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 18, 2015

Requiem, an act of Remembrance - Chatanooga Shooting






Requiem, an act of Remembrance

(Dedicated to the Chattanooga Shooting victims)

 

Mothers, I know you can’t forget the memories of young and laughter, it’s time to let it go

Fathers, I know you live with regrets and every day thereafter, for how much you loved them, they will always know

Children and siblings, have faith, you shall see your brothers again in heaven, it was destined as they lived his life so well, and they won't go to hell

And turn your eyes into the light that brings you the truth

As the flag, red, white, and blue, flies at half-mast for your sorrow

As another soldier, marine or sailor dies, and sees the stars of glory

 

At half mast, for those brave warriors dead or no longer living

As the wind blows the flag in full wave, we think of forgiving

As they fell to the ground and suffer no more, forever

Before the devil they faced, and to their knees they dropped never

As they stood tall, as the battle wages domestic or foreign, they gave their love, their blood, their courage, their all

They answered their heart’s journey, they answered a hero’s call

 

Red was the color or the lifeless flesh and skin that fell to the ground today when the early sun was rising

The battle within our own country, has just about to begin

The hate surrounds us as we seek to make peace as other pray for war for a religion that speaks of hate and leaves love behind

The flag at half mast, tells us not to turn our backs to those who fell, as the time will tell, this perpetrator will go to hell

And pray to God, the truth, the historians will tell

That the enemy is close, they are near us and pretending to be our friends, our neighbors and everything false

So they can cut us down with terror, behind our backs, as the media is silent, afraid to offend those who reckons these calls

As the country’s leaders, except one, bow their heads and pray

For these five brave men who died in ambush and defenseless way

 

White was the face of those who felt the pain of the bullet that pierced the heart covered with honor and glory

A heart solid gold, filled with courage and loyal to God, duty and country, just as promised a long time ago

An allegiance, an oath that they took to protect the soil of enemies afar, they did not see the enemy, as he cowardly hid

There was no doubt in their heart, the devotion would not part

His family, his love for God and fulfill his promise to serve forever

Not knowing the words of surrender, giving or quitting ever

 

Blue was the sky of the morning of death and sorrow

Looking up from the ground, they saw the face of God

Telling them they will live forever, seeing the last of mortals around him

It was the last thing they saw before the clouds of heaven took him

No more blood, no more pain, no more sorrow

As they live eternally, and lives as each day from here on in is tomorrow

 

Stars of glory, shine so brightly in the summer nights

Nothing more pure than as they are lit up by the moon’s bright beam

While down below, a face, a frown or a tear so sadly streams

A banished sadness, something we often don’t understand

For the courage to protect and defend this precious land

as time has ended all their vanished dreams

Throughout the night, you can see the bald eagle soaring

Rising quickly, and flying with celestial ease

Following the moist warm wind and monsoon breeze

Our conscience alert, our hands on our guns as we stand there

Ready to fight, with all our might, and defend the red, white and blue          


Prison Overtime-Stress-Anxiety-Suicide





July 18, 2015

Not much has been said about the stress and anxiety of correctional officers working our prisons. Regardless how you feel about prisons, there are strong concerns stirring among the rank and file of correctional officers, private and state, as signs of burnout and mistakes leads to creating a situation within a system that is already coping with turnover and staff retention.

Sadly, nothing is said by anyone in charge after the tragic death of Correctional Officer John Kemp, in Kingman Arizona. This officer was identified to be in the center of the recent riots as were many others but nothing was said or done to allow these officers some kind of relief from their drained fatigued conditions working long hours, day after day, being shorthanded and keeping a lid on a tense situation there in the Kingman prison complex.

Officers already feel drained from the job itself. Working 12 to 16 hours a day, sometimes five days a week is taxing and takes a toll on anyone exposed to these harsh conditions. Personnel shortages, sometimes by design to capture vacancy savings, is potentially dangerous to public safety and the wellness of those officers working under this stress.

Hampered with a 15 per cent vacancy rate, and adding another one third of the workforce being inexperienced, new on the job or not yet seasoned enough to work solo, this force is smaller than ever before and has resulted in serious breakdowns in operational and systematic delivery of mandated services causing tension in the inmate population.

Turnover is not a new issue at Kingman or other prisons inside Arizona. State prisons are running the same way with overtime filling slots vacant for months at a time. A smaller workforce results in less work getting done and less enforcement of basic security practices that impact the overall safety of the facility and employees working there. It is a natural correlation nobody wants to talk about.

These unbearable long hours takes the officers into another physical and mental level. Many are veterans already suffering for war or military related PTSD and are unusually impacted by such stress. Officer Kemp was one of those Iraq war veterans coping with PTSD and when the riots jumped off, he was instrumental in the way it was handled.

Unfortunately, the news that he was the “key “individual who allegedly dispersed the chemical agents that caused the Hualapai Unit riot was a trigger he was not prepared to cope with. Stressed from the war, the riot and the long hours he committed suicide at home. There are limited resources available for recovery and wellness programs on the job. The stigma for asking for help is strong and stereotypes them to be “weak”, not strong.

Kingman personnel should have been given access to some sort of Crisis Intervention debriefing after the riot. Not just a mere contact with the persons or single questions such as ‘are you alright’ but rather a deeper intervention process to assess and identify individuals with extreme stress signs or symptoms. This process was designed to save lives or self-destructive behaviors.

Kingman is responsible for housing state prisons and currently have fewer than the 380 officers allocated to be assigned there. In fact, the director, Charles L Ryan, nonchalantly smirked when he mentioned an extreme vacancy of 15 per cent saying there were 60 vacancies at the time of the riot. To the best of our knowledge, Kingman has never been fully staffed, a strategy would impact profit margins and stock expectations for the stockholders who neglect public safety over profits.

The Arizona Department of Corrections brags of offering overtime to officers to supplement their workforce with tired officers. Not visible behind the high walls and razor wire, the department is well below their allotted full time employee numbers.  Nobody is saying anything for fear of retaliation. Everybody knows overtime is a band aid solution to a long term problem.

Officers are speaking out on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to speak for the agency or speak out at all on work conditions. Many have been disciplined for talking about it on social media and a gag order has been given in their briefings to stop talking about the riots and anything related to the job. This adds mores stress, more anxiety and tension to an already volatile environment.

Call-ins are problematic- this is called “whether leave “as they are taking the leave “whether” the department likes it or not. Their justification for calling is based on their denied leave when submitted and denied due to staff shortages already on shifts with large gaps of empty posts that are collapsed or shut down. 

The agency director has repeatedly issued orders that call-ins will be subject to be written up for insubordination if they do not call in on their days off as required. It is this stress on them on top of everything else that is creating a severe epidemic of poor performance, morale and work related incidents such as DUI, anger outbursts, domestic violence and suicide.

Fear is real. They are worried about being hurt or hurting others. Their schedules are rigorous and demanding. Their abilities are deeply impacted and short cuts are necessary to meet the daily needs. Some are saying they are working and existing on an average of four to five hours of sleep causing sleep deprivation and other unhealthy conditions to their lives.


It’s just a burnout no matter which way you turn. Expected to report for work even when fatigued, one can predict error in judgment and performance as the mind and body are beyond their normal limits and working on overtime as well. This impacts alert status and vigilance which are two of the main ingredients of good security.
 


 


 

Friday, July 17, 2015

Private Prisons - are they worth it?


Private Prisons – Are they worth the Risks?

July 17, 2015

 

The recent riot at the Management Training Corporation ASPC-Kingman prison complex keeps bringing back the same questions over and over again. Since the opening window back in 1984, private prison contractors have expanded their grip on governments seeking to save money on prison related costs. This caused corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), GEO Group, and Management Training Corporation (MTC) to spread out their territory and capture a majority of the industrial prison complex. Without a doubt, CCA is the better of the three as their commitment to public safety exceeds those of the others. This is based on their dedicated training programs and involvement in the communities.

 A lucrative business, many states, including Arizona have been tempted doing business via a hybrid governance that has yet to be perfected and solidified with positive and gainful results. Well over a 3 billion dollar a year industry, one would expect constant and beneficial logistical and operational improvements in their services but unfortunately, the opposite is true. For the sake of pleasing stockholders and maintaining a pre-determined profit margin, these prison for profit organizations and secretly operated corporations are risking public safety at the cost of their profit making strategies and schemes.

This impacts many areas including economic and social stabilities in those communities they seek to do business in. since the lack of transparency and accountability is present, it is difficult to measure effectiveness and performance standards that appear to be deficient in acceptable levels whenever a crisis occurs.

Suggesting that the privatization of prisons is an economically lucrative corporate venture it is reported as well as purported to provide taxpayers a cost savings of up to 20% annually due to lower wage and benefit costs for labor, lower procurement costs, and a more and efficient administrative operation that often operates without the close scrutiny or monitoring agreed upon when the contracts are signed and delivered.

Conflicting research findings make it difficult to accurately assess cost and performance and since the Arizona Department of Corrections has done away with cost comparison studies in 2010, there is no accurate method to determine value and benefits of such partnerships. Cost Savings –those who favor privatization claim that private prisons are more cost effective because they operate more efficiently.

A careful review of the research conducted over the scope of more than twenty years or more, reveals a clear consensus that when all cost factors are included in the analysis, the available evidence does not support the contention that private corrections are more cost-effective or efficient than those publicly operated. However, under current conditions, Arizona is obligated to fulfill its legal responsibilities to fill the contracts as signed.

A 1998 report found no evidence of greater efficiency reported in studies conducted at that point in time (Cheung, 2004). Similarly, a BJA study found no evidence of greater cost savings, improved services, or conditions of confinement in private prisons, and the rate of major incidents was higher (Austin & Coventry, 2001:38 & 57). The Legislature needs to pay attention to this category of “major incidents” as traditionally, many disturbances are downplayed to be minor in nature but often not linked to other institutional problems thus isolating the severity and events deliberately.

There is no denial ASPC Kingman has been problematic – the facts illustrated a severe breach of security in the 2010 escape of three convicted murderers who while fugitives, killed an innocent couple in New Mexico just to facilitate more resources for their escape status. Since 2010, after the DOC promised better oversight, there have been numerous deaths, disturbances, and other serious operational flaws reported.

There appears to be a distinct disconnect between profit strategy and the public safety strategy. Essentially, it comes down to the fact these business are in the market for profits and money, and thus, it is safe to say, they are going to take some shortcuts when they can (Mattera, Khan, and Nathan, 2003:15).

Litigation assessments of the cost of incarceration must also consider the economic consequences of litigation. Private prison corporations have been the subject of numerous lawsuits stemming from charges of abuse, violence, negligence, wrongful death, and other factors related to mismanagement. There are several large claims outstanding on the Kingman complex not yet resolved and it is with some level of certainty, this recent riot will add fuel to the contention, ASPC Kingman is unsafe and in dire need of an overhaul.

Rising litigation and its accompanying costs are evidenced in CCA’s annual report to the Securities Exchange Commission (2010:53). Despite an admittance of negligent responsibility for the escapes, it took eight months and a threat to terminate MTC’s contract before the security defects were corrected by the company. Other security breaches included burned-out perimeter lights, other broken security equipment, and a lax, high-turnover culture in which MTC’s green, undertrained staff and rookie supervisors ignored alarms, left long gaps between patrols of the perimeter, left doors leading out of some buildings open and unwatched, didn’t alert the state or local police until hours after the escape, and failed in all manner of basic security practices (Ortega, 2011).

The problem appears to be deeper as there is a cultural and operational culture that seems to conclude “their use of less costly employees produced a less than acceptable level of public safety or inmate care and that “privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities [which] can reflect problems in policy and procedures, in technology, and in staff capabilities.”

The “greener” aka less experienced workforce, contributes to the fact there are more likely more future security lapses in these fundamental security procedures. The “greenness” of the workforce may pertain not only to line staff, but to midlevel supervisory staff as well (Camp & Gaes, 2001:16). Executive staff were also found to be “ineffective” and lacking a basic understanding of their roles and responsibilities (AZDOC Report on Kingman Escapes, 2010:6). This is a discerning issue not addressed in a persistent and sustained manner by current Arizona Department of Corrections executive staff. Hence, there are lapses of contractual oversights that may contribute to such operational and facility failures. This may not be the case for other facilities that are run and operated more efficiently and with more of a commitment to public safety and training of staff.

Staffing Vacancies and excessive turnover is a constant problem. The day after the Kingman riot, MTC posted job vacancies on the web in a late attempt to show active recruitment for staff. . It is well accepted in the research that private prisons lower costs through paying lower wages and benefits. Consequently, staff vacancies are a problem common to private prisons that is directly linked to institutional safety and the provision of effective services necessary to reduce recidivism. It is not unusual for private prisons to run a vacancy rate of 15 to 20 % at times while their turnover rates average as high as 53 % in comparison to state prison statistics.

To put this into a more understandable perspective, when you combine a 15 per cent vacancy rate with a 30 per cent “green” or less experienced work force, you are running the facility at 55 per cent efficiency.

This is a very low standard to allow or permit and the Arizona Department of Corrections should have actively pursued arguments to raise the efficiency rate above 70 per cent and match their own public prison vacancy rates so that the ASPC Kingman complex was operating at an acceptable operational efficiency rate. One has to wonder how such a low performance rate could pass the annual audit standards of the Arizona Department of Corrections.

A study conducted for the Bureau of Prisons on the effectiveness and quality of federal private prisons concluded: “Given the apparent relationship between staff separations, staff experience, and inmate misconduct, private companies must either adopt a new innovative strategy towards corrections, or they will have to increase pay and/or benefits to attract and retain experienced employees. MTC has not pursued such innovative strategies and is lagging behind in accomplishing such a feat any time soon.

Advocates of prison privatization have argued that private prisons can pay workers less, offer fewer benefits, and still deliver a product that is as good or better than that provided by the public sector. The evidence to date contradicts such an encompassing assertion (Camp & Gaes, 2001:16).” Of greatest concern is the indisputable fact that private prisons exist to make a profit. It is in their economic interests to reduce costs by maintaining full facilities, reducing staff wages and benefits, reducing institutional expenses associated with safety and sanitation, and reducing critical care services and programming.


These cost-saving measures come at the expense of institutional and public safety, and hold the potential for negative publicity and more costly lawsuits. Maintaining full facilities gives private corporations a vested interest in influencing legislative policies that encourage the use of greater and longer incarceration. There is less incentive to reduce recidivism or release the less dangerous inmates and those amenable to rehabilitation to community programming and supervision. However, that is a subject for future discussions of reducing prison costs and lowering prison populations.

Reference materials cited from: An Assessment of the Risks and Benefits of Prison Privatization. Prepared for the Citizens’ Advisory Board of the New Hampshire State Prison for Women by: Elaine Rizzo, Ph.D., Professor of Criminal Justice, Saint Anselm College Margaret Hayes, Ph.D., RN, Associate Professor of Nursing, Science and Health, Regis College January 30, 2012

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

The anatomy of the Kingman Investigation (pure conjecture)


The Anatomy of the Kingman Investigation

 


Without a doubt, the Arizona Department of Corrections will deliver a well-written politically correct outline of minor failures to our Governor in relation to the governor’s assigned task of providing a full probe of the Kingman riots which occurred between July1st and July 4th. This report will contain an element of disappointments that will set a tone for additional actions recommended to be taken to rectify this unstable situation at the Management Training Corporation prison complex, ASPC Kingman, under contract with our prison agency.

This investigation will reveal numerous steps of failures but disguised as momentary or minor letdowns. Few actual failures will be mentioned, focusing on those which have happened before [matter of record] prior to the riot and not completely permanent but rather, emphasis for improvements will be fixed or smoothed over with a broad brush and creative writing skills. There will be certain pre-disposed and chosen political characteristics within this investigative packet. It will be easy to predict what went wrong and how it will be handled. This is an abstract of the investigation.

Correcting the problems at MTC will take hard work. Suggesting real solutions would be practical but it will focus more on criticism of events rather than solutions. The DOC will be passive in their wishes that MTC would conduct business in a more structured and transparent manner. It will mention the fatigue of officers working overtime to fill the vacancies and how MTC staffing burns the candle at both ends. It will outline a weak and impractical plan to show corrective steps taken or to be taken. This includes limiting words, actions, and policy guidelines to firm up the communication aspect of the expectations.

They [DOC] will close their eyes on internal political matters and focus on external public relations matters. There goals will be infinitive tone, in nature and fairness to the corporate setting defining successes rather than failures. There will be no definite roadmap or blueprint in this investigation. It will be planted firmly with suggestions and recommendations but weak in enforcement or implementation methods.

This investigation will protect the MTC name and reputation. It will hail successes more than the failures. The tone will allow competency to unfold rather than the opposite. MTC will be offered redemption and identified to have learned from the situation and that this riot was an education for many including the DOC playing a partnership that is solid and undoubting.

There will be no mention of a status quo or retroactive flaws in management failures or language that “rocks the boat” mentioning that there are other ways of doing things and that MTC has an opportunity to do better and learn from this education of events. The entire report will float in calm waters and with challenges to try to find alternatives to current practice.it will be passive in tone and ensure the governor, the way they handled this situation was appropriately done and done in the same way they have always done praising this method will eventually produce better results than the current pace and performance.

The report will contain damage assessments and justify the actual costs with the intensity of the situation at hand and the inmate’s volatile behaviors shifting the entire blame of this riot on the prisoners. It will lose sight of management issues and dwell into operational errors combined with overwhelming odds of a hostile prison population that was out of control. There will be mention of values and how these values were either preserved or maintained showing infrastructural strengths rather than weaknesses.]

Management skill key words will include words like stamina, perseverance, commitment and underrate any other imperfections to preserve the integrity of MTC principles and practices. The DOC will not input on control, backseat driving or micromanaging MTC. These are all self-admits of a deeper management problem that will not or cannot be expressed. This will result in words that praise or laud MTC to show they did precisely those things that needed to be done without hesitation or doubt.

This after-action report shall identify a strong team spirit, with promises to improve this link between government and contractors. They shall avoid conflict between this hybrid governance arrangement and focus positive toned terminology on building a culture of mutual respect and meaning indicating their relationship is coming closer together through adversities such as this moment of concern.

Money will be mentioned and suggestions will be made to improve the matter of expediency to ensure funding is adequate for human resource staffing needs and operational and logistical resources. It may even suggest paying more money to help MTC get on track. There will be bending of the truths and no mentions of botches or specific “fall back” to anything incriminating. It will praise MTC as industrious, trustworthy and a good public safety partner.

Basically the entire focus on this report will be written with a tunnel vision style of projection. It will try to demonstrate more on future successes than failures of the past. The report will focus on perceived obstacles and the removal of such barriers to allow a more transparent process to take place that hastens and clears paths of communications related to critical elements of the command structure and operational values. No breaches of the perimeter will be specifically mentioned to assure the community was safe at all times.

The report will include a lengthy conclusive statement that will inject words of confidence and less worry on past mistakes. Praising the efforts with challenges in regional or demographical areas will illustrate drawbacks beyond the corporate’s control. It won’t get bogged down in details and focus on excellence instead. There will be strong assurances of corrective action plans and perfection of links to improve the entire situation to be more proactive than reactive in a management style manner.

It will reassure working out circumstances cleared up quicker and clearer with concise command decision-making processes delivered in new and upgraded training module and lesson plans. The DOC will reiterate MTC’s commitment to make long-run sacrifices with promises of immediate short term gains and establish a strategic plan for long term and sustainability for the future.

There will be assurances of not cutting costs, corners and other areas where there were questionable skimping practices and show immediate improvements as the bottom line with a conclusive closing statement that the state has a solid investment with MTC and that this partnership will show successful and immediate returns for the state and the community.

 

Sunday, July 12, 2015

White Monkeys in Charge


 

White Monkeys in Charge

 

 

 


 

Preface

 

When we talk about a colorless correctional culture which creates, causes chaos and confusion inside Arizona prisons we have to closely examine the culture, the leadership and the ideologies included in their immediate span of control as well as their out sphere influence on all decision making processes and actions.

 

Governor Doug Ducey has ordered a full investigation in the Kingman riots. What this investigation will NOT reveal is the social and political inequities that exist under the direction of a white dominant power group that runs the department of corrections in Arizona. Whether we want to admit it or not, there is a colorless correctional culture within the prisons causing chaos and confusion leading to frustrations and violence.

 

Is there such a thing as a colorless culture? I doubt it, but on the other hand, it depends on what you mean by culture. If you word  is used in the normal sense and set aside from the socio-political ideology and focus on dialects, idiolects, beliefs, symbology, iconography, behavior, ritual, kinship and so forth, the answer is no. However, keep in mind the temptation to maintain political correctness in our thinking.

 

Rather strange that it does exist but not as described as above but rather based on a complicated amalgam of various perverted and extreme customs and traditions adapted on lessons learned in history and extended to be imposed in political and social influences of those in power, the answer is yes. There is a colorless culture inside our prisons and it influence much of the vitriol in our society.

 

In prison management, culture is a dominating feature that can work for the system or against the system. Culture can unite or divide the prison population and also draw a hostile line between administrations and populations. The culture is incontestably very powerful and very influential.

 

Ignoring culture would be dangerous and reckless indeed. Keep in mind, we are not focusing on skin tone or genetic exchange of races. We are talking about the physical aspects of culture that influence body language in communications and management practices. How it impacts daily living and compliance of policies and procedures developed not from state statutes or guidelines but mostly from random and arbitrary ‘lessons learned’ historical data.

 

It is more broadly expressed as the “us versus them” ideology that exists inside prisons. It can lead from correctional officer’ relationships with prisoners as well as prisoner among prisoner relationships.

 

The manifestation of a culture within a prison is dynamic and forceful that is very complicated and often misunderstood. It is not a matter of how much whiteness there is, or how much blackness exists but rather color is only a minor element of the product unless it is a matter of discrimination in which case, these colors may override any civility or manners and dominate or negatively impact behaviors if offense is taken or disrespect is shown to one race or the other.

 

There can be markers of whiteness or blackness in daily interactions if the overall culture demands it be a contributing factor to how the rules are enforced and perceived. One could immediately see how discrimination impact this in an extreme form and manifest dissention or division. One needs to be cautious not to delegate any authority or empowerment and inflict willful or coincidental discriminatory practices that may divide the prison into color lines. It creates tension and resentment that festers over time.

 

In such a case, the color line -- which is used to divide society into two groups that are by definition exclusive, 'whites' and others’ becomes a point of agitation or aggravating circumstances. The awkwardness and inadequacy of all existing blanket terms for these others, such as 'minorities' or 'people of color,' stem from the repression and confusion involved in the very notion of whiteness or colorless.  

To some extent, cultural whiteness in Arizona, may dominate events politically and culturally. It depends on demographics, geographic perception and the associated treatment applied to ‘others’ not white and of color. Thus if the demographics are opposite, a reverse perception may apply.

 

Arizona whiteness does exist. Arizona whiteness runs the government and the current prison system. It emerged decades ago and never relinquished control of the prison system as it imposes its will freely and clearly with tacit approval of the executive, legislative and judicial branches. It has been years since a white person ever directed the largest state agency and no change is expected in this transfer of power any time soon.

 

Therefore, the Arizona whiteness is in charge of the penal and criminal justice system and is the main provider for the sentencing and punishment of criminals incarcerated and kept there for an extensive amount of time compared to other states suggesting that non-whites are less moral than whites.

 

One might say, Arizona whiteness is a conservative whiteness leading to an ideology that suppresses the other colors and downgrades them in separate classes by race. Inside prison, this is a dominant event in the classification of housing, jobs, credit or good time and length of sentencing or time served. It extends all the way to the approval of parole and clemency appeals. Today, there is no formal juridical equality for color unless you are a member of the colorless race, the white race.

 

It is, besides, the ambiance of the modern corporate office, where niceness rules -- or rather, is the means of rule of political correctness. In the white-collar workplace everyone must act white: quiet, polite, cheerful, emotionally masked, sensually numb, perpetually busy, and willing to tolerate any humiliation as long as it's done with a smile.

 

Non-white is all that resists smiling self-adaptation to one's assigned yet ever-changing role as a component in the smooth positive flow of personal relationships.

This obviously creates a fallacy that offensive in nature. Fact is whiteness or colorless people can be equally misunderstood because of these assumptions created and ignoring behavioral norms and power relations, are questionable especially when imposed only on people of color. When applied within major institutions in our society this impacts the workplace, prisons, the school, the mall and other sites.

 

All these institutions teach possessive individualism; anxious competitiveness; rigid emotional control through 'niceness'; narrow or institutional and instrumental rationality; ready acceptance of isolation, boredom, and meaninglessness; the sacrifice of a lifetime for merchandise and security.

 

Most of them also implicitly associate these qualities and attitudes both with white or light skin, and with success and self-esteem. One can see, when distorted, the facts gets lost and the color plays a big part whether we are united or divided. Now, create this curmudgeon with prison life and you have instant conflict.

 

Skin privilege is fading in the community but not inside prisons. One would expect the reverse to occur since society’s working class is steadily including more whites than before. Now, a much larger majority of the prison populations inside Arizona are white too. Nearly half of all high-school graduates without college degrees today work in jobs that pay scarcely more than the minimum wage and it is likely this continuum of lack of success applies when they are released from prison as well.

 

The fact that the prison population now consists at least as much of white as of black and brown people is concealed by the fact that inside prisons, the whites hold better positions of authority and power than the black and brown poor.

 

This is to say that poor whites continue to receive considerably better treatment than poor blacks or brown and are not subject to correctional officials (police) harassment and other subtler forms of prejudice as well.

This can be challenged by a document search of the prison disciplinary and inmate employment systems. What has changed? The appearance of border patriot militiamen and Nazi skinheads in our society and inside our prisons. These groups continue to define whiteness and its privilege on old, skin- and religion-based terms.

 

The perception inside prison is because the administration is largely white and the majority in power the obvious conclusion of those of color is that if you are white, you are a partner in charge as the administration is mostly white. Strange but strong enough of an influence to cause hate and offensive behaviors to be encouraged and condoned by a colorless culture inside our prisons.

 

This is a colorless culture cultivated and grown in an obsessive form inside prisons. These types of disruptive individuals group up when incarcerated and draw support from each other better than the other races.

 

Whether deliberately or coincidental, they [whites] are better-off and unlike those of color who face stronger opposition to programs and work opportunities. Opportunities in the type of job assigned, as these jobs are less sophisticated, hours are longer and less paying work and diminished security as they struggle to maintain their position inside prison.

 

An underlying influence on riots and prisoner frustration that will never be revealed by any investigation ordered by the Governor of Arizona. The fact is, nobody will touch this subject the way this paper is written because it would reveal a reality that is grossly distorted and covered up by those influencing the criminal justice system in Arizona as well as the contributing factors of private prison organizations soliciting cheap prison labor from the state prisons to sustain their own market and profit making schemes.

 

In naming characters and situations in this part of the story, the words imagination, creativity, vision, sarcasm, comedy, parodies and satires are stretched way beyond the imagination.

One should take this writing with the grain of salt it is written with and a comedic view can be taken, but what appears to be a comedic significance, within the cultural control of this time period and environment, keep in mind as that what may be the truth since the takeover of the White Monkeys in Phoenix, Arizona.

 

White Monkeys, in charge of a domain spanning across the entire state and inflicting their unlimited power on matters that may determine life or death.  One may occupy their minds and see what they want, then, evoke a smile but rather a sad one as it reflects the reality and sorrow of tomorrow.

 

To render a story in various forms and color, or in this case, colorless, of an epoch beyond the scope of vision and powers of any novelist or writer, this story will try and express a little of its arrogance, selfish spirit that exists and undoubtedly,, at the back of his mind  in penning this short story and fictional tale.

 

This story cannot and should not be summed up with a snapshot or brief synopsis of ideas and concepts gleaned from the existing methodology used to run Arizona prisons. Without any further notions, it is written in a fictional style describing the who, what where, when or how what the future will be.

 

Everything in this story is relative. There are no longer absolutes and factual innuendoes. Each line written is placed in the content and context of fiction and placed for the sole purpose of provoking the mind to think, to create, to envision and to solve potential problems discussed, revealed, and implied in a setting that could in fact be anywhere, applied to any overcrowded shoddily run prison and any demographic condition imposed by regional and cultural influences.

 

You will see elements of God, free trade, slavery, corruption, extortion, coercion, ethics and a caste system like no other system described before in such an epoch based situation.

The reader will, admittedly, find some parts dull and some very boring and certainly expecting a more exciting or unpredictable conditions to dwell in, however, having experienced an earthquake and tornadic environment before in my life, you will not find yourself standing still and always grasping for more facts or knowledge in what is expressed or written.

 

The White Monkeys are people, a group of ordinary people who cannot be rushed, trusted and perform actions that are extremes. Saved by the grace of the devil, they survive with caustic, defensive humor, ill-tempered and resentful of interference, improvident and wasteful characteristics but endowed, skilled and possessed with a certain genius for recovery and collateral damage control.

 

The insolent characteristics of these White Monkeys will bear thinking about political will and ambitions. They certainly don’t suffer from any inferiority complexes and are indifferent to what other people this of them or anyone else.

 

No other peoples seem to be so arrogant, so sure of themselves and so blatantly narcissistic in behaviors, they keep their secrets well and incidentally, might be some of the best group of White Monkeys to not have public mouths to blow or trumpet their mistakes, their ambitions or their greedy lustful insidious personalities.

 

This group is a rare breed and strong enough to keep quiet about themselves and stay under the radar to draw any heat to their schemes and mind games related to the business of managing people inside of prisons. The epoch we are passing through is one which favors error, misjudgments, negligence and malfeasance in any executive position of the agency heads and member of the executive team.

 

There was never a time where real deterioration of humanity, compassion and kindness fibers had any less of a chance to existing than by this group of White Monkeys. This is contributed to their climate or tone that is so changeable so ill-tempered to any kind of good character, so formative of a pseudo true grit, and yet, so unhealthy for so many who deplore them.

What follows in this preface should be kept, read and reminded often in the light of these remarks that set the tone, culture and direction of the White Monkeys in charge of our prison system today.

 

In the present epoch, every special selected, recruited, and hired eunuch survived recent attacks on their abilities and political will. Each has survived and potently is a permanent fixture of this executive team called the White Monkeys. Their span of generations, makes them less self-conscious and insufficiently qualified for such positions as they follow the temper, the ill-mannered directions or their chosen leader.

 

In the end, it is hoped, prayed and wished that each one of these White Monkeys find their own demise and wither away like a mudslide in the monsoon seasonal spirit the rains bring to Arizona at least once a year with a vengeance that is God-bearing cold and sudden. It is hoped they not be sufficiently self-conscious to see the storm coming. 

 

Their demise should be based with darkness as the background with more or less a fixed quantity of suffering and chaos that will each one questioning their plight and asking themselves if the evil they performed on others was worth living. A question they never asked themselves before as they lived their lives without ever asking whether their lives were worth living.

 

It is believed this will happen in a manner best seen to be formed of shape and sizes as well as colors of the past and present harm inflicted on people with the intense lack of self-conscious manner it was done.  Their pain should be very absorbingly intense from day to day thereafter. Even if they don’t believe in a future life, they should have great faith that this pain and suffering will never disappear and haunt them forever.

 

There will be times of contemporaries, karma and destiny kind of temptations and frustrations. There will be a definite doubt their actions were deserving of punishment and eternal maltreatment by others to address their ill wills and corruptive behaviors. There will be times of insufficiently justified introspection and retrospection. Their conscious may suffer some setbacks and their hearts may be broken. Their spirit will be challenged as they attempt to progress beyond this point of suffering and humiliation.

 

What is sad, and this is said with humility and compassion, there will be times during this epoch they themselves will progress into doom or hell, with their sense of property and pride as well as their desires to provide for their progeny, with no end of success in the end. Everything happens for a reason under the stars of heaven and because of an eventual demise of power and replaced by new generational leaders, their owing respect and recognition will not be happening and everything this group of White Monkeys did, past and present, shall require re-valuation with no desire for redemption.

 

And since there is a hop, a prayer, a wish they seemingly be punished severely forever, there shall be little consideration for future properties, ownership or wealth and less the life before their end, determined to live now and forever in the pits of hell and damnation. Human nature does not change on points so evil and unnecessary in the destruction of human beings, incarcerated, chained, dehumanized and devaluated for the sake of dominance, control, power and profit.