Budget Cuts makes Prison Management Risky Business

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, March 2, 2013

Budget Cuts makes Prison Management Risky Business

Although we haven’t heard a peep out of our state correctional officers union or associations, there are ripples in the water that carry a message of unstable and turmoil prison conditions that will severely impact the safety of officers and the inmates inside our prisons. In fact, it is not a great exaggeration that people and public safety are being put at risk as the population inside our public and private prisons reach unstable and unsustainable levels in regards to overcrowding, cut back in programs and a severe shortage of staff available to supervise inmates.

It has been said that our prison population has been holding at about 40,000 prisoners with no real increase in the last few months however, this is about to change as the job market, returning military veterans coming home, the increase in homeless and mentally ill as well as a rising recidivism rate will soon surge again just like before the lull and continue to rise over the next few years.

Anticipated increases in convictions and other criminal justice events will trigger a severe overcrowding that will cost the taxpayers more with less state prison bed space available and more bed space being offered by the private prison contractors. State prisons are at the point of badly needed maintenance and offer shoddy physical plants to provide the essential services needed to maintain an efficient operation.

Other factors in our communities have influenced this surge as street gang violence is up and jails are overfilled with inmates waiting to go back into prison after violating their probation or parole terms. It appears that the economy has entered into another phase of recession and the funding for prison operations will be severely cut back in the next few months.

Prison officials should be prepared for riots as the triangle of misfortune has become more prevalent than ever before. The three conditions of the riot triangle are basic sparks that can ignite insurrections are overcrowding, short staffing and no programs. Every major riot had these elements in their post action comprehensive review and time is not on our side to correct these conditions.

Prison management cannot sustain safe and secure prisons as the potential risks are mounting in the areas of prisoner healthcare, mental health treatment, food costs, higher phone bills and higher commissary prices. Also included are the dwindling resources for proper training equipment and safety devices that have become sacrifices in those states where the shift is on schools and education rather than prisons.

Budget cuts impact living conditions severely as it becomes tough to find the money for personal hygiene items as simple as toilet paper and toothbrushes and soap but there are other normal accommodations that will be at risk such as television programs and the potential loss of cable in many prisons and the CCTV educational, substance abuse and other rehabilitative self-help resources for many to occupy their time with educational and vocational courses via the television channels will be terminated.

It is this loss of what has been a standard certified accommodation that will in turn cause the prisoners’ anger to worsen as their accommodation levels dwindle below today’s delivery standards. The more idle time prisoners have the more likely they are to be engaged in wrongful or criminal activities inside our prisons that include gang recruitment, extortion and assaulting other prisoners for power plays in the control of drugs and other contraband.

There will be more double bunking of inmates without expanding washing facilities including showers and toilets as it barely meets today’s capacity inside medium and lower custody level correctional facilities. At the same time, many prisons have already implemented staffing patterns that reduce the number of officers on the floor causing less surveillance and vigilance of those offenders housed inside these overcrowded units.

Today there are not prisons inside Arizona that are running a full complement of staff as designed and approved by the legislative budget committees as the DOC is streamlining every roster to re-allocate their officers to other areas where there are critical areas to be maintained including non funded positions such as hospital duty, transports, admin support and medical escorts.

The cuts have led to redeployment of staff in prisons up and down the state. We are coming to a very volatile moment. It is reasonable to believe there's a serious risk of rioting because of the curtailment in staff numbers, the manner the administration has ignored the safety needs of staff and the likely dissention of the prison population when they lose those privileges that they have maintained over the last decade or so and expect them to remain no matter how much the state is suffering in finding the fiscal support to keep prisons running.