Will Arizona Prisons sustain budget cuts?

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

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Will Arizona Prisons sustain budget cuts?

By Carl R. ToersBijns

The Arizona governor and state legislature will have some tough choices to make this coming session regarding budget cuts and contingency plans for their operating funding costs. It is likely that the big bus of the Corrections Department will have to take some of those cuts and rely on operating their prisons with a reduction in staff and other resources.

Although any closures of prisons is not likely to happen as it is in other states, there will be a big change how they will have to operate them and endure the entire fiscal year on less money than last year or the year before. It will depend on how deep the cuts are and what has to be cut back in order to meet allocations and expectations.

Although it may seem premature, it is likely that at this moment, based on feedback from the governor’s office and key legislators, initial budget scenarios are being developed as well as revised staffing patterns based on prison population projections and other anticipated needs.

The agency will address attrition rates, pending retirements, freeze hiring and maintain a strategy for vacancy savings for the entire fiscal year leaving staff pretty much with what is left over after these employees leave state service. If the past is an indication of the future, disciplinary actions will increase and probation periods will be used to lay off officers before they reach their permanent status and termination will be used as a management tool to reduce staffing patterns and personnel.

The director and his staff will submit various formats of scenarios that will allow the governor’s staff and legislative members a good peek at what the bottom line is and how deep a cut the agency can survive without compromising public safety. The main concerns are three fold; personnel and benefits, medical costs and other fixed expenses related to prison capacity and population needs.

Perhaps there will be a shift in priorities and the director will re-allocate more resources towards new or existing community corrections programming that are less costly and easier to manage. They will have to focus on reducing their enormous water and electric utility bills and implement other waste reduction methods to acquire a better handle on the costs of food and clothing, cable services, and other costs that may be considered either frivolous or unnecessary for prisons to have.

The director will likely increase the number of low custody level prison work details outside the prisons and into the communities to acquire shared funding for operating such mutual government agreements that include inmate work details for county and municipal government agencies and related public services. This is a viable avenue for the agency but will require the mutual agencies to provide the supervision and transport costs in order to be eligible for such inmate services within their community and local government public works.

Perhaps for once in the last five years, there will be a serious focus on recidivism and manage it more effectively so that the prison population may indeed be reduced and the incident of repeat offenders coming back into prisons be reduced by looking at those technical violators a little closer and continue their parole time in the community corrections programs rather than paying a premium price for a bed inside the prisons.

You more than will likely see a consolidation plan with the private prison contractors for transferring some of the state’s secondary custodial roles to the private prisons to save money and reduce staffing costs. This would also cancel or reduce some of the private vendor contracts the state currently has to keep essential services going but at a cost that can be done cheaper if absorbed in the consolidation plan.

December 23, 2012