All These Questions

I have all these questions that keep popping up every time I hear some politician comment on the need for "get tough" policies that keep folks incarcerated for long stretches.

Here I go:

1. What’s the real cost for locking someone up? Yeah, I know you claim it costs $27,000+ a year to keep someone behind bars; but that person also isn't working and paying taxes; and, if that person has kids, chances are that child is living under the poverty level and getting government aid; even worse, that child's likelihood of ending up in here dramatically increases. So, what is the real cost to society?
   
   
2. You talk a lot about Virginia's low recidivism rate, yet every independent study conducted on state recidivism rates always notes that Virginia's approach to collection is different from the rest of the countries. And, as low as it is, it hasn't changed a bit since parole was abolished back in 1994. It's still a little below 30%. The difference is, back in '94 there were 9500 inmates; today there are about 40,000. And today, Virginia spends over $1.1 billion on corrections even though there isn't a whole lot of correcting going on. Programs for drug and alcohol treatment are a joke. Mental health treatment largely consists of high doses of antipsychotic meds. Safety? Go to a higher level and see the number of stabbings, rapes, assaults. Drugs are everywhere in the system; officers and staff are walked off every day for fraternizing with offenders. No one is held accountable--wardens and security chiefs keep their jobs; money gets flushed every day. There is no one who is held responsible. Rules--such as daily schedules and policies--are routinely ignored by the officers while offenders are nitpicked over silly housing policies which breeds further contempt and distrust. We always hear how low the recidivism rate is; yet most adult offenders started out in the Virginia juvenile system-- how effective is the Department of Corrections really?
   

3. Why is it that DOC signed a consent order and settled a class action law suit brought by 5 women at Fluvanna over the poor medical care in the system, yet the same problems that existed there exist at every facility and still DOC fails to take control over the medical care? Hepatitis C positive inmates are daily denied access to treatment; injuries requiring surgery are put off; specialist’s orders are ignored by contract doctors who know that their private company's profit margin will only exist if treatment is denied. And still, DOC does not comply with the order of the Federal Court.
   
   
4. How much does GTL, Keefe, and the other corrections- industrial corporations spend on lobbying Virginia politicians to keep their contracts in place and how much does Virginia receive as "commissions" under those contracts? How much does Virginia spend each year in legal fees and expenses when DOC loses cases for violations of inmate rights?
   
   
5. Why do states--mostly under the control of Republicans--that have implemented prison reform with early release show better results in their DOC's than Virginia?
   

Yeah, I have a lot of questions I'd love to ask those in charge. Problem is, they don't want to discuss the issues, nor do they want to come out here and see what takes place behind bars. But hey, all I've got is time. So every fight, every OD, every wasted dollar, I write down. And one of these days, someone will listen. Prisons are needed; but the way things operate in Virginia does nothing to alleviate crime, nor prevent a person from coming back. And the sad fact is, most in here have neither the education, the job skills, or the hope to make it on the outside without changes. 

DOC Loses, Again and Again

THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN IN FEBRUARY, 2015.

 

            Betting against DOC in court is becoming a no-brainer. The folks in Richmond keep defending – and losing inmate suits. The cost is borne by the taxpayers.

            So, an inmate in Virginia’s maximum security facility, Red Onion, asks to participate in the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan. Officers go into his cell and search, looking for “physical items in his possession to prove his faith.” The inmate has a Koran and a prayer rug, but nothing else. DOC denies the inmate's participation in the fasting period. He filed suit.

            Ruling against the prison, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals found that DOC policy was unconstitutional.

            “The First Amendment demands a more reasoned approach, even within the difficult confines of a prison environment.” The court found that indicators of an inmate’s sincere religious beliefs go beyond physical possession of religious items. The court then awarded the inmate $3.795 (his filing and copying costs to bring this prose suit).

            Like the inmate medical care suit (inmates at the Fluvanna Women’s prison), this suit should cause DOC to change policy at every institution. But it doesn’t. Inmates continue to file grievances over bad medical care and denial of their rights to practice their religion. The grievances are filed, suits go forward, and taxpayers pay. No one in the administration is called to answer for it. Sounds crazy doesn’t it?

            Here’s a word you don’t hear too often involving Virginia’s Department of Corrections: Accountability. It’s time DOC is held to the same standard those of us doing time are held to. DOC needs to be accountable.

 

Medical Update

THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN IN JANUARY, 2015.

 

            Virginia DOC recently settled the pending class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of the 1200 female inmates at Fluvanna Correctional Center. The lawsuit alleged that the women were receiving inadequate medical care. A court appointed monitor will be named to reform health care services at the facility and VDOC has agreed to revise department policies regarding health care.

            At the same time, the department faces a $45 million shortfall in inmate healthcare through next year. DOC had contracted with Corizon (a “for-profit” prison medical provider) to manage medical care in 17 facilities, but Corizon withdrew mid-contract because it found it could not meet its profit goal and fulfill its contract obligations. Another “for-profit” medical corporation – Armor – has temporarily taken over medical care in those 17 prisons which has led to a further $14.4 million shortfall in the DOC medical budget this year.

            Finally, DOC acknowledged that there are 23 active hepatitis C patients who can benefit from the newest drug treatment protocol (that number will go to 50 next year) however, only $750,000 was budgeted – each 12 week treatment costs $84,000 per person – creating another budget deficit.

            “DOC” could be an acronym for “draining our state coffers.” What a continuing waste of money … and lives. Isn’t it time for change?

 

 

DOC Tidbits

THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN IN NOVEMBER, 2014.

             Seems like every time you turn the news on, DOC is a lead story. This week, Virginia’s death row inmates have a suit pending (at the U.S 4^th circuit sitting in Richmond) alleging their treatment is “cruel and unusual” in violation of the US Constitution. Now, hearing the term “cruel and unusual” you would think the case (already lost at trial level by DOC) would involve their death sentences. Nope. It seems, in its arbitrary way, DOC was faced with a lawsuit by one death row inmate over access to visits and other privileges. After losing that suit, DOC granted that one inmate the privileges sued for. But then, inexplicably, DOC denied those privileges to other death row inmates leading to this lawsuit.

            “We don’t comment on pending litigation,” said DOC spokesman Larry Traylor. Perhaps, you should. Perhaps it’s time you explain to Virginia’s taxpayers the millions spent each year defending inmate lawsuits DOC continues to lose. Perhaps the DOC Director should be called to account for the money wasted, the lives lost, and the complete ineptitude and mismanagement he oversees. Nah. That would leave me less to write about.

            Not to be outdone, a judge in Chesterfield County released a convicted child-sex abuser (a minister convicted of having improper sexual contact with two minor female family members) on home incarceration pending sentencing in January. He’s facing 99 years yet the judge let him go home with an ankle monitor. I wonder how many young, black kids using drugs get post-conviction release while awaiting sentencing. How about guilty-plea embezzling lawyers? It’s unheard of, yet this judge decided it was appropriate in this case. Makes you wonder.

            Finally, as I write this 3 more men here with serious medical problems are being ignored. What is the response from each of their families? Call the ACLU in Richmond (the Fluvanna women’s suit against DOC for negligent medical care is set for December 5^th) and hire counsel.

            And so it goes with DOC and the criminal justice system.

 

Trial Date

This blog was written in November, 2014. 

            Less than 30 days from now a Federal Court will hear a suit brought by 5 female offenders at Virginia’s Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. The class action lawsuit, filed in 2012, seeks injunctory relief from VDOC for its mismanagement of medical care for those behind bars. Be ready Virginia; VDOC will lose this case and the budget woes already affecting the Commonwealth will only worsen. Look no further than the bloated, arrogant, mismanaged bureaucracy that is VDOC when you ask “why.”

            At a time when the voters of the Commonwealth were quick to elect any politician who said they were “tough on crime,” DOC realized it had a problem. Everything has a cost and that’s especially true in prison. You want to lock up virtually anyone for anything (after all, a majority of those behind bars are there for non-violent crimes) there is a cost. And a major cost associated with longer sentences, with mass incarceration policies, is the cost to provide medical care. The Commonwealth knew they had a burgeoning problem years ago.

            What was their solution? Outsourcing. VDOC concluded that it was cheaper to contract out offender medical care than provide staff doctors. So the state entered into a sweetheart (for the for-profit corporations anyway!) contract first with Armor, later with Corizon, both “players” in the booming prison-industrial complex that has seen U.S. corrections expenditures go from $6 billion in 1980 to $80 billion today. The state agreed to pay these companies $76 million per contract year to provide medical care and case management for the incarcerated. That sounds like a lot of money (and it is) except those companies had their own staffing costs. They also had a population they were servicing that was less healthy than the general population, with diabetes and mental disorders rampant. Keeping costs down became the benchmark. Forget Hippocrates; their mantra was, “every buck saved is a buck for our bottom line.”

            Then, VDOC gave almost no thought or care to the “work” these private contractors did as long as the department was not responsible. Trouble is, VDOC – and the Commonwealth – can’t shirk their obligation to provide medical care to those in its custody. That’s the law. Funny, isn’t it? All those “law and order” types suddenly became very “shades of grey” when it comes to government doing what they are legally obligated to do.

            That provides background to the suit – government ineptitude followed by sweetheart contracts with no oversight. But, to the women involved, it is more personal. To the patients – and their families – who were ignored and mistreated, their poor care, the 3 or 4 deaths each year resulting from negligent health care at Fluvanna, it was personal. You break the law, you go to prison. You shouldn’t end up dying because of bad medical care, which the state is required to provide when they take away your freedom.

            My first year here I befriended a bright, young redheaded kid. He had gone drag racing one night with three other cars. These were county roads in Augusta County. And these 18 to 20 year-olds were going way too fast, being reckless. Then it happened. He lost control and his car went airborne. His girlfriend lay dying in his car. The charge was vehicular manslaughter; the sentence was four years. I make no judgment on the leniency – or severity – of his time. Parents lost a daughter. Four years or forty, that will never be made whole.

            They sent him here and late in ’09 he began having severe stomach pains. He ran a fever. He passed blood. Medical refused to see him. “You’re on the sick call list,” he was told. His mother called and complained and Medical gave him an appointment. Stomach virus was the diagnosis “Take Mylanta.” That night his fever spiked. The floor officer rushed him down to medical and he was immediately taken to the hospital with a ruptured appendix.

            That story isn’t an aberration; that story is day-to-day medical care inside. “Care” is not the right word. Every year men and women die behind bars from medical neglect. That is criminal and should not be tolerated. That is the basis of these five women’s lawsuit.

            How has the government reacted to the suit? They have stonewalled. This past summer the court was so incensed by DOC’s refusal to comply with discovery that it awarded the Plaintiffs over $16,000 in attorney fees. Ironic isn’t it, the purveyors of the law, those charged with administering the law, ignore the law. Who pays? The taxpayers.

            The late Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post cited Walter Lippmann in a lecture he gave in 1997 at the University of California. Lippmann, Mr. Bradlee noted, believed that “In a democracy, the truth emerges. Sometimes it takes years … sometimes it seems to take forever, but it does emerge.”

            Mr. Bradlee, the Executive editor of the Post from 1968 to 1991 knew a little something about the truth and the attempts over and over again by government to spin it and shape it and distort it. But, at the end, the truth will emerge.

            For far too many years the Commonwealth of Virginia’s politicians, supported and greased by companies like Corizon and Armor have told voters you are safer with more people behind bars. These politicians have lied about the true costs the people of Virginia incur with these reckless policies built on greed. But the truth will emerge … and it may start on December 1^st in a Federal courthouse when the Department of Correction’s medical contracts are exposed for what they are.