Why Kingman Failed

Why Kingman Failed

The governor still has not solved the problems of the Kingman riots and contractual oversight. In all reality, he still doesn’t know how his own agency failed him and the public before, during and after the riots in July. Here is a breakdown of a post-incident review of the Kingman riot reports according to my evaluations of the document prepared by the Arizona Department of Corrections. Since there was no blame involved, there must be recommendations or solutions attached to complete the report.

Every agency has a set of policies and procedures as standards to work from as guidelines. Every facility has a person or persons employed to ensure the facility complies with these standards. Assuming these standards are created effectively and based  and developed on ‘best practices’ and not lessons learned orientations, there are two actions required to enforce these quality standards; intent and interpretations. Misinterpretation of the intent of any standard can lead to inappropriate application. I believe this is the foundation of the failures at the Kingman prison complex.

In the case of the Kingman after-action, it was revealed 5 monitors were charged with the responsibility to know the intent of the standards and the interpretations of such policies as written guidelines to do their jobs. One common act in failing to interpret the standard is to apply the wrong one or an outdated or older standard.

Driving your ideology off an old standard create confusing directions such as whether the entire set is applied completely, partially or even omitted in some cases. If this is not the case, then the monitors suffer from inconsistent reading of the intent of the standard and the interpretations vary too wide to apply the intent correctly. Standards are descriptive and prescriptive in nature. One can see the room for error here if the wrong interpretation is applied in the wrong particular context.

The most common problem associated with the misinterpretation of standards is training and consultation. There are rare tools made available to attain improvements that are consistently applied across the board in the case of sharing this tool statewide and asking questions of intent and interpretation as a group rather than individually. The goal is consistency and all monitors doing it the same manner and level of competence.

There are no audits on a development plan for monitors, designed and dedicated effort to ensure this problem of intent and interpretation is in place, giving the agency a powerful tool designed to focus on problem issues and developing meaningful solutions before a crisis is created or occurs.

The agency should – set up training for all monitors simultaneously and in the same classroom with the same instructor / administrator and seek better methods to develop better and ultimately one interpretation of these standards. Interpretations should not vary from monitor to monitor as well as facility to facility. Here are some tips for better standards interpretation.

Read the intent of the standard (first sentence of Discussion) within the context of the standard itself

Determine what the standard is attempting to achieve

Consider how it could be achieved in your facility

Discuss facility examples and seek solutions

Review the examples provided for common agency solution

Create an oversight committee to ensure all standards are up to date and relevant to the current needs of the agency and contractual obligations.

Arizona's own Hydra on prison management

Arizona’s own Hydra in private prisons

 

 

Most of us know of the Greek mythology monster, L. Hydra, who had many heads and when one head was cut off, another would grow back in its place. This is much like the recent cancelation of the MTC Kingman prison contract that has attracted 5 private prison contractors to come to Arizona. The Hydra, is said to have eight mortal heads and one immortal head thus it is a perfect analogy and metaphor to describe the governor’s plan to put out the bid for the rest of the Kingman contract to other profiteers chomping at the bit to enter Arizona’s prison bidding war.

A wise, retired warden once said, “The contract bidding and wording will be interesting. Whoever gets the contract will stand to gain big $$$$. The State has backed themselves into a corner by their failure to monitor this place, now politically they have to succeed at taxpayers’ expense, $$$$. The mismanagement will be something that will resurface in time, lack of work force and resources to provide proper staff/inmate ratio will be on going. [This Hydra concept of] answering to two [or more] masters leads to failure and mistrust by staff.”

There may be physical differences in this Hydra symbolism but the subtleties and actions are the same. Without much doubt in my mind, the Hydra, also the metaphor for the Arizona Department of Corrections, will be slain by those who know its vulnerability the best and that is the prison population who recognize this monster for what it is – a failed prison management style that will eventually cost the state millions of dollars in default and unexpected expenses.

This mortal head cannot be harmed by any mere weapon but in the case of the Hydra, the harm of near fatal wounds will be self-inflicted due to poor planning and contract oversight. One has to remember that there are siblings to the main Hydra and those can do just as much harm as the monster herself who spawned these evil siblings around her. The Hydra was raised to kill Hercules and history tells the story how Hercules survived this battle and how the Greek mythology tell of this great slayer of the monster.

Just like in reality, the Hydra guards the entrance to the prison world, the underground, the filthiest and most vile place in the state. Not necessarily referring to its inhabitants but rather the culture, the environment and the volatile ambience of these places. The prisons are filled with terror and the main terrorists are the elite group of administrative fools, wielding their power and authority freely and arbitrarily, against the prisoners. That’s how the culture sees it to be in an “us versus them” battle of principles. Perception inside a prison is a reality. You cannot change the truth.

No matter what you do, the Hydra would survive and fight another day. It is invincible and the only weakness known is the multiple mortal heads that are subject to being cut off or fail during battle or struggles. No one was ever able to reach the immortal head except Hercules and even he could not cut it off but rather, buried it under a boulder.

That is the weakness of the Hydra – too many heads to protect and the inability to do so as the prison system is divided by too many heads and too much conflict in culture, politics, mission statements and objectives that by itself creates conflict from within. It too will soon be buried under a political boulder of cynical and undue expenses.

Dealing with Stress through Meditation

Dealing with Stress Link

The tree - a metaphor of life as it stands

The tree – a metaphor

The idea of using a tree as a metaphor for our human race can be done with some special adaptations and considerations for our social systems and cultures as they are set today. Even the traditional uses and custom of our tree species allows us to compare them on a very large scale rather than just selecting one or two species. They are all, basic in design and functionality. They are all, resemblances of our life.

A tree’s roots run deep as do our social systems globally and genetically. We all belong to the same species and we are all related like a family of trees but for reasons best explained as a natural process, we all look different but function basically the same. With the exception of being a gender free species, the tree resembles our heritage in many similar ways.

As a social system, we are a deep rooted society with rules and morals. Like the tree, there are traditional patterns of behaviors common to the human race that includes families and how those families live and adapt with their individual surroundings. Like a human, the tree ages and weathers away with the erosion of life. However, before it vanishes off the face of the earth, it transforms life much like our own body does and should be considered an example of the metaphor of man.

There are three primary parts of a tree: the roots, giving the tree the means to anchor itself  firmly to the ground using water and nutrients to grow; the trunk, branches and leaves that comprise its body; and the fruit, which is harvested and enjoyed by us or animals and also contains the seeds through which the tree reproduces itself.

Like the tree, the human race also has these same components: roots, a body and fruit. In comparing the human aspect of these components, it represents our psychological, chronological and spiritual being. Perhaps the tree is more simplistic to identify than humans, making them the primary inhabitants of our world, yet we still share components with Mother Nature, our creator and our existence.

The roots of the tree usually run deep but that is not always the case. Buried underground and invisible to the human eye, they represent the subconscious layers of the human mind: our brain and nervous systems. One has to imagine the brain functions as an invisible matter because to us, it is the most important part that allows us to function and behave the way we do.

Here we develop the abilities to determine or develop our individual growth, composition, breadth and depths of our human traits. Our roots, like the roots of a tree, are the foundations for our manifestations. This is a critical part of our existence and should never be taken for granted. The roots manifestations is commonly compared to our body, our limbs or branches, leaves, trunk or other bodily designed or physical composition of our tree – it symbolizes who we are, what we look like and how we do things consciously and adaptively.

One can see the importance of this component as it is exposed and vulnerable to the weather and other elements around us. How the tree lives and survives is based on the individual fruit of the tree. If the tree survives time and space, the fruit allows it to harvest and consumed by others thus it represents the impact we have on the lives of others around us as well as the ability to plant a seed for birth, growth and bearing more fruit.

How well the fruit develops is based on the nutrients and minerals provided by the earth. The tree can survive many things but is subject to wear and tear by Mother Nature and the growth of other trees as some rely on the sun, the air, water and space to grow maturely and fully with the designed purpose.

On a chronological perspective, the roots do age and the manifestations of those roots are impacted by time. The growth of the tree is manufactured by its ability to survive to an old age. During such time changes, it grows from infancy to an elder evidenced state of condition that has endured critical endeavors and risks. A one point, the tree becomes self-sufficient as a full grown adult tree and looks fully nurtured and solid in shape and its self-standing condition.

The tree’s trunk, branches and limbs endure nature and perseverance on a physical level while man endures it on a physical and spiritual stage. Although, in reality, a tree has to be healthy in spirit and growth in order to produce fruit and seeds thus we might be more alike than we originally thought we were. Since seeds are influences of the ability to spread out and to bear the birth of others, it could be spiritual and represent the power of planting our seeds in their souls.

Our belief in the essential spirituality and meaning of life is the foundation of our entire "tree." From its roots stems the trunk of our understanding, from which branch out our feelings, motivations and deeds.

Looking at the weathered tree trunk that once stood strong and tall amongst the other trees, we have to realize how we are integrated into our environment and how our environment determines our life. One can only hope the tree of life is like the human race and endure the elements of love, hate, racism and biases with the fruits of labor that seeds men to become better and stronger than they were before this erosion began.

Chocolate Dreams - what they mean to me - my own theory in my life -

Living on the Bitter Sweet Dreams on cocoa leaves

 

We all know that the cocoa beans are plants and as such plants, they have contributed to our healthy ways of living by contributing bitter sweet moments in our lives. It has been said by some that eating chocolate before going to bed might exasperate bad dreams or create nightmares. Some say if you already have a sleep disorder, this heavy burden of laying down with the cocoa leaves have been known to have people act out violent nightmares and sometimes called crazy.

Temporary paralysis during a deep sleep is common. However, it has been said that eating chocolate before bedtime can causes you to thrash around and become highly disruptive and loud by shouting while sleeping like you are having a nightmare. Some have reported kicking and punching out their partners in bed and acting out what is happening in their dream. Certainly such dreams are not welcome in our lives and should be addressed.

This is not normal behavior and should be addressed with your doctor. On the other hand, eating chocolate before bedtime can trigger out things out there that are bitter sweet in nature but part of the reality when you are consciously awake. One works with the subconscious in order to complete the dream or thought thus is it important you pay attention. It is suggested that chocolate might help block a natural process that paralyses sleepers when they dream kicking them emotionally loose and free.

The good news is that there is no evidence linking chocolate to bad dreams or violent sleeping patterns thus there is no reason to panic and stop eating chocolate. We all know that chocolate is the dream symbol of a sweet life. For me, it is a bitter sweet symbol of my life. It often comes and goes with time but it never disappears. Some dreams are indeed nightmares of the past while others reflect the good things in my life. For me, chocolate has always been a good thing to eat, especially late at night because it enhances my mood to make me think of something good.

Often this kind of bitter sweet dream signifies the ups and downs of my life which has almost come to an end at times. For me, chocolate plays a big part of my past, present and future as it applies to all time periods of my life. Dreams and nightmares are still a significant part of your lifestyle and living. Chocolate gives you energy. It plays a role in your love life and your personal life as it creates your moods.

For me, chocolate represent the women in my life. Looking back, my experiences with the opposite sex has been a pleasant and most romantic part of my life while at the same time, finding moments that were volatile and unexplainable in moods and temptation. You see, chocolate is a temptation. It gives you the motivation to commit sin.

Of course, this is not a scientific way of saying this but when it comes to chocolate, science hasn’t said much and my dreams have told me the truth. Generally speaking, just seeing chocolate in my dreams usually means something good but there are times that these dreams turn bitter and not very pleasant as it replays my life in my subconscious mind all over again.  

Regardless, how you see chocolate, it is here to stay for me. I love chocolate and can’t do without it. It is an addiction. Perhaps you can see how someone could be addicted to chocolate is you use it as a metaphor for love. Love impacts your life. Love can be sweet and yet, love can be sour or bitter in the case of the dreams after eating chocolate. Generally, if you just see chocolate in a dream it means that you will take part in some important event and the result of this occurrence will have an impact on your life.  It’s not destiny and it’s not karma.

It’s the result of eating chocolate before going to sleep and the outcome is going to be a very good experience if you make it so. Making the most of chocolate related dreams enhances your life and your moods. In reality, you will experience the good things in life.

If I drink hot chocolate, like I did when I lived in Ohio during the winter months, I experienced unprecedented love. Ohio was a lover’s nest. There are many kinds of chocolates out there. Some became my partner or my spouse and each relationship was unique and different according to the type of chocolate I had. Each ignited me with new vigor and pleasures.

The summer time is a bad time to store chocolate unless you keep it refrigerated. I kept my chocolate bars in the refrigerator and sometimes, I froze them. It was a sign of keeping them whole and when you were ready to bite into it, it was often a sign of an upcoming affair. Chocolate implies trouble but like most trouble, you can find the silver lining in that cloud and make it a positive experience in the long run. Chocolate gives you joy and good appreciation of your own endeavors, challenges and undertakings. It has helped me overcome barriers and challenges often to great to conquer without the bite of chocolate for it emboldens me to do my best.

Last night, my chocolate dream was again bitter sweet. I saw faces of the past. I heard voices that will forever be with me forever or until the end as their sweetness or bitterness of my chocolate flavor will be remembered for an eternity. I was very satisfied waking up this morning to the dream. It had been delayed for a long time since I had the last one. I took a little bit extra chocolate last night to trigger a little heaven while I was sleeping. When all said and done, it was a pleasurable and favorable outcome. I dreamt with peace in my mind, something that escapes me at times for reasons known to only those close to me.

Luckily, I have never had spoiled chocolate. That would be most unfavorable and unexpected since I don’t believe my life has been that bad in so many ways to deserve bad or spoiled chocolate. Sure, I have had my share of disappointments but failures are few and one bad interpretation of this dream would cause me to stop eating chocolate before going to bed. Chocolate for me has always been a natural aphrodisiac in life.

I have found and experienced frustration when it came to relationships, friendships and betrayals; liars and cheaters and others who make the chocolate of life tasteless and sour. Sadly, this can happen in something you least expect it to appear. After the dream about tasteless chocolate with a nice wrapper, you need to carefully accept changes in life and stop trusting bad people. Don’t let appearances fool you.

A good chocolate is tasteful and pleasant to bit into and if you dream of the melted kind, it is a sign of successful completion of all the dubious and problematic deals in your life. It also means you can expect or also receive the unexpected help. Thus chocolate can be sweet or bitter. It can be happiness or anxiety and the way you enjoy this chocolate is to appreciate every bite and every chance you get to have chocolate in your life.

When it is all said and done, my chocolate, neatly wrapped, melted, frozen or liquid, has always allowed me to discover the good candy bars in life. Sometimes the taste is bitter or even disgustingly tartness but you have to take the good with the bad. Chocolate bitter or sour means a life of frustration. Chocolate sweet and sugary is loving life and having love in your life.

Staring at a Black Wall

An Interpersonal Experience Staring at a Black Wall - a theory
I have often compared staring at a black wall like staring into someone’s eyes for a prolonged period of time. Regardless whether you believe me or not, such an experience is intense to say the least as it takes you into another psychological dimension. A dimension so hard to comprehend, you often end up being speechless before you can gather your thoughts on this experience. Let me sum it up by the situation getting weird and weirder as you prolong the stare.
Staring at a black wall for a long period of time is a form of disconnection – a disassociation with reality. It is often an out of body experience that is absent any reality as it has been very difficult to explain to others. This disassociation or detachment from reality can best be summed up as an unrealistic phenomenon that is filled with the imaginary mindset of creativity, visionary perceptions and full fledge hallucinations as your eyes plays tricks on your mind and what you really see. Since there are no other sensory adaptations made, it is a deliberately induced deprived state of mind. One has said that in order to have light you must have darkness. Darkness is what brings out the light. The blacker the wall, the less light you see regardless how well the room is lit up.
Staring and just focusing on the black wall, gives you a chance to become disengaged with reality and allow yourself to use your imagination to a higher level. Words come to mind to describe the reported changes. Morphing different shapes and colors from a black wall is not unusual. There are no limits to what the mind can create under such conditions as the experience us surreal. Facing the black wall, you may see faces, shapes of persons or animals or even your own face.
Much like staring at the clouds, your imagination takes over and the dark wall triggers dark ideas created by hallucinations rather than imagination. I have stared at the black wall for periods over ten minutes and as long as 30 minutes. I can tell you I have seen white dots on a solid black wall as well as other colors and shapes as the prolonged stare creates new shapes and forms. I can’t describe the conditions as they are mostly mind created or psychological in nature and since I am not an expert in the human brain, I cannot explain this. Some speculate that staring at a black wall induces a form of sensory deprivation.
Since I have also tried this with a white wall and experience nothing except the usual imaginary thoughts associated with looking at nothing but white surface, I can compare the two experiences as stark contrasting and different. So does the color black create this deprivation of your senses? How does the mind react to this trigger of darkness? Dr. David Spiegel of Stanford University explains a similar process of staring at another person as a psychological disconnection of our environment. A total separation of realities as the mind is reflecting back with some intensity that creates hallucinations. What we are imagining is created by what we see of ourselves and builds on the preface that there are imaging features triggering the conscious and subconscious thoughts inside your head.
Like a mirror, but black in surface and non-color, the image created first reflects your own image as a genesis of the process and escalates into hallucination with time attached. However, in this case, the mirror is not black thus it does not project back reflections of the environment This leads us to ponder time and space again, we are talking time and space – a commonality on many phenomenal events in our human and scientific worlds.
Some have explained that the hallucinations produced during interpersonal staring can bring to full consciousness certain subconscious beliefs or "non-integrated" parts of the self. Disconnected parts of the self -- which are usually projected during delirium -- may be integrated into consciousness. Therefore, if you choose to stare at a black wall for a prolonged period of time, you might be able to stand-in, or assimilate the same integration of your mindset and create a similar pathological circle of confirming a “reality” that is exclusively called an unconscious projection or a similar state of mind of the early stages of schizophrenic behaviors.

Culture of Corruption within the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Honorable Legislators and guests,

There should be no surprises when it comes to the headline about corrupt correctional officers being arrested for felony crimes and other misconduct. Hundreds of officers have been arrested over the years to a point where the word corrections has become analogous or equal with corruption based on relativity and frequency. Crimes ranging from child sex offenders to sexual assaults, in addition to the common charges of DUI and aggravated battery as well as introduction of prison contraband and drugs.

In an past article written by AZ Republic reporter Craig Harris, on February 28, 2013, it was revealed the current prison director released a public statement on his own ‘director’s desk’ website to announce his internal problem to the public in an effort to stave off any criticism on his own performance and problem solving within the troubled agency. In his own release, he describes the arrests of over 640 correctional employees during his first 4 ½ years as the prison director. He claims he has taken an aggressive stand against corruption, yet the statistical information reveals a growing cancer within the department that has not be sufficiently addressed or solved.

In fact, the release was based on the hopes that employees should be ““should be keenly aware of the need to conduct both our personal and professional lives in a manner that is above reproach.” This is more of a self-help approach than a departmental order to find and address staff corruption or misconduct. There have been more scandals than any other director in any other state could endure. This director is Teflon compared to the many that have been fired and released from their positions as chief boss of the prison systems they managed. There is no crusade for morality in Arizona. There are no dedicated resources to reduce or to combat corruption. The permissive culture allows it to continue and grow exponentially without resistance.

Based on the director’s own admission, over 640 employees had been arrested or dismissed for law violations. This turns out to be close to 10 per cent of the work force today. Doing nothing to reduce this type of misconduct, the director has not embraced better hiring and selection standards; he believes the rules in place are sufficient and satisfactory to hire the best qualified individuals for the job. One should as the bottom line. Is there a problem? One can't imagine a shift being 10 percent corrupt or can they?

Is the director conducting any research on reforming the corruption continuum within his own agency or is he ignoring a cancerous problem? In light of all these arrest with many more to come, one has to ask the question, “what is he doing about it.” The Kingman riot report indicated a heavy presence of drugs inside prisons which is commonly a known fact to impact all prisons, not just Kingman.

There is a drug problem and the promotion of dangerous drugs by corrupt staff either doing it or looking the other way is a question of public safety and as well as staff safety as it directly impacts staff assaults and other violence on the prison grounds. So far, the discovery of cocaine, marijuana, meth, and illegal prescription drugs has been revealed during these investigations.

Their drug interdiction programs are not working and their K 9 dogs are overwhelmed and overworked. The director’s tolerance to corruption has not been challenged by anyone
except the press.

Despite the growth of misconduct, the prison boss keeps tracking their criminal offenses for whatever reasons. Perhaps, the director is building a pathway to separate himself from the problem and attempts to exonerate himself from the growing internal problems with discipline and order.  Correctional officers live in our communities. They are part of our neighborhood and peacekeeping force. Hence this problem can be described as microcosms of their communities.

Eleven email inbox addresses were found on the Ashley Madison sex website. Although the number is small, it is reflective of a culture within a culture, willing to risk not being caught for misconduct. Nobody is perfect. There are bound to be cheats, drunks, roughnecks, and otherwise unethical people. We have no clue or idea, how many have been allowed to resign and escape prosecution of a crime and those statistics are not available. Sifting through the existing records, one could conclude once they leave the agency, the problem is gone but historically, these bad apples usually find employment with the private prison industry in once capacity or other.

Charles Ryan, the director, has been quiet about the recent spate of officer arrests and convictions. In fact, the director has kept a relatively low profile ever since his last 2013, public release on this matter. One has to admit or acknowledge the public must have a certain level of trust in our prison boss and his employees. They have to be assured that when on or off the job; they are going to do the right ethical thing when faced with a moral or criminal challenge. The reforms are lacking, the change is non-existent and the need is urgent to change the way we handle criminals with badges.

Perhaps, it's time to ask the director for an update on his battle with corruption within the prison agency?

Regards,