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, September 7, 2013

Debra Milke- Free out on Bail awaiting retrial video

Friday, September 6, 2013

Correctional Officers - Judgment & Decision-Making


Correctional Officers - Judgment & Decision-Making

 

Most correctional officers are adequately prepared for the job and in most cases resilient in nature and disposition and do remarkably well under the circumstances of working inside a large jail or prison. However, we must all admit that stress does take its toll and one of their main challenges is to deal and manage stress while making good sound decisions and appropriately based judgment calls that keeps everyone safe and sound twenty four hours a day seven days a week.  

To be a good decision maker, we must first stabilize our emotional conduct and resist the natural negative impacts of stress. This requires self-awareness and self-care. Once this is achieved the mindset is much clearer and better in most cases to offer better decision making efforts and safer environments to work in most of the time. Therefore it is important to mention that a clear mind makes better decisions especially under duress.

Focusing on the fact that many officers and correctional employees are aware how to combat stress we should focus on better judgment and decision making processes and actions beyond the fair, firm and consistent concept taught in many law enforcement academies throughout the country. So it is favorable to start looking at quality of judgment and decision making in the corrections field. Whether or not the ability to measure judgment is reasonable or even possible we shall examine what constitutes good judgment and compare it with the job at hand as a correctional officer.

First off, correctional officers have an array of tools at his or her disposal besides their basic training. This includes post orders, institutional orders and agency directives or policies. It is a well-accepted practice that most decisions are based on such a foundations and requires little coaxing or motivation to stay on track with such guidance.

However, not every decision can be made out of a book or policy thus the individual must be capable of making independent judgment with independent criteria based on individual qualifications and standards to boost their basic foundation when trained or mentored by others. In addition there are firm emergency preparedness plans that need to be reviewed and learned to make critical decisions under stressful situations.

Using a basic skill such as a situational awareness assessment, one can expect a number of different decisions for different situations. This fact has long been established over time and through practical experience and time. Regardless, correctional officers need to realize that whatever decision they make it will have a significant impact on the situational outcome and lessons learned from taking such actions.

 In corrections there are blurred boundaries that are often misread or in some cases unrecognized at the time of the assessment. Thus theoretically, officers must learn how to approach each problem and evaluate and analyze things quickly in order to determine the correct approach to the problem and be put at risk that they do not have all the information needed to make a good decision.

This is quite complex in nature and often neglected in training line staff to prepare them for command decision positions. First we must recognize that judgment and decision making are intimately linked but are two separate concepts requiring separate processing. The process demands separate cognitive demand and pose distinct challenges in order to

Judgment is an assessment tool that allows alternatives between choices suggested in the problem solving process. It takes into consideration a continuum of different aspects that are based about a person, an object or a situation. Hence the final result based on judgment is an overall evaluation based on factors provided or given for each person, object or situation.

Decision making is determined to be a choice between alternatives and determines a specific response to a persons, object or situation. Herein because there are consequences for such a decision and accountability why such a decision was made in the first place it is important to distinguish the difference between these two concepts.

When it is all said and done, a correctional officer relies on the quality of judgment to do the job properly. This requires an analysis for accuracy and review the quality of facts gathered or provided and then encompass those established guidelines provided for such a condition. This leaves little wiggle room in the level of accuracy or for taking incorrect or deviating practices to make it come together as a valid evaluation that can be resolved satisfactorily.

So what makes a decision a good decision you have to ask? Working in such a complex environment that is influenced by many uncertainties the best decisions are those that yield the best results, conditions or consequences for achieving a safe and secure environment. However, one must take into account such results could in fact have come about by chance and not because of a thorough evaluation of the process involved. Some may call it luck but others call it a calculated guess for making the “best” decision at the time.

Regardless good decision-making involves using your training, your experience, the laws of logic and probability along with common sense. Keeping it rational and determining the probability of the outcome is a common approach and should keep in mind that the optimum decision may be ideal for one situation or person but not in other situations or persons. In other words, evaluating the outcome should include comparing options or decision how to resolve it taking into consideration of all the facts before finalizing a decision. 

However, what is reasonable for one person may not apply for another person. One decision maker can be of average experience while the other may be relatively better experienced and determine which strategy is better based on the examination of the problem and comparing possible outcomes with various strategies while in the end looking at tradeoffs or compromising factors.  

Regardless the process should include the goals, the consequences, and the relative value of outcomes of different approaches or options. This would logically be considered a good decision making process that takes much into consideration before the final decision is reached.

Therefore, here we have to caution the decision maker not to rely on ‘lessons learned” in the past as the factors may not be identical or duplicated creating a different outcome possibility and flawing the process. This is where the judgment comes into play and create a need to assess and decide the outcomes through comparisons and some level of consensus, peer acknowledgment and or evaluation and the appropriateness of the action proposed to be taken with the challenge to take the ultimate or best decisions for each problem or call to make.

Henceforward in a correctional setting one must be cautioned and be made aware that such evaluations if taken as a routine matter could reveal a degree of predictable or anticipated course of action of the proposed action and would be to the benefit of controversy as how well the inmates know the decision will be made ahead of time and how consistently these facts gathered are applied with the individual’s knowledge base creating a pre-determined response to a problem.

In other words, specifically in a critical or crisis situation, there should be room made for actions or decisions made by  the antagonistic group and that it is a strong possibility that they will make tactical or strategically implied assumptions that whatever decision is made, formulated and finalized within a hostile situation or environment the method [solution] chosen could fall into the hands of the inmates and thus the response is compromised even when following the process but failing to compare potential outcomes and consequences laid on the table beforehand.

Like it was mentioned and said in the beginning of this article, working inside a prison has many uncertainties and planning a situational assessment using judgment and decision-making tools should be done with caution and with some level of expertise and experience as well as taking the time to conduct peer assessments [for consensus] and share evaluation materials before finalizing the resolution.

 

 

 

Sunday, September 1, 2013

McCluskey Murder Trial - Kingman Escape - Albuquerque

My friend Frank Smith left this feedback below at the Tri-Valley Central/Casa Grande Dispatch, and similar feedback at the Cody, Wyoming paper.

I drove to Albuquerque twice and listened to the testimony among many others, of the hijacked East Indian driver and McCluskey's ex-wife last week, and Charlie's fellow escapee Tracy Province this week.  Lots of law enforcement officers testified.
This case has already cost taxpayers over a million dollars and will cost millions more.
McCluskey and his fellow escapees should never have been sent to Kingman, one of many shoddy spec prisons built by hustlers from Oklahoma.
It was patently unsafe, poorly built, horribly maintained, and staffed by guards whom the warden admitted were "80% new, or newly promoted." A single fence, burned out yard lights, alarms that hadn't worked in years and guards who couldn't count stood between the convicts and the public.
The Arizona DOC provided only a fig leaf of oversight for the incompetent operators, Management and Training Corporation of Utah.
Jan Brewer and DOC director Chuck Ryan sent murderers, rapists, kidnappers and member of security threat groups to Kingman.
Her relationship with the for-profit prison industry got her elected governor.
Province, a lifer, and McCluskey who was doing 15 years and had a parole hold from Pennsylvania, were members of the Aryan Brotherhood gang.
A flood of campaign contributions kept the flow going to this crackerbox presenting to be a secure facility.
It took many hours for the escape to be discovered, still longer before outside law enforcement was notified but even then, the prison didn't know which prisoners had gotten out. The ensuing search would have embarrassed the Keystone Kops.
The bungling continued for three weeks as the escapees hijacked, robbed, shot it out, kidnapped and murdered their way across the west.
FBI Agent "Mac" McCaskill seemed to see an opportunity for career advancement as he had Province, the second escapee, retrace the steps of himself and his companions, and he partied with Tracy. There was audio played at the trial of the two laughing it up in state after state, with an abundance of promises for leniency made to Province even before McCluskey and his accomplice cousin were captured.
When the nationwide chase came to an end in an eastern Arizona campground, there was still more million dollar bungling. McCluskey admitted his guilt, but only after asking for an attorney and not being provided with one. All his admissions were consequently thrown out.
Now the District Court in Albuquerque is expected to be jammed for four months after McCaskill and another self-promoter, U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, Kenneth J. Gonzales went forward with the death penalty trial McCaskill had plotted for from the beginning.
Gonzales has already gotten his reward. Eric Holder, who refused plea mediation offered by a retired judge signed off on the capital trial, then got Gonzales appointed to a federal judgeship in New Mexico two weeks ago.
Taxpayers need to be told why no one seems to be both literally and figuratively minding the store

Sunday, August 25, 2013

A Cup of Coffee in Corrections


A Cup of Coffee in Corrections

 

First of all not everybody drinks coffee so you must make a rule that if you don’t care for coffee, it is likely you have another favorite drink whether it is tea, bottled water or an energy drink but regardless what it only matters that you can apply this “coffee or drink” as a metaphor to what is about to be explained to you as a correctional supervisor or mid-level manager working in a high stress place like a large jail or prison. 

One has to wonder what a cup of coffee has in common with working in field of corrections and prison work. It has everything in common. One might say there is a direct relationship between a cup of coffee, its contents and its purpose. If you look at it from another point of view and be open minded enough to see the benefits within the drink. Prison work is not rocket science profession as everything you are taught lays out the foundation of the job and only requires you to take in a few simple things that will make your job easier and safer. Having said that let’s get down to having a cup of coffee and relax a little to understand how it helps you get the work done.

First of all a cup of coffee represents the respect you and your employees deserve while doing this most danger job within the criminal justice system.  You may want to discuss your business matters in your proper setting using mutual respect issues and common sense so you can learn something from someone else. Listen and really listen to the other person. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open as you look for useful information from your employee. As you become aware of crucial concerns, you are able to motivate your employees to participate in problem solving and manage the issues effectively. In return for such deliberate attention towards your staff you will be rewarded with a mutual level of respect that is earned by the manner you do your job.

Along with respect comes a cup of motivation as the two come together and makes it work out like a little bit of magic in the air. When you treat your employees like adults there are benefits and gives them the confidence they can handle the truths of the job. Trying to shelter them with lies only backfires and serves no other person but hurting them in the long run as they are never really protected from the workplace where issues are harsh realities of the job itself and the potential dangers that lurk around every corner. 

Yes, you can use the coffee cup metaphor as a management and motivation tool. Having a “cup of coffee” with your staff gives you the opportunity to sit down, listen and learn with them. Your conversation with your personnel over coffee can be a powerful employee motivational tool. You can gain valuable information about yourself, your staff, the company and your workplace culture as you share coffee or the time to get to know each other better.

That leads you to the cup of time and wisdom for managing our resources and employees effectively. Meetings are great for those that have the time to do them but working alongside while on the job gives employees a feeling of worth and value that is more important when it is shared with respect and motivation. Showing you are never too busy to work side by side can do more to maximize your effectiveness than anything else in the leadership manual. It gives you a rare opportunity to walk the walk and talk the talk that is so important for credibility.

You can never make up for lost time but you can schedule quality time with your staff just by taking a few minutes out of your busy schedule and taking your employee out for a cup of coffee. Simply said, buy a soft drink or a cup of coffee for the person you are meeting and sit at a table and talk. Set aside the phones or cellphones at the moment and enjoy the moment of opportunity to get to know your staff.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Frank Smith speaks out on McCluskey Murder Trial in Albuquerque

This case is a poster child for why inmates shouldn't be sent to for-profit prisons.
Management and Training Corporation (MTC) understaffed this Kingman prison with employees being, according to the warden, "80% new or newly promoted."
It was built on the cheap by Dominion of Edmund, OK, and like most or all of their speculative prisons, was grossly substandard. The state claimed it would only send minimum security offenders there, mostly those doing short terms for drunk driving offenses.
The alarms hadn't worked properly in years, some seven yard lights were burnt out, staff had no control over inmate identification and basic security procedures.
It happened because state regulators were uninterested in professional operation.
It grossly failed to oversee its operations and sent hordes of inappropriate prisoners to a place that could never expect to hold them securely. This included many lifers incarcerated for homicides, escape risks, members of security threat groups (STGs) such as neo-Nazis, and those with parole holds from other states.
As long as the campaign contributions kept rolling in, supposedly conservative legislators, executives and bureaucrats championed the nonexistent "savings" they provided. As long as the revolving door spun at a dizzying pace, no department of corrections official was likely to insist on delivery of anything remotely near the level and quality of contract performance that the state required.
Not that long afterward, Arizona did a research study that estimated that contract prisons cost the state 16% more, per prisoner, than did professionally managed state prisons handling matched populations.
On the evening of July 30th, 2010, the chickens came home to roost.
Three long-term inmates broke out with the assistance of the ringleader's girl friend, who reconnoitered the prison, then drove to its rear after sundown and threw small bolt cutters and other tools to breach the fence, as well as bags of pistols.
She had been arrested not two months earlier, for bringing drugs and other contraband into the prison. However, the Mohave County sheriffs offered her a deal: She could give up her suppliers, whom they said she claimed were neo-Nazis, and they would let her go free.
Of course, had she followed through, her fiancée would have been targeted after he got out of solitary for being on the receiving end of the smuggling.
On the fateful night, she had forgotten where she had parked the ringleader's Chevy Blazer, out there in the desert, so the four split up to search for it. One, Daniel Renwick, who was doing 44 years for a particularly cruel robbery-murder, quickly found the SUV and absconded with it, abandoning his confederates in the desert.
The accomplice and other two, John "Charlie" McCluskey, who was doing two 15-year sentences for attempted murders and who was a white supremacist, and Tracy Province, who was doing life for two murders, began walking through the desert like Moses, looking for a vehicle to steal or hijack.
It took over 100 minutes for the staff to discover the inmates missing from their dorm, but they weren't sure who was gone. Instead of reporting the escape to outside law enforcement and the Department of Corrections, they fiddled around, looking for them for another hour. Their motorized guard who had been making regular rounds, somehow repeatedly missed the huge hole in the outside perimeter's single fence.
The fugitives had by then walked miles before a helicopter showed to try to locate them in the sparsely vegetated desert. Unfortunately, it was operated as incompetently as the prison, and just circled the prison in tight circles, far from the escapees' location.
At last they arrived at an eastbound 18-wheeler that had stopped for a brake check miles south of Kingman at an I-40 exit. They took its East Indian drivers with them and drove to Flagstaff, stopping to call for assistance from friends and relatives along the way. Eventually, the ringleader's ex-wife agreed to pick them up and drove to meet them in Flagstaff.
At that location, they waited for their ride and the drivers agreed to wait 15 minutes after it arrived before sounding an alarm. They had taken $60 from one and $40 from the other, but rejected more, leaving each with more than half their cash.
McCluskey even turned down an offer by the owner/operator to go to an ATM to furnish them with more money.
The ex-wife dropped them off after stopping in Payson, then went on to Mesa. There they got another car and took off for a hideout in Southeast Arizona, only to find it occupied. They continued on toward their destination, Gentry, Arkansas, stealing a license plate from a car in Moriarity, New Mexico, on their way east.
Unbeknownst to them, their fellow escapee who stole the getaway car, had gotten into a shootout with a Garfield County sheriff's deputy and City of Rifle police, and spilled the beans on his erstwhile companions.
He is now doing 60 years for that shootout, at Colorado taxpayers' expense.
The three remaining fugitives heard news of his capture and squealing on them on the radio as they were going through Texas. Knowing their plans had been revealed, they quickly reversed direction. When they arrived at the New Mexico I-40 welcome station, they picked up maps and then noticed a couple who were pulling an RV with a crew cab pickup. They approached them and warned the driver not to go for one of his many handguns that was within reach.
That, unfortunately, sealed the fate of the hapless couple who were kidnapped.
Now a two-car convoy, they continued, going west toward Santa Rosa, when they were ordered to pull off on a frontage road. They were forced back into their trailer, allegedly by the ringleader, while the lifer drove the pickup and his girl friend followed in the beat up grey sedan they had bought in Arizona.
According to his indictment, the ringleader shot the couple, then when the truck stopped for gas, they noticed that the victims' blood was pouring out of the trailer onto the ground. They sped off, then exited to an unpaved country road, where the trailer was unhitched, splashed with liquor and set afire.
Eventually, the lifer, intent on suicide, changed his mind, going to a church in Meetetse, Wyoming and singing with the congregation. The minister gave him a jacket and $40 for mowing the church lawn, and he cadged a motel room floor to spend the night. The next morning, after a church member saw his picture on TV news and called police, he was captured while hitchhiking to Casper.
The fleeing couple had already gone on to Billings, Montana, then to Gentry, Arkansas, a week later. There they held up a beauty salon, but thanks to law enforcement dithering, the pair continued on their nationwide flight.
A week after that, they were spotted by an alert forest service employee at a campground and a swat team descended upon them to capture the pair.
Now the federal government is prosecuting the ringleader, hoping to get a death penalty conviction from a jury that will have to endure a four month trial. Federal, Arizona and New Mexican taxpayers will be footing the bill for millions for this search, apprehension, Arizona and New Mexico trials, and continued imprisonment.
McCluskey, being 48 years old, suicidal and in poor health, is not likely to ever be executed. There have only been three federal executions in the last 50 years and three Virginians have been on death row for over 20 years. Appeals of death sentences cost the public fortunes.
If McCluskey makes it that far, he will join Sherman Lamont Fields, who promised a bribe to a Texas for-profit prison guard in exchange for a key to his prison, escaped and promptly kidnapped and murdered his ex-girl friend.
The U.S. Attorney who decided to seek the death penalty, Kenneth J. Gonzales, was perhaps awarded a federal judgeship for this sort of grandstanding, and was sworn in last week.
Unfortunately, no one seems to be really talking about the whole picture.
Somewhere, just as they did in Kansas five to ten years ago, corrupt officials are no doubt meeting with industry executives and cooking up more plans to expand their leaky, for-profit American gulag.
Who will tell the people?

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Correctional Officers – Working with Fear - Earning Respect


 

When we engage in a profession such as law enforcement or public safety we agreed to work with fear. Seeing how fear impacts our practical ability to work day in and out in such a vulturine setting we must see or manage to find ways to control or fear around us so we can focus on those this that we are tasked to do. Fundamentally speaking we can’t let fear run or ruin our lives or how we do our jobs. We must be motivated to overcome the feeling of fear and minimize its effects of anxiety, stress, worry or distrust. Fear is real in many cases. It is built-in in the job we signed onto do. What we need to do as correctional officers is identify its debilitating effects and keep them from inhibiting us. We have to approach fear directly and at least stun those influences it creates so we can deal with what it is we fear while on or off duty.

Our job as penal practitioners is to meet the challenges what are in front of us inside large jails or prisons without complications. We have to learn how to react according to our training and experience and set aside or minimize the fear of harm, failure or even guilt for doing a most difficult job under difficult conditions. The more we accept fear as being a natural part of our job the stronger we get. However, in doing so, we must make sure we have the right mindset, tools and approach to do this safely and effectively.

Certainly I am not proposing you meet fear directly in a reckless manner especially when it may be dangerous to do so or too overwhelming to conquer. What we need to do is fight the fear with calmness and understanding that it can be controlled through the mind if you allow the mind to engage with each deep breath you take conditioning your calmness along the way. The calmer you are, the less fear you have. Remaining calm will keep you from becoming controlled by the grips of fear. The calmer you are the more fear loses it power over you. It should not be your intention to get rid of your fear but rather to subdue it to a point of self-control and explore it and understand it better. Seeking such resolution creates a practice that brings confidence to the forefront and lessens the emotions associated with fear such as anger, embarrassment, dissuasion or guilt.  Hence we reduce the dominance of fear within ourselves that allows us to function near normal in getting things done.

The symptoms of fear are common. There may be butterflies or twisted pain in the stomach feelings, sweating or rapid breathing along with a sense of vulnerability to pain or other emotional sensations. The main thing is to focus on your ability to remain calm and breathe deep while undergoing the discomfort fear brings to you and your body. Much of the tension, tightness and constriction will begin to unravel as you control your self-awareness through self-control.

Certain kinds of wisdom arise only through seeing something happen repeatedly. Commonly referred to as lessons learned we often have to become very familiar with something in order to be free of fear. I found this to be the case with worrying as I seem to worry more about something or someone when I saw others around me worry validating my own fear through the eyes and thoughts of others. Had I questioned their fear I would have taken some power away from my own fear as I realized that it may have been worrisome at one point but not all the time.

Go back and investigate the fear when things are passive around you and reflect what has happened or occurred and validate its origin or significance. Trust develops, not from willing ourselves to trust, but from discovering for ourselves that we can learn our experience and not over- whelmed by it. If you investigate fear you will reduce it.

Source: https://www.myptsd.com/c/threads/working-with-fear.13790/

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The New Orange – Not Working Well


 

There are major differences between the convict of yesterday and the inmate of today. Dressed in the new orange these new type of offenders are not a fraction of the kind of convict prisoners were in the days of past when a man would work for a day’s pay and no handouts. It is with high certainty that there were cookie cutter convicts back then as they all had their own personalities and their own characteristics but back then, even crooks had honor.

Today’s prisoners are apples and oranges compared to the past and come with multiple personalities, characteristics, habits and mandates that makes treatment most complicated and diverse as some hang onto their own culture to show them the ways to live in their own distinct politically and socially impacted world and backgrounds even if it is in conflict with their current placement or prison setting. It is likely that the old orange had these same issues but kept them under control and dealt with them in their own ways instead of being a burden to those around them. Each had their own self pride and esteem to take care of business the way we call ‘old school’ and that was up personal and close yet confidential and private.

First of is to denote the differences in the penology theories there is a significant difference between old style rehabilitation and the new version of rehabilitation.  The old way every prisoner underwent into cookie cutter programs and whether they needed it or not, it was determined to be beneficial for them to be educated and worn out at the end of the day for working a job that was manual labor and considered hard labor even on chain gangs. Here there were no cultural divides or territories.  Everybody worked and pulled their weight.

Prison wardens had three easy choices, educate them, work them or let them sit idle and do nothing. Most wardens made sure that the prisoner engaged in at least two out of three with idleness being the least option in the book. A weary or worn out prisoner is a well behaved individual and keeps the peace much easier than those that do nothing all day thinking about how they can disrupt their world.

Today’s rehabilitative programs offer so many different programs that the list is too extensive to list. The fact is if they weren’t court ordered most of them were optional in nature thus often not offered or available. This includes substance abuse programs and other treatment programs that gives them a chance to quit an addiction or manage their anger more constructively and stay out of trouble in the future. Programs are selected like one was in college and if it’s one thing a prison isn’t is a campus or college driven environment.

The old system focused on self-esteem and character traits that counted and provided a person with good moral guidance and ethics to change their ways. The new system ignores the inner self and focuses on rethinking and retraining behavioral issues rather than morality of their character. The new style is holistic in nature and departs from the old style of faulty thinking and worthiness.

Contrary to the new whole person concepts taught, there is a distinct conflict between the two teaching styles for the new orange prisoners are given options in their sentences that were never offered before and allows them to balk at the project to stay busy and learn something.

Many are lazy and take no initiative to attend school or classes for self-improvement unless made to do so by court order or mandatory rules of classification and treatment plans. Rehabilitation only works if the person is receptive to the concept and work to change. Changing behaviors and not the person is a difficult approach. When I compare the two styles it is my opinion that the old style was more practical and more applicable than the new approach of trying to change the persons.

Everyone knows sociopaths can’t be treated and remain to be one of the most rapidly growing populations which are unpredictable and volatile while housed inside our jails and prisons. Thus these type of individuals require a stern hand and structured behavioral modification approach that builds incentive for good thinking and takes away incentives for bad thinking patterns.

The other rapidly growing population are the mentally ill and treatment programs for them are severely limited as well. Since psychotropic medication is very expensive and mental health providers are scarce and untrained in the prison setting, there are many challenges facing this group of new orange that are under the influence of a psychotic breakdown or mental illness diagnosis.

The old types of programs are no longer accepted because they do not cause the person participating to believe they are faulty but rather their behavior is faulty. It is the way of the new that has stifled the practices of the old. The new orange does nothing in the way of making people attend programs or school.

There are too many loopholes that keeps this from being enforced.  Participation is the only way rehabilitation has a chance at working so I believe the changes are not good and unnecessary and under the new rules, participation is rarely mandatory like in the old days. It is up to the prison administrators to ensure the new orange carries out their own self-improvement programs and attend treatment that would benefit them greatly.

The sad part is that today’s administration is just as lazy and weak as the new orange regime. They have no empathy of the setting and take no ownership in how well it is being run and administered. They rely on others less skilled or trained to their dirty work and are fast to point blame when things go wrong and quick to take the credit when something goes right.

They think they are an army of one and do nothing to help or support the correctional counselor or officers in their jobs and stand by to criticize them readily and never once ready to praise them when they do their jobs like they are supposed to and without any fanfare.

Many are college graduates that have never worked inside a prison before applying for the management positions. They are good at counting beans but lack the skill to manage people. They have no loyalty to the workforce and communicate in terms that are difficult to understand as they are often given without preparation or explanation of goals or objectives desired with a mission statement or strategy provided.

 

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