages are published daily in the shift manpower numbers, their inability to cover vital areas and mass movement and the need to pull staff for other duties not related to shift coverage or inmate programming. Today, Arizona is more vulnerable than ever to riots and large scale disturbances as they cultural dynamics are not at the height of tension, conflict and corruption.

The governor will be red eyed mad when he sees the huge plumes of smoke billow into the sky about either Lewis, Eyman, Florence or Tucson. The possibility of it spreading to the other complexes spread out in the state are high and likely Winslow will be an active participant as well.

Inquiries will reveal many red flag warnings ignored and or forgotten as executive staff focus on the appeasement of inmates rather than providing a safe and secure environment that entails sound security practices and searches for contraband, weapons, drugs and cellphones.

The list is long but the tasks are not being completed except for the random mass searches that are so predictable, the contraband is hidden and the finds are symbolic rather than legitimately seized due to proper procedures in place consistently.

The executive inquiry will have a toned down message shifting the blame to individuals rather than the systems not in place to prevent such a catastrophe from occurring. The burning inferno will also be downplayed as the agency brags how it controls and contained the riot but fails to mention the extent of injuries and damage done until challenged for the specifics by the governor or the press.

There are and have been many warning of such a riot in the making. The house of cards has long been susceptible to a collapse of system failures as experience levels dropped, retention and morale of staff is low and the vacancy rates are high. Spending more money on private prison does nothing to alleviate the need in releasing the pressure of public run prisons.

In fact, it serves as a catalyst of inequality where inmates fight other inmates due to the lack of programs in state prisons compared to the better funded private prison. A normal tactic would be to allow the riot to calm down as resources arrive and set up a more secure perimeter as the inmates destroy buildings and its contents and corrections and other agencies become spectators until such time a plan is initiated to take back the prison.

Make no mistake and let me make myself very clear, under the present conditions of high gang violence and extortion, with high assaults on inmates and staff out of control and the need for protective custody on the rise, the prisoners will mutiny. They will revolt and push back hard when the right time comes for them to act out and take over the prison sending it up in smoke.

There thread has been unraveling. Staff have seen the difference in tone and demeanor but nothing has been done to tone it down. This was a long time waiting but the end is near. A riot is just around the corner and when or where is yet unknown. Sadly, the DOC is ill prepared as many others around the country take it for granted it won’t happen here.