Wasted Honor -- - Say What you Need To Say......: Racial segregation in the ADOC

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

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Racial segregation in the ADOC - a comment

Tucson Weekly

Racial segregation has always been a tool of housing wherever you go at the ten state prisons - I know because as a newly arrived deputy warden from New Mexico, I was taught by the ADOC policy to house by race-and housing officers tagged cells with color coded information and inmate photographs to ensure there was no racial mixing in their assignments. Any mix of race had to be approved by the COIV or higher and circumstances had to be explained.

Dormitories were integrated but not like you think - they had all the blacks in the back and the whites in the front of the dorm runs - Hispanics were randomly inserted to break the line - used as a buffer - they still bunked them by race and the chart or housing layout showed a balance of blacks, Hispanics and Whites according to their overall population and not necessarily the specific dormitory or run meaning that t any time, the run could have more of one race than the others (which is a control mechanism by DOC) but overall of the population, it balances itself out with the totality, not the individual dorms.

After 2009, this practice eased up and became a little bit more balanced realistically but still not in job assignments. It is still, today, even with the integrated housing plan in motion, a segregated world based on race, color and ethnic background.

Accordingly, gangs form for protection purposes and the problem becomes exponentially worse as this friction and conflict escalates at times due to unfair practices or motives. Today, inmates may voluntarily participate in the integrated housing program but stand to receive peer pressure from their own race if they accept mixed housing assignments discouraging such steps to be effective. Fear of retaliation or intimidation by race leaders is dominantly present to keep the races together as a unit and not mixed as the ADOC is proposing.

This fear was created by the ADOC administration not the correctional officers as their protective custody needs are being ignored when threatened and assaulted as a result of being denied protection or transfer to alternative housing a different yard. As always, there are exceptions to the rule and some places, like Douglas, Safford and smaller remote units, it works well usually at the lower custody levels where there is more work and programs to keep the tension down and the conflict at a minimum.

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Dormitories were integrated but not like you think - they had all the blacks in the back and the whites in the front of the dorm runs - Hspanics were randomly inserted to break the line - used as a buffer - they still bunked them by race and the chart or housing layout showed a balance of blacks, Hispanics and Whites according to their overall population and not necessarily the speciific dormitory or run meaning that t any time, the run could have more of one race than the others (which is a control mechanism by DOC) but overall of the population, it balances itself out with the totality, not the individual dorms.

After 2009, this practice eased up and became a little bit more balanced realistically but still not in job assignments. It is still, today, even with the integrated housing plan in motion, a segregated world based on race, color and ethnic background.

Accordingly, gangs form for protection purposes and the problem becomes exponentially worse as this friction and conflict escalates at times due to unfair practices or motives. Today, inmates may voluntarily participate in the integrated housing program but stand to receive peer pressure from their own race if they accept mixed housing assignments discouraging such steps to be effective. Fear of retaliation or intimidation by race leaders is dominantly present to keep the races together as a unit and not mixed as the ADOC is proposing.

This fear was created by the ADOC administration not the correctional officers as their protective custody needs are being ignored when threatened and assaulted as a result of being denied protection or transfer to alternative housing a different yard. As always, there are exceptions to the rule and some places, like Douglas, Safford and smaller remote units, it works well usually at the lower custody levels where there is more work and programs to keep the tension down and the conflict at a minimum.