Change at the Top ... Again

So I arrived here in November 2009, right off the bus from receiving and through the double electronic gate at the sally port. A quick strip search then off to property and processing. Three hours later I was headed up the boulevard and into my first level 2 dorm-style housing (or so they say; but, prison building is nothing like a college dorm!). I had a packet of materials to read – “offender handbook” with all the rules I would soon learn didn’t matter because enforcement of those rules was purely arbitrary by the officer on duty. And, I learned the warden was a ballbreaker, a church-going Baptist woman who held the inmate population in contempt. That was my introduction to the meaning of the term “Warden.”

            Two months later, she was gone; retired; replaced by an inmate-friendly warden who started as a prison counselor fresh out of college at the walls. It was the late seventies and one of her first “clients” was a young, angry DC. “She’s a straight-shooter,” he told me the day she arrived. She only lasted nine months. The COs rebelled. Her demand for “mutual respect” didn’t sit well with the guards. They moved her to Burkeville and the civil commitment (sex offender) facility.

            Warden three was a short, well-dressed black woman who also came up through the ranks as a counselor over twenty years earlier. As upset as the COs were with Warden Two, they went crazy over Warden Three. She demanded professionalism in her officer ranks. On more than one occasion she ordered an officer to leave and get a clean uniform. Ninety days after starting she ran a red light in her state car and was killed.

            And that brought on Warder Four. I was not an early fan of Warden four. I found him arrogant and cold. And, quite frankly, I thought he was dishonest. I must confess I was totally wrong. Very little good happens in prison. We are losing a good warden.

            Friday was his last day. He’s been transferred to a high security women/juvenile facility. We don’t know who our next warden will be; hopefully, it will be someone who believes in education as much as this man.

            No doubt about it this facility has the best school program anywhere in DOC. That’s due to a creative, dedicated principal who won’t take “no” for an answer and a warden who believes we need more programs, more classes, not less.

            Every new program we have here: computer literacy; health; college community; writing workshop – were all made possible because of Warden Four’s outlook. That outlook will be hard to replace.

            So Warden Four is gone; we wait on Warden Five. A few names have been kicked around – some very good, some not so much. Still, Warden Four will be missed.

Major Changes

They brought in a new chief of security this week, a new big hat, a new Major.  DOC has a weird facility operations system.  A warden sets policy for the compound with day to day help from an assistant warden.  Third in charge is the Operations Director who runs everything on the compound non-security related.  But, security trumps everything.  And, security is always in the control of a major, a big hat. 

I’ve been here at this level 2 facility almost four years and this will be my third major in charge of security.  The first one was easy-going.  He wanted things to run smoothly.  His officers were mostly older.  Both he and his staff had been in the system a long time.  Many of them had been at the higher level facilities where stabbings and other random, mindless acts of violence were daily occurrences.  They – and he – knew what it was like to lock a prison down for nine, twelve, or eighteen months.

So, they gave some latitude to things.  After all, this was a level 2.  Guys spend years getting their level down to come to a compound like this.  A two hundred series charge now and then was nothing – it didn’t cost you your job or good time.

That first major retired and number 2 came in.  He was from a receiving unit, a facility where level 5’s (capital murder, rape and more) mingled with petty larceny or DUI level 1’s.  Those prisons, as I learned on my own, are cesspools; they are powder kegs which erupt almost daily in fights, robberies and worse.  

Security’s goal there is simple:  lock ‘em in until they’re classified and ship ‘em out.  The officers did their jobs; you acted out, you went to the hole.  They were detached.  They walked the floor when required; most times they stayed by the booth.

That attitude took hold here under Major # 2.  Soon there were almost weekly memos about bed areas (what was permissible to have).  Charges were regularly written.  And, even two hundred series charges (“minor” infractions) cost men good time and employment.

Was the prison more secure?  No.  There were just as many fights, just as many drugs, just as many gang members.  In fact, things deteriorated.  Is that the Major’s fault?  Probably not.  See, the prison population was changing as well.

When I first arrived here, most guys locked up were older and they had time yet to do.  Then, Governor McDonnell announced his re-entry program and turned this into an exit point for this region’s soon to be released inmates.  What you get now is a mix of very young, very dumb guys who have little time to do (and came from short jail bids), or very old, long serving inmates who have been everywhere in the system.  They come with health problems, few prospects for successful reintegration into fast-paced society (many have never used a cell phone or ATM), and years of scars built by the violence and degradation of surviving higher level prisons.  They young guys think they’re in camp.  They act out.  The old guys have seen the worst.  They smell b/s a mile away.  Both don’t care about any state announced program.

There are a little more than 1,000 inmates here and maybe a core group of 100 of us run the school programs, maintenance shop and factory.  The rest are short-timers who don’t give a damn about another re-entry program that was just like the last.

The prison has changed; the inmates are worse; the problems more noticeable.  Into that comes Major # 3.  What’s he like?  He’s young, not even 40.  That in and of itself is different.  And, he carries himself like a military officer: pressed uniform, perfect posture.  He was a captain at a higher level, cut his teeth on the violence and degradation at level 4.  And, he’s checking things out.

No one, especially in prison, likes change.  But, some change is good, especially if it cuts down on knucklehead behavior in here.  So, I’m going to take a wait and see approach.  Now, if they’d only come and clean house on the re-entry program…

 

A passing thought:  Why do Americans think the 2^nd Amendment is so sacrosanct yet the 4^th Amendment can be circumvented in the name of security?  I’m not sure what I think of the NSA leaker, but I know this – the founding fathers were deeply concerned about Government’s ability to search without justifiable warrant.

No less than Ben Franklin remarked that people who are willing to give up their liberty for security will soon have neither.

I can tell you from living in here, under daily surveillance, that freedom and privacy matter.

Say What Warden?

As I’ve written in prior blogs, this compound’s counselors have begun reducing inmate’s good time earning level anytime a charge occurs.  This policy is in direct contravention of the Department’s own due process DOP which specifically details how good time earning levels can be adjusted.  It is not an arbitrary process – any charge and your good time earning level is reduced.  Instead 830.3 sets forth a specific point system that must be followed. 

I have assisted a number of inmates in their challenge to their earning level reduction.  As I’ve noted in the past, it is readily apparent that neither officers, nor administration staff are fluent in the language contained in the policies and procedures governing inmate discipline.

So, I wrote the warden, just gave him a little “FYI” that his counseling staff was improperly lowering good time earning levels in violation of due process.  And what was the warden’s response?  He wrote:

“You may grieve this issue as staff application of this policy is following the warden’s dictates.”

How interesting that he used the word “dictates” (sounds much like “dictator” doesn’t it?).  So policy and procedure gets thrown out the window in the name of criminal justice.

Eventually someone will realize violating the law doesn’t give the government (in this case a DOC warden) carte blanche to do as it wishes.  Ultimately, real justice matters. 

This story, this fight will go on.

What's He Thinking?

The assistant warden is at it again.  Every week this chucklehead does something else to upset the inmate population and make the lives of his officers that much worse.  And the warden, the actual guy in charge of this place, the guy that makes Barney Fife look like a Navy Seal?  No one sees him.  He’s nowhere to be found.  He’s turned operation of this facility over to an arrogant nitwit who hates inmates, hates educating inmates, hates any programs to rehabilitate inmates, oh yeah, and hates flowers.

This week’s latest pronouncement involved, among other things, the visitation room.  From the inception of the prison level system (low level 1 up to high security level 5) the policy has been more contact, more programs, more movement at lower levels.  In the “old days” there was really only one level.  You went to prison, did your sentence and made parole.  But back then only seriously violent criminals went to prison.  Now, you’ve got 40,000 men and women locked up at dozens of prisons.  At level fives, inmate movement is tightly controlled under officers in gun areas.  It’s called “moving under the gun”.  But, at level 2 – like this place – movement is less restricted.  At least it was until this clown showed up.

This past week a young guy – Brandon, age 22 – collapsed on the weight pile on our side.  He was in the dirt twitching violently.  The guys were screaming for an officer, any officer, to call medical.  No one could get to a building door because – per Assistant Warden Einstein – gates must be locked.  Even worse, there was no officer in the tower observing the rec yard (you would think placing an officer in the tower overlooking the yard would provide more security than locking fifty to four hundred guys behind multiple gates with no supervision, but that’s just my opinion.  I’m not a trained assistant warden).

Ten minutes Brandon was unconscious twitching on the weight pile before the officer on the boulevard saw the commotion and radioed medical.  Then, two nurses and an officer came casually pushing a stretcher to the yard.  By the time Brandon was finally loaded, unconscious on the stretcher and transported to medical, twenty-five minutes after the seizure began had passed.  Yeah, this new emphasis on security is making this place run much more smoothly!

Back to the visitation room.  The ass warden (I’m not sure I abbreviated that correctly) has painted the visitor picnic tables.  One side is painted red and marked “offenders only”.  The other side is for guests.  Inmates can no longer sit beside family members.

In the visitation room, a red line has been painted three feet in front of the vending machines.  The red line states “No offenders beyond this point”.  Even when I was at Receiving with level 5 inmates there was no line by the vending machines.

Then there is school.  This coming Friday is graduation.  The principal here, Ms. C, makes a big deal out of GED graduation and guys completing vocational certification.  The Community College even participates and awards Associates Degrees as part of the ceremony.  Last year, over one hundred inmates received GEDs, another hundred vocational certification and three Associate Degrees.  As I wrote last year, with these men having family and friends present it was perhaps a more moving ceremony than my own high school or college graduation.  I knew I’d succeed.  For most of Lunenburg’s graduates, that ceremony marked their first academic success anytime in their lives.

And every year the warden and assistant warden show up because they know education matters.  That is, until this year.  The little weasel warden isn’t coming (sent his “regrets”).  And the assistant?  He remarked “why do I want to go to that thing?”

While Director Clarke is busy telling the press about his “mission” to rehabilitate Virginia’s inmates, perhaps he could take a little side trip to Lunenburg and kick these two losers in the ass.  This place is deteriorating.  Programs will suffer.  Both inmate and officer attitudes are souring and that’s a bad mix in a prison.  What, I am asking, is Director Clarke thinking putting these nuts in charge?

The Con Being Peddled

I make a simple statement:  Harold Clarke, DOC’s Director, may profess he cares about inmate re-entry and rehabilitation; Governor Robert McDonnell may likewise say the same thing.  But, actions speak louder than words and their actions – or inactions – speak volumes about the current state of Virginia’s prisons – the choice is theirs.  They can put real emphasis behind their words and actually begin changing DOC’s mentality or they can continue speaking empty words and follow the same failed policy that has led to the current crisis in corrections. 

Right now, they are peddling a great con job on the citizens of Virginia.  They need to either do what they claim they want to do or be honest enough to say “screw re-entry; screw restorative justice; screw rehabilitation.”

This prison is now being led by both a warden and an assistant warden who publicly state their responsibility is to keep inmates locked up.

Officers I know reported that the assistant warden announced at his department head meeting this week: 

“I hate flowers, fraternization and felons.”

Flowers?  Yes, here at Lunenburg the inmates maintain two greenhouses where spring and fall flowers are grown.  In April and again in September the yard crew plants these flowers along the sides of the “boulevard” – the main walkway connecting the seven dorms, vocational, educational, factory and chow hall.  Around the flowering pear trees that dot the main lawn, flowers are also planted.  Rich mulch is spread.  The yard crew waters and maintains the plants and learns a little about horticulture and landscaping.  Ah, screw it.  Blacktop the entire area!

What this genius assistant warden missed is the Rudy Giuliani lesson on broken windows.  Want people in a neighborhood to take pride in where they live?  Fix the broken windows, pick up the trash.  Want inmates to feel embittered about their circumstances, bombard them every day with reminders of block and fences and that they don’t matter.

Over and over guys here tell me I’m fooling myself.  “They aren’t gonna help us get an education.  They aren’t gonna let us go early.  They make money off of us and the public doesn’t care.”

What Mr. Clarke and Governor McDonnell need to realize is recidivism is a mindset.  DOC gives inmates zero reason to believe they matter, that what they do matters.  We’ve heard the expression “hearts and minds” whenever the military is involved in an action overseas.  Win the hearts and minds of the population.  Convince them you are there to help them, improve them.

Crime is often described as a war.  Well Virginia, you’re losing the war on crime.  You spend over $1 billion a year with the costs going up each year and the recidivism rate is increasing.  And crime is generational.  Lock up one out of four young black men and see how the children of those incarcerated do.

Instead of being courageous and honest and changing the dialogue and mindset of DOC, Messrs. Clarke and McDonnell do the same old, same old, putting wardens and assistant wardens in place who make no bones about trying to put the brakes on re-entry education programs.

A part of the IT grant money was spent installing “smart boards” in two classrooms – one in the programs building and one in the horticulture building (outside the program building by the greenhouses).  The first term of school, night classes used the boards.  This semester’s math class assigned to the horticulture building has been shifted and the board sits unused.  “Can’t waste an officer out there” is the excuse. 

Is it any wonder these guys lack hope, lack desire to change, don’t believe in the Governor?  They’ve heard it all before.  They know a good con job when one’s being peddled.

Empathy 101

The prison’s warden, a 56 year-old African American woman, was killed in a two vehicle accident in a small town, ten miles from here, Thursday evening. At 6:00 am Friday the entire compound knew. First, the details of the accident made the morning news. Initial reports indicated the warden ran a stop sign and was struck broadside by the second vehicle. The warden was dead at the scene. The two people in the second vehicle were seriously injured.



At 6:00 am count, the day shift officers arrived with black tape on their badge. By 8:00, a memo was up in the building from the assistant warden. As with so many “Dear Offender” memos, this one also misjudged the mood of the prison population.


It began: “We regret to inform you. . .” Honestly, there weren’t a great deal of regrets being expressed around the compound.


“Maybe we’ll get chicken and ice cream tonight. . .”
“Karma’s a bitch man. . .”
“F--- her and all the cops. . .”


Harsh? Yes. Shocking to your senses? Absolutely. But, before you get indignant, consider that on the day Ms. Lewis was executed in the Virginia death chamber less than four months ago, pro-death penalty advocates applauded. Consider that it was recently reported that 70,000 Iraqi civilians were “casualties” of our nation’s war effort with little if any public remorse exhibited. I write that in embarrassment knowing I supported both the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq.


I pass no judgment on your view of capital punishment or use of military force. I have come full circle on both issues. My prison experience has taught me faith in God means an avoidance of violence in all forms. But that’s my view.


No, I point these things out because I’ve come to the conclusion we have become woefully lacking in empathy. We refuse to seek understanding of someone else’s feelings. “Screw them. Nobody cares how I feel.”


Guys in here use macabre humor and downright gloating when bad things happen to people they blame for their circumstances. Four cops shot in Detroit, guys cheer. Almost every inmate has a story of how the police took advantage of them. Stories of crooked police appear almost nightly in the paper. USA Today ran a series of stories on prosecutorial misconduct. Yet, guys in here continue to struggle to get their story told.


A young kid in the building showed me a picture the other night. He was at a party. There was a girl in the picture. She was obviously high and she was hanging on him. I recognized her. She has filled in here as a CO.


“I met her at Nottoway (a level 4 prison) on my last bid. She was on duty up there. I got out and started dealin’ coke. Got called to a party. Sold a lot of eight balls (3.5 grams). She saw me. I banged her for three days and kept her in coke.” He then got busted on a probation violation – dirty urine. She’s still working as a CO, eight ball and all.


There’s a senior officer here who’s had four (yes four) DUIs. He pulled no jail time and is still working here. Guys here see that and realize the system’s rigged.


Meanwhile, the people on the street demand politicians “get tough on crime”. After all, criminals aren’t good people; criminals are scum.


We live in a course, degraded world and it’s getting worse. Funny thing is prisons just mirror society. Some of the most popular magazines sell precisely because they expose our human foibles. We love when people fail. We love other’s misery. Pretty sick, yet pretty prevalent.


To guys in here the warden represents the machine that is keeping them in this hell. She represents, she controls, the officers that shake us down, strip search us, watch us urinate. Is it rational? No. But then again, neither was my glee when I heard Saddam Hussein was hung or my sentence.


Later in the day I overheard guys say “you know she wasn’t that bad a warden”. Other guys were contemplating the suddenness of her passing. “Man, when your number’s called, it’s time.” The initial jokes passed, most men thought about the “what if” in here. “What if I get a call about my family? My parents?”


Empathy is an interesting thing. You suddenly gain understanding of a person’s problems. You’re more likely to show mercy and forgive.


Two and a half years ago I thought I knew right from wrong. I was quick to pass judgment on others (quick to ignore my own sins). Then, I started meeting murderers and armed robbers. I talked to drug dealers and drug addicts. I discovered no two men were the same. I found some I grew to care deeply about. They became friends. Others I just couldn’t stand. But, I learned to listen. I learned to hear.


There is evil in the world and we should confront it and defeat it. But, we should never gloat over anyone’s suffering. At least, that’s the lesson I’ve learned in here.

Trilogy

A good deal of interesting stuff has been happening here this past week. Here are the top three.



I. “Meet the New Boss”


The new warden is kicking ass and taking names and, so far, it’s OK because it’s all directed at the CO’s.


The former warden, Ms. Runion, was all about “therapy”. She had made a big push to make the COs a little kinder and gentler. Respect was her mantra. Officers were to treat inmates (sorry “offenders”, that’s the new word for being locked up) with respect.


Discipline was lax. The COs rebelled. “Screw that. We ain’t talkin’ nice to the inmates.” A number of COs began filing grievances against the warden.


Ms. Runion has been in the “system” since the 70’s. She has frankly spent too many years working in corrections to put up with whiny officers. The Department of Health’s civil commitment sexual predator facility needed a warden and she transferred. CO’s who were being made to “play nice with the inmates” celebrated. “We got rid of that bitch” I heard from a few COs.


Then enter Ms. Avent, a small, middle age African American woman who also has been in the system for years. She’s not “touchy feelie”. No, she’s about following the rules and being professional. And the CO’s are walking around in a daze.


“Officers will look professional.” She’s sent dozens home to shave and clean and press their uniforms. No longer do senior officers – Sergeants, Lieutenants, and Captains – joke around with CO’s. “You are their superior officers. Start acting like it!”


Rules are being enforced about movement on the compound and living standards in the dorms. I heard our building lieutenant (a woman) mutter as she walked by my bunk “I hate that bitch”.


The officers are, simply put, being made to earn their pay. Most old heads will tell you they can live under any set of rules as long as they know what they are. I agree. There’s too much crazy stuff that can happen in here when rules go by the wayside.


She’s tough, but so far, she’s fair.


II. “Rumors”


DOC has a new director. He comes from a state with a low inmate population and aggressive parole and re-entry programs. This week, Virginia’s Governor announced all departments must prepare budgets with a 6% decrease in funding. DOC is bracing for more cuts.


I met with the school principal this week. We are exploring expanding my creative writing program to a school wide writing lab for all GED students and community college enrollees. She told me our prison is being considered for a re-entry facility. Governor McDonnell has made inmate re-entry a priority. There is “talk” out there that a number of prisons will be modified to focus on getting inmates close to release properly prepared for re-entry to society. I’d stay here as an academic aide. A large number of inmates here (those not working as academic or vocational aides) would go to other prisons.


Is it a viable plan? I’m not so sure. If you want to bring DOC costs down and improve re-entry programs, re-introduce parole. Governor McDonnell could save billions over the long haul by returning Virginia corrections to a parole system with inmates being made eligible for early release based on performance in educational and vocational programs.


Think how enthusiastic an inmate would be to earn his GED if he was told “you become parole eligible with your degree”.


Every year around this time rumors run through prisons that “the Governors gonna bring back parole.” Perhaps this year, it won’t just be rumors.


III. “Man Down, Man Down”


The other afternoon our building called a medical emergency. As “Flo Rider” likes to shout out, we had a “man down”.


Briscoe, a gentle giant of a guy, was in the shower. His towel fell off the shelf. As he reached for it, he slipped and fell. Briscoe’s a big guy: 275 lbs. He hit with a “thud”. His head split open and he bled profusely.


Fortunately, within two minutes (a record for medical emergencies here), three COs and our new cute, young, blond nurse showed up with a wheelchair and emergency kit. As they stopped the bleeding and wheeled Briscoe down to medical, the nurse gently held his hand and said “hang on Mr. Briscoe. I’ll take care of you.”


Briscoe turned toward me and gave a big “thumbs up”. I started trying to figure out how I could slip and get the compassionate young nurse to hold my hand.


Briscoe’s back. His head is wrapped in a white bandage. He still has a huge smile on his face.


A final thought – the American Corrections Association will be here this week to evaluate the prison to see if this place operates as a prison within their standards. ACA’s certification matters to DOC. Funny thing is, you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. You can repaint buildings and press CO uniforms, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is still a prison. And prisons are dark, depressing, inhumane places and no certification can change that.