Corrections Incompetence

THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN IN FEBRUARY, 2015.

 

            It’s hard to believe how poorly things run inside a prison. Perhaps no state agency is more mismanaged, more inept, more incompetent than the DOC. Every day brings more fuel for the fire showing the colossal failure that is this place. Maybe that’s a good thing. If they really knew what they were doing, our lives in here would be worse.

            Take last week for example. The compound was on edge awaiting the arrival of the “security audit” team. What, you may ask, is a “security audit team”? It’s a group of 5 or 6 wardens, associate wardens, and security chiefs from other facilities in the DOC system, hardly an independent eye. Worse, the facility knows they are coming so people begin running around like crazy trying to run things the way they think the audit team wants them. The rub is, things aren’t done that way in here. Tension gets higher. Try going to work or medical: “Can’t let you out. You aren’t on the pass list.” Who puts the pass list together? You guessed it: security. And the pass list is a twenty plus page print-out with no rhyme or reason to it. It isn’t sorted by alphabet, state number, or building. Crazy right? Well, that’s DOC.

            The audit team arrives and suddenly there are officers everywhere. What the audit team doesn’t know is they called in COs from the other day shift to show a full complement of staff. Watching from the Program Building (i.e. the school) I see 5 auditors being escorted by 26 COs and “big hats” (rank’d officers – lieutenants, captains, and – of course – the major!). As one disgusted CO told me, “That’s more officers than we have in the buildings on night shift.” Make it look like they have sufficient staff at work – make it look good – forget reality.

            How about access to the facility? Here’s a story. A college professor who has been teaching here for 5 years tries to come in to teach. The metal detector is cranked up. It goes off when it hits her brass buttons. “We will have to strip search you,” the officer tells her – say what? Cooler heads prevail until …

            Weekend visitation: My 80 year old mother has had knee replacement surgery – she’s bionic (has a titanium knee). For almost 6 years she has visited me every month and never had a problem. She and my father travel extensively, in and out of airports all over the world. The TSA lets her pass right on through but here, at a level 2 re-entry facility…

            “Maam, if you don’t send the warden your medical records you won’t be allowed back in.” She was lucky. They still let her in. For many after her on Saturday, they were denied access.

            Who is responsible for this fiasco? The major – he’s (allegedly) in charge of security. But, what passes for security in here does absolutely nothing to make this place more secure, more safe, better run. It is all “sizzle” with no meat. Being a “hard ass,” saying you’re going to run a facility “tight” doesn’t make the facility run well. There are poor management skills and practices in place here. Money and manpower is wasted. Rules have no penological basis nor do they (1) make the place safer or (2) support the alleged mission of DOC (a large part of which is to prepare offenders for successful return to society).

            The process is heavy on paper, with staff who lack basic education skills (try reading most of the memos put out) trying to keep the system chugging along. Rules have nothing to do with safety and security (think “2 books only” on your locker). There are multiple layers of supervision and control yet no one will make a decision without the warden or major approving it first. In other words, nothing gets done because no one has the power.

            The security audit concluded, visitation screwed up, things go back to how they were. That’s life in here, about $25 million spent each year to keep this facility wheezing along. Safety? Security? That has nothing to do with how this place is run. Neither does efficiency. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for a real audit of Virginia’s prison system to be conducted. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to hold majors, wardens, and directors responsible for what really goes on in here. Maybe, just maybe it’s time to stop corrections incompetence.