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.