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.

 

The State of Corrections

Want to know how important re-entry really is to the decision-makers in Richmond? Look at VDOC’s new visitation system. As I wrote before, DOC installed a “centralized” visitation approval system last December. Before that, a person who wanted to visit an inmate came to the facility, picture ID in hand. They’d fill out a one page form, have their ID scanned into the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) database – to verify no felonies or outstanding warrants – and they were admitted. The “new” system requires an electronic application to be submitted with approval “within 30 days” for instate residents and 90 days for out of state. No problem, right?

            Well, for starters the state isn’t meeting the 30 day standard. “That’s a minimum,” the visitation clerk tells folks on the phone – when they actually bother to answer the phone. You say, “That’s not what the policy says, nor is that what your department spokesman – Larry Traylor – told the press.” Well, that’s the way it is. So visitation numbers are down, way down. And frustration is up. Visits, connections to family and friends in the real world matter – or so they tell in re-entry all the while making it more difficult to maintain those relationships.

            I’ve learned DOC does a good job talking about breaking the cycle of recidivism but in reality, recidivism keeps them getting $1 billion + every year. Visitors are treated poorly when they come here. There is no recognition by a sizable percentage of the staff that “these folks are the public. They pay taxes to keep this place open and me in a job.” Instead, visitors are subjected to disrespectable comments about their clothing: “inappropriate” (meanwhile, most of the officers need to “size up” their uniforms – obesity is a major problem in the officer ranks). There is no correlation between working in corrections and dealing with the public.

            Prisons hide behind the veil of “keeping the public safe.” With over fifty percent of the inmates “nonviolent” the talk of public safety and public protection, are handy myths perpetuated to generate funding. The fact is, most corrections officers at this level – medium security re-entry – are female or men over fifty. And, most lack physical fitness or aptitude to confront and restrain any serious problem (it’s not that way in higher levels where beefy, corn-fed young officers patrol the corridors under the watchful eyes of gun-toting officers on catwalks).

            Visitors – tax paying citizens – will tell you it is embarrassing and humiliating to visit someone who’s incarcerated here. It shouldn’t be. VADOC must be accountable and responsive to the public. VADOC employees should be held to a level of trust and respect for the public. And, programs (such as the new visitation policy) should be evaluated for their effectiveness in breaking patterns of recidivism. Employees of DOC need to be accountable for the $1.2 billion in state money they spend and professionalism should matter.

            Then there’s the medical care. I have repeatedly noted in this blog how Virginia outsources inmate medical care and how poorly that care is provided. It’s about to get worse. VADOC recently signed a contract with Corizon (a for-profit health care firm specializing in prison health) to provide inmate health care.

            Who is Corizon? It is a company accused of abuse in many of the states it operates in. 660 suits for malpractice have been filed against it in the last 5 years. Maryland DOC terminated its Corizon prison contract over abuse allegations. Just last month, Idaho DOC did the same. Maine legislators investigated Corizon and issued a stinging report over inmate medical care neglect.

            Why then would Virginia contract with such a disreputable company? Someone needs to ask Harold Clarke, Virginia’s DOC Director about the contract’s financing including rebates back to the state. It’s ironic, Harold Clarke, after being named Director of DOC, gave a flowery speech talking about his faith playing a pivotal role in how he will direct VADOC. I posed the question to him then – and reiterate now – what kind of director would Jesus be? Does the Corizon contract pass your “faith” test, Mr. Clarke?

            And then there’s good-ole JPay. JPay is the company responsible for money order receipts and credit to an inmate’s account. If you have a banking relationship on the “outside” and have access to certified checks or cashier’s checks, you mail the check to the institution and within twenty-four hours it’s posted to your inmate trust account. But, if you are one of the thousands of poor families in the state who lack access to a bank, you use money orders. DOC doesn’t process money order deposits for inmates anymore – too labor intensive and time-consuming (isn’t that everything associated with incarceration). So DOC outsourced it to JPay. All money orders now go to Florida where JPay processes them – at a fee of course.

            What used to take forty-eight hours onsite, now takes 22 days. And, it’s still labor-intensive. JPay was supposed to be given electronic access to CORIS – the inmate record system (our “7” digit inmate numbers). VADOC hasn’t done that – lack of IT resources” – so JPay processes the money order, then sends it to the institution to be hand-keyed into an inmate’s account.

            That’s right, VADOC is now paying a third party fee for money orders that it still has to process. And I’m the one locked up for stealing other people’s money!

            Virginia’s Corrections Department is a bloated, poorly managed, antiquated bureaucracy that only gives lip service to its mission – the safety of the public and the successful restoration of rehabilitated offenders back to society. It’s time for Virginia to take a serious look at this failed system misnamed corrections.

Full of It

One of my favorite holiday comedies is “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”. In one particularly hilarious scene, Clark (Chevy Chase) looks out his front window and sees his half-wit cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), wearing an obviously too short robe and boots, draining his motor home commode directly into the rain grate at the curb. Eddie looks up, sees Clark watching him and shouts “shitter’s full”. I thought about the scene as I read the March 13th entry in Virginia Statehouse News discussing prison overcrowding.



“Virginia’s state prisons are so packed that nearly 3,700 state remanded inmates are being housed in local jails,” per DOC spokesman Larry Traylor.


Traylor further added, “state prisons are filled to 165 percent design capacity. The number of prisoners at each state prison facility is limited in part by water and sewer capacity…”


Heh, Virginia, shitter’s full.


Less than two months ago the Richmond Times Dispatch wrote a glowing editorial about then Governor Allen being a genius for abolishing parole. The editorial talked about “a glut of beds” in DOC facilities. Mr. Traylor, curiously, was silent.


I wrote a scathing rebuttal to the editorial. I’m no genius, but just by spending an hour inside the wire and you quickly recognize the prison system is grossly overcrowded, incompetently managed and a significant drain on the Commonwealth’s resources. Do I feel vindicated that DOC has finally admitted the obvious? A little. But, vindication won’t come until a politician (take a hint Governor McDonnell) has the courage to push for early release. Without sentencing reform, the system will never be fixed.


Last term, the United States Supreme Court heard an appeal from California over their overcrowded prison. Ten years ago inmates won a federal lawsuit against California arising out of the abysmal living conditions present in prisons holding inmates at 177 percent of capacity. The Federal courts ordered California to alleviate the overcrowding problem. For ten years, California did nothing.


Finally fed up with the state ignoring the rule of law, the court ordered that 40 percent of the system’s inmates be released. California reacted with shock. “You want us to do what?” Virginia isn’t far behind. There is absolutely no reason for the vast majority of inmates currently housed in Virginia’s prisons to remain there for the life of their sentences. The prison system does absolutely nothing to correct the behavior that led to the crime. It is nothing more than a warehouse; providing inadequate care, treatment and living conditions for 38,721 adult inmates (as of September 30, 2009). Virginia’s prisons are, in fact, criminal.


But, admitting the system is full isn’t easy. Consider this “brilliant” insight from Virginia Delegate David Albo (R-Springfield), “there are no nonviolent offenders in prison.” Really? So drug users are classified violent? Probation violations? Driving charges? Grand larceny and embezzlement? Never knew that Del. Albo. Apparently neither does the Virginia Sentencing Commission or the Virginia Courts who specifically classify those listed crimes as “nonviolent”.


For giggles and grins, let’s agree with Del. Albo. Every “bad person” in prison is here for a violent crime. Why then, do states with more progressive sentencing and early release options show: (1) lower crime rates and (2) the same recidivism rate as Virginia? What is clear on its face is Del. Albo points out, the hypocrisy of Virginia’s current prison system. There’s no “correction” in this system. There’s only punishment, pain and retribution. And, those three things belong in the sewer, not as government policy.


I heard Peter, Paul and Mary sing “Where have all the flowers gone” the other night. As they sang the chorus again (“when will they ever learn?”) I thought about Mr. Traylor’s admission and Delegate Albo’s ignorance. When will Virginia learn? Prison reform – early release, effective rehabilitation programs – must be implemented. The system is full!

At Least This Isn't California

About a week ago, a riot broke out at California’s Folsom Prison (think “the Man in Black”, Johnny Cash) on a handball court. When it was over about 250 inmates were injured or charged with fighting. California has 155,000 men and women incarcerated in a system only built to house half that many. They are currently operating under a Federal Court order to release 40,000 inmates in the next 18 months to reduce their inmate population to 137% of bed capacity [Note: the inmate lawsuit over this issue took the Federal Courts 10 years to finally order the mass release. For eight years California operated under a consent order to either release or build more prisons. Oh yeah, they have a $19 billion budget shortfall so they can’t afford to build any new prisons.]



Things are so bad with California prison medical care that “Governor Aahnold” agreed by consent order to spend $150 million immediately to improve medical care for inmates when faced with “an alarmingly high rate of deaths of inmates due to poor care and suicide”.


At least Virginia doesn’t have the problems California has. Really? Last Friday, August 27th, one inmate was stabbed to death and three others seriously injured at the level 4 Nottoway Correction Center.


At Greensville, a massive 3,000 inmate prison holding level 2 and 3 inmates, since January two inmates have been murdered and one committed suicide. And, at Red Onion prison – the Commonwealth’s Super Max facility – two inmates have been murdered – by the same inmate.


But forget that. After all, those guys are felons. They deserve what happens to them (I wonder how many people dare say that while they’re sitting in their church pews on Sunday morning). Instead, think about the cost.


According to Virginia’s State Government website, there are approximately 38,900 inmates serving time in Virginia’s prisons. That does not include another 5,000 with DOC numbers awaiting transfer to a DOC facility who are sitting in regional jails, overcrowding them. The DOC website announces “fortunately, we don’t yet have an overcrowding problem”.


I guess it depends on how you define “overcrowding”. Having bunks sitting in fire lanes must not meet DOC’s definition of overcrowding. Having 200 inmates being watched by two officers must not meet their definition either. And, I guess being so understaffed that COs at Nottoway couldn’t search for “shanks” isn’t overcrowding, at least according to DOC’s spokesman, Larry Traylor.


Still not convinced, consider the other costs. As former Lt. Governor (and now head of Prison Ministries) Mark Earley recently said: “Virginia spends more than $1.1 billion annually on its prisons”. That’s more than is spent on education or healthcare in the Commonwealth.


Then there are the legal costs. In between filing lawsuits challenging the new federal health care plan, or going after a University of Virginia Professor who conducts research on global warming for fraud, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is responsible for defending DOC in a myriad of cases.


Each year, inmates file thousands of Habeas Corpus petitions in an attempt to get their sentences reviewed. Each case requires an Assistant Attorney General (and support staff) to defend the legitimacy of the incarceration.


Each year thousands of other suits are filed by inmates over violations of constitutional rights, such as religious freedom. Injured inmates or inmates denied adequate medical care sue.


Then, there are the major lawsuits brought by or on behalf of inmates. Currently, Troutman Sanders (a major Richmond law firm) is providing counsel to eleven inmates who have been denied parole (guys locked up pre-1994 are still parole eligible).


The National Lawyer’s Guild filed suit against DOC for refusing to allow inmates to order a legal self-help book. Prison Legal News filed a similar lawsuit over censorships of their paper, a monthly compilation of cases around the country involving inmates and prisons.


On September 2nd, U.S. District Court Judge James Turk, sitting in Roanoke, found “laughable” the Attorney General’s argument in an inmate censorship suit. In that case, the inmate sued because Augusta Correction Center refused him access, under Operating Procedure 803.2, to literary classics such as James Joyce’s Ulysses, DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Nabokov’s Lolita (all three books appear on various “100 Must Read Books”). The reason for denying access to these books according to the Attorney General? Inmates read these books for the sex scenes depicted in them, then “barter” the books for goods and services.


The Judge – not a bleeding heart, a no-nonsense conservative – found the policy unconstitutional censorship. DOC has dozens of rules that are selectively enforced and/or vague and nonsensical that lead to litigation. Imagine the dollars Virginia taxpayers spend just on legal costs alone. Add that to the $1.1 billion annual budget and you start talking about “real money”.


In this case, Virginia DOC is well on the road to copying its neighbor to the west. Soon Virginians will be able to paraphrase President Kennedy’s famous words. When it comes to prisons, Virginians can say: “Ich bin ein Californian”.