Lessons Learned - Is it overrated?

Basically speaking, much of a correctional officer’s world is based on personal experiences and the process of learning how to do or don’t do things you encounter while doing the job. The fact is that the concept of lessons learned is overrated and should be put into perspective by making sure there are five solid steps taken to ensure you don’t make the same mistakes again as before. Making mistakes can be the difference between winning and losing and the battle between good and bad things happening on the job.

The first thing we need to reduce or address is the temptation to become complacent. Being careless is a game changer and should be avoided at all costs. Officers need to think before they take action – analyze your options and depend on your training to calculate your risks. Time permitting, practicing patience by planning and thinking of the consequences gives you the “extra time” needed to make the right move or action. Using your intuitive skills helps as well as what you have been taught by others.

Never give up and never fear what you will run into when you already know the odds are stacked against you from the beginning as you are outnumbered and put at risk anytime you report for duty. Don’t think about throwing in the towel and stick to the plan to turn the odds around so you are safer when you work. Remember that quitting is not in your vocabulary so looking for new strategies and tactics is the alternative in this environment.

Working inside a prison takes a special person – thinking like an inmate can be an effective strategy and allows you to think in a preventive mode. Don’t leave yourself wide open for their manipulative and sometimes violent plans. Learn how to stay ahead of them by attention to detail and deciding your next step making it a defensive one if necessary keeping your opponents off balance.

Remember I said “think like an inmate” and not “act as an inmate.” One distinct advantage for an officer is to learn how to empathize and think in the shoes of the person do things so you can find alternatives or solutions to their or your problems. Being empathetic means asking good questions and engaging effective listening skills while you sort out the fact and take action.

Remember where you are at all times. Working this job will bring you good days and bad ones. Unfortunately you will also work with good staff and bad ones. How you make your choices or decision is based on your own ability to remain consistent and fair at all times. You will win some and lose some but what is most important is how you play the game. Remain respectful and relax (avoid taking on too much stress) as much as you can under the circumstances. Never lose focus on your responsibilities and control your emotions.

Avoid any negativity that may surround you or those you work with daily. Maintain your sense of humor and keep your mind clear. Avoid taking things personal and focus on being professional at all times. Your demeanor will determine your credibility and respect from others. Walking the talk is more than words, it is who you are.

The longer you work the more you learn and the more you learn the less mistakes you will make if you pay attention to the lessons learned and adapt or modify your strategies or tactics to improve the outcome of the last encounter and most of all, bring your learned experiences to the table and share them with others to avoid making miscalculations.

Correctional Officers – Working inside the Belly of Hell

Correctional Officers – Working inside the Belly of Hell

 

Not much has been said about working inside the penitentiaries. The press is unkind to those that walk this blue line. Not much talk among those that work there either. The silence is deafening as the work within the belly of this place is pure Hell and works on your brain like drugs cooks the human mind. Many have been able to separate their body from the mind or the temptation made upon their souls but in the end it always makes you think about what you do for a living and how it impacts your own life working among the demons cast into a pit of fire called Hell.

Neither a glorious job nor an appreciated one but regardless how the public perceives it, it is certainly a necessary job. Walking inside the belly of Hell takes a very special person as not too many volunteer to do such tasks with negativity and vehemence all around them. Whether a high school graduate, a military veteran or a college graduate they come from all walks of life to work inside the penitentiaries. Their journey begins at the bottom of the devil’s mouth and goes all the way down to the bottomless pit called Hell.

The stench is awful and the air is filled with a noxious gas as the environment is toxic and creates hate, greed, revenge as well as a Hellish blindness for justice for those that live there. This is a journey hardly ever talked about and although the pain inside this Hellish Hole is mainly mental, there is also the physical pain to keep the law in order and the place safe and secure. There are times where the presence of the Creator is absent and the stench of the devil is predominately influencing the actions of others to incite and create a fever of detestation.

The only sounds you will hear are echoes of pain and anguish that surrounds the walls twenty four hours a day and seven days a week without letting up on the madness. The bottom of the pit is no place to be if you are meek and weak. It is not for those that cannot walk alone among the thugs and murderers that live there and prey on every person that enters the pit. Although there is a lot of praying going on in there is little salvation or forgiveness of sins committed as their bones and flesh burn in this Hell Hole.

The power of darkness keeps the evil alive and drowns the spirit of man with pure Hellish hopelessness that the end of suffering will never come. It is not a world you want to be in nor is it a world you can understand unless you walk the beat of those that dare and face the devil in his hour of darkness. One cannot speak of revelations unless they have witnessed what Hell does to men. One cannot write a book or make a record of things unless they witnessed it with they own eyes and ears as your body is actually suspended in a state of animation and takes you to your journey in Hell.

Hell has many faces and consists of many things that others do not want to know about. The public turns their eyes and ears to another direction when the words are spoken and do not want to know the truth or even imagine what you will experience many times over walking this beat. You and your fellow officers will walk through Hell together but you will leave reality behind as no one follows you into the abyss of darkness.

You will never be praised for your courage but you will be condemned if you error your ways. Your soul will be tempted often and sometimes out of body while you do your job and your heart will leave at the gate when you enter the dark house of pain leaving all your senses behind and are comforted by the thoughts of those that share your journey through this house of pain.

 

 Although you should be afraid, you show no fear for these gateways to Hell makes you stronger and resilient in thought and contrary to expectations, you keep your stride as you walk the beat nobody else wants to travel without a gun or other weapon by their side. You took this job and knew your only comfort was your self-respect and assistance from others to do this job designed in Hell while separated from the rest of the world.

Some penitentiaries are above the ground and others lay far below the ground covered with steel and concrete to hide the sun and earth. You can recognize the peril as you travel the funnels that lead you through long solid corridors that echo your steps as you walk them alone.  These funnels have toxic air that spins the hate, the greed and the urges for revenge as you see only the things others will never see or experience in their lives.  Working inside these gateways to Hell is not for the meek and sorts out the weak as you learn to adapt and survive.

Some funnels resemble tunnels and some are shaped like the worm holes of time. Once you enter these portals there is only one way back out alive. Your mind starts to spin as you meet head on with the sin around you and spirits of the dead embedded in the walls that surround you. You hear the cries and screams of the past as you deal with the evilness and the greyness of the tunnels around you.

Once inside the belly of Hell you will see great sorrow, pathetic sadness and indiscriminate horror. You draw a deep breath and draw one step closer as you rely on yourself to give you strength and protection as you travel the gateways of Hell. Surely you recognize the humans that surround you as society’s castaways and demons with souls that rest in Hell.  The sounds of torment consume you as you shed off your feelings and avoid being taken by the spirits of Hell. You know they are everywhere as you can smell the evilness as a thick green horrible odor that covers the hallways with a stench like no other outside the gates of Hell.

So you walk the green mile over and over without a second thought of its perils and temptations. As an officer of the law you have seen the pits filled with fire and smoke everywhere there are signs of corrupted souls and caged burned skeletons of those of yesterday and never recovered. The red hot coals burn images in your mind as you fight off any temptation to start your own fires and rise up against the evilness around you.  You, just like the burned souls around you, can feel the flames as you walk among those that experienced excruciating pain for committing their crimes against the world. The difference is you get to leave this Hell Hole while those around you must stay there every day and every night.

Many will give Hell and the Devil years of their lives as they were sentenced and  committed by a court of justice to pay back to society their souls and retribution condemned by the righteousness of justice and society and the laws of the land.  You walk from cell to cell and can see many others suffering from great pain and the heat from Hell. Their bones and flesh are scorched and burned from the fire amongst them and their decaying flesh falls right off their bones. Worms and rats are common and depending where you live in Hell scorpions can be found along with other creatures that spew out evil and poison to crawl within you or bite you outside.

Last but not least you brave the lakes of fire covered with smoke as you deal with the cries of regret that surround you. As you pace yourself you come nearer as you can see these burning souls chained together and under the weight of criminality that brought them to this Hell Hole you work in. You are among the unbelievers. They are the lost souls of this earth you have chosen to protect while others chose not to deal with them at all. It is a thankless job and as you walk closer you realize that there are blurred lines that separate the good from the bad and that justice is vicious and unforgiving when thrown into the belly of fire and evil called Hell.

 

Corrections - the Ugly Truth about it

Nobody knows the trouble I have experienced or seen inside our public prisons. Nobody has walked in my shoes and felt the emotional pain, sorrow or regrets that cover my 25 years plus inside the penitentiaries. Although I truly believe it is human nature to try and forget these things that cause the emotional pain and bad memories, trying to forget is nearly impossible for those that have been exposed to the ugliness in their lives.

I guess it’s fair to say that not everything was in done in vain or without a just cause. It is human nature to take the good with the bad and remember the good times as well as those that triggered stress and anxiety while doing this job. Nothing takes away the pain but we must admit that every experience we witnessed or be a part of triggered another perspective on life and made us appreciate what we had rather than what has been lost. Regrets are not part of this equation.

Through the years there were rash decisions hinged on life and death and other influences that were based on nothing but reactionary self-defensive needs or panic.   Regardless, most of them were the right moves in keeping myself or others safe and that’s what really counts in the long run.

It is true that many decisions are made without much consultation or advice from others. You draw on your own experiences and gut feelings to do what you think is the right thing to do. Expecting to be second guessed almost immediately after each and every major decision made, you take the criticism with a grain of salt and hope the Monday morning quarterbacks see the same thing you did when you executed your plan or strategy to deal with the situations.

There will always be intense conversations and political discussions by your counterparts or bosses. Counsel or advice is plentiful and cheap in corrections and used as a common device to provide input to your actions as your decisions are viewed either favorably or harshly wrong as there appears to be no middle ground. The level of criticism depends on the source, the political implications while making these calls.

In corrections there is no perfect union between boss and subordinates. Everyone agrees to disagree and all are engaged in talking about the do’s and don’ts that are often preached but rarely followed up by real action or personal examples.  You are almost warned daily of your shortcomings and dysfunctional management styles as you are accused of creating a protective bubble around you to avoid being accused or harmed while in this harsh environment instead of focusing on business at all costs.

You are always in direct competition with the private sector that is bidding for beds and your indebtedness to your hire or your boss is exponentially divided between doing what is right and what morally questionable. Regardless whether you are seeking improvements or facing the challenging conditions heads up, you know that time is not on your side as time is of the essence to get the job done within the time line allowed.

Whether or not you are successful will impact your credibility as a resource or asset and the harder you work, the more the system will expect you to outperform the others. The one thing you can depend on is not getting any support in this process and be offered a political bailout for your efforts. Once your fill your coffee cup up to the brim there are no refills from anyone else but yourself.

 

 

Correctional Officers – Empathy in Psychopaths

Correctional Officers – Empathy in Psychopaths

 

Correctional employees need to take into consideration that working with psychopathic criminals takes some special management styles and security techniques in order to be an effective supervisor or manager. We must become aware how psychopaths process their minds to the environment and how they pose a significant threat to society as well as everyone inside a large jail or prison. Empathy is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another being. One may need to have a certain amount of empathy before being able to experience accurate sympathy or compassion.

Whether we want to admit it or not they are capable and more likely to inflict more harm or pain to you or anyone else than any other type of inmate you are working with inside the penitentiary. I suggest this includes the mentally ill persons. Take in consideration that research has revealed a significant pattern of behavior that diagnosed psychopaths have “reduced empathy” while witnessing the pains of others or while committing crimes. Research showed that although they can activate their empathic side of the mind, they chose not do so so “automatically” like many others do. Feeling what other feel. Empathy is the ability to not only detect what others feel but also to experience that emotion yourself.

This is very disturbing for the correctional officers and others as it predicts a pattern of behavior that might endanger them immediately upon confrontation of a problem and explain how some of these type of criminals engage in the excessive violent acts with some type of spontaneous action such as gang beatdowns that are ruthless and senseless in nature as well as technique as it is designed to inflict as much pain and harm humanly possible within a very short period of time hoping not to be caught in the act.  This also explains “why psychopathic individuals can be callous and socially cunning at the same time.”

This research of the brain conducted on these types of incarcerated psychopaths indicated there are reasonable chances they are more likely to hurt others much unlike those individuals that experience the feeling of empathy automatically. They are capable of inflicting more pain and harm therefore justifying a higher custody level for closer supervision of their behaviors or conduct. Hence we are dealing with a reduced level of empathy and a more spontaneous action that makes them volatile and unpredictable at times.

The research “At first, this seems to suggest that psychopathic criminals might hurt others more easily than we do, because they do not feel pain, when they see the pain of their victims. The brain data suggests, that by default, psychopathic individuals feel less empathy than others. If they try to empathize, however, they can switch to 'empathy mode” and perhaps be able to consider the other person’s feelings better.

The research goes on to say “There might be two sides to these findings. The darker side is that reduced spontaneous empathy together with a preserved capacity for empathy might be the cocktail that makes these individuals so callous when harming their victims and at the same time so socially cunning when they try to seduce their victims. Whether individuals with psychopathy autonomously switch their empathy mode on and off depending on the requirements of a social situation however remains to be established.” The other side may indicate that therapy could impact their ability to engage empathy and do so reducing their violent behaviors and reducing recidivism rates by self-control of their own emotions and actions.

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130724200412.htm?goback=%2Egde_2391527_member_271923541#%21

Debra Milke - Out on bail for retrial of death sentence murder case

Death row inmate freed

Correctional Officers - Judgment & Decision-Making

Correctional Officers - Judgment & Decision-Making

 

Most correctional officers are adequately prepared for the job and in most cases resilient in nature and disposition and do remarkably well under the circumstances of working inside a large jail or prison. However, we must all admit that stress does take its toll and one of their main challenges is to deal and manage stress while making good sound decisions and appropriately based judgment calls that keeps everyone safe and sound twenty four hours a day seven days a week.  

To be a good decision maker, we must first stabilize our emotional conduct and resist the natural negative impacts of stress. This requires self-awareness and self-care. Once this is achieved the mindset is much clearer and better in most cases to offer better decision making efforts and safer environments to work in most of the time. Therefore it is important to mention that a clear mind makes better decisions especially under duress.

Focusing on the fact that many officers and correctional employees are aware how to combat stress we should focus on better judgment and decision making processes and actions beyond the fair, firm and consistent concept taught in many law enforcement academies throughout the country. So it is favorable to start looking at quality of judgment and decision making in the corrections field. Whether or not the ability to measure judgment is reasonable or even possible we shall examine what constitutes good judgment and compare it with the job at hand as a correctional officer.

First off, correctional officers have an array of tools at his or her disposal besides their basic training. This includes post orders, institutional orders and agency directives or policies. It is a well-accepted practice that most decisions are based on such a foundations and requires little coaxing or motivation to stay on track with such guidance.

However, not every decision can be made out of a book or policy thus the individual must be capable of making independent judgment with independent criteria based on individual qualifications and standards to boost their basic foundation when trained or mentored by others. In addition there are firm emergency preparedness plans that need to be reviewed and learned to make critical decisions under stressful situations.

Using a basic skill such as a situational awareness assessment, one can expect a number of different decisions for different situations. This fact has long been established over time and through practical experience and time. Regardless, correctional officers need to realize that whatever decision they make it will have a significant impact on the situational outcome and lessons learned from taking such actions.

 In corrections there are blurred boundaries that are often misread or in some cases unrecognized at the time of the assessment. Thus theoretically, officers must learn how to approach each problem and evaluate and analyze things quickly in order to determine the correct approach to the problem and be put at risk that they do not have all the information needed to make a good decision.

This is quite complex in nature and often neglected in training line staff to prepare them for command decision positions. First we must recognize that judgment and decision making are intimately linked but are two separate concepts requiring separate processing. The process demands separate cognitive demand and pose distinct challenges in order to

Judgment is an assessment tool that allows alternatives between choices suggested in the problem solving process. It takes into consideration a continuum of different aspects that are based about a person, an object or a situation. Hence the final result based on judgment is an overall evaluation based on factors provided or given for each person, object or situation.

Decision making is determined to be a choice between alternatives and determines a specific response to a persons, object or situation. Herein because there are consequences for such a decision and accountability why such a decision was made in the first place it is important to distinguish the difference between these two concepts.

When it is all said and done, a correctional officer relies on the quality of judgment to do the job properly. This requires an analysis for accuracy and review the quality of facts gathered or provided and then encompass those established guidelines provided for such a condition. This leaves little wiggle room in the level of accuracy or for taking incorrect or deviating practices to make it come together as a valid evaluation that can be resolved satisfactorily.

So what makes a decision a good decision you have to ask? Working in such a complex environment that is influenced by many uncertainties the best decisions are those that yield the best results, conditions or consequences for achieving a safe and secure environment. However, one must take into account such results could in fact have come about by chance and not because of a thorough evaluation of the process involved. Some may call it luck but others call it a calculated guess for making the “best” decision at the time.

Regardless good decision-making involves using your training, your experience, the laws of logic and probability along with common sense. Keeping it rational and determining the probability of the outcome is a common approach and should keep in mind that the optimum decision may be ideal for one situation or person but not in other situations or persons. In other words, evaluating the outcome should include comparing options or decision how to resolve it taking into consideration of all the facts before finalizing a decision. 

However, what is reasonable for one person may not apply for another person. One decision maker can be of average experience while the other may be relatively better experienced and determine which strategy is better based on the examination of the problem and comparing possible outcomes with various strategies while in the end looking at tradeoffs or compromising factors.  

Regardless the process should include the goals, the consequences, and the relative value of outcomes of different approaches or options. This would logically be considered a good decision making process that takes much into consideration before the final decision is reached.

Therefore, here we have to caution the decision maker not to rely on ‘lessons learned” in the past as the factors may not be identical or duplicated creating a different outcome possibility and flawing the process. This is where the judgment comes into play and create a need to assess and decide the outcomes through comparisons and some level of consensus, peer acknowledgment and or evaluation and the appropriateness of the action proposed to be taken with the challenge to take the ultimate or best decisions for each problem or call to make.

Henceforward in a correctional setting one must be cautioned and be made aware that such evaluations if taken as a routine matter could reveal a degree of predictable or anticipated course of action of the proposed action and would be to the benefit of controversy as how well the inmates know the decision will be made ahead of time and how consistently these facts gathered are applied with the individual’s knowledge base creating a pre-determined response to a problem.

In other words, specifically in a critical or crisis situation, there should be room made for actions or decisions made by  the antagonistic group and that it is a strong possibility that they will make tactical or strategically implied assumptions that whatever decision is made, formulated and finalized within a hostile situation or environment the method [solution] chosen could fall into the hands of the inmates and thus the response is compromised even when following the process but failing to compare potential outcomes and consequences laid on the table beforehand.

Like it was mentioned and said in the beginning of this article, working inside a prison has many uncertainties and planning a situational assessment using judgment and decision-making tools should be done with caution and with some level of expertise and experience as well as taking the time to conduct peer assessments [for consensus] and share evaluation materials before finalizing the resolution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A cup of Coffee in Corrections - or anywhere else for that matter ~

A Cup of Coffee in Corrections

 

First of all not everybody drinks coffee so you must make a rule that if you don’t care for coffee, it is likely you have another favorite drink whether it is tea, bottled water or an energy drink but regardless what it only matters that you can apply this “coffee or drink” as a metaphor to what is about to be explained to you as a correctional supervisor or mid-level manager working in a high stress place like a large jail or prison. 

One has to wonder what a cup of coffee has in common with working in field of corrections and prison work. It has everything in common. One might say there is a direct relationship between a cup of coffee, its contents and its purpose. If you look at it from another point of view and be open minded enough to see the benefits within the drink. Prison work is not rocket science profession as everything you are taught lays out the foundation of the job and only requires you to take in a few simple things that will make your job easier and safer. Having said that let’s get down to having a cup of coffee and relax a little to understand how it helps you get the work done.

First of all a cup of coffee represents the respect you and your employees deserve while doing this most danger job within the criminal justice system.  You may want to discuss your business matters in your proper setting using mutual respect issues and common sense so you can learn something from someone else. Listen and really listen to the other person. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open as you look for useful information from your employee. As you become aware of crucial concerns, you are able to motivate your employees to participate in problem solving and manage the issues effectively. In return for such deliberate attention towards your staff you will be rewarded with a mutual level of respect that is earned by the manner you do your job.

Along with respect comes a cup of motivation as the two come together and makes it work out like a little bit of magic in the air. When you treat your employees like adults there are benefits and gives them the confidence they can handle the truths of the job. Trying to shelter them with lies only backfires and serves no other person but hurting them in the long run as they are never really protected from the workplace where issues are harsh realities of the job itself and the potential dangers that lurk around every corner. 

Yes, you can use the coffee cup metaphor as a management and motivation tool. Having a “cup of coffee” with your staff gives you the opportunity to sit down, listen and learn with them. Your conversation with your personnel over coffee can be a powerful employee motivational tool. You can gain valuable information about yourself, your staff, the company and your workplace culture as you share coffee or the time to get to know each other better.

That leads you to the cup of time and wisdom for managing our resources and employees effectively. Meetings are great for those that have the time to do them but working alongside while on the job gives employees a feeling of worth and value that is more important when it is shared with respect and motivation. Showing you are never too busy to work side by side can do more to maximize your effectiveness than anything else in the leadership manual. It gives you a rare opportunity to walk the walk and talk the talk that is so important for credibility.

You can never make up for lost time but you can schedule quality time with your staff just by taking a few minutes out of your busy schedule and taking your employee out for a cup of coffee. Simply said, buy a soft drink or a cup of coffee for the person you are meeting and sit at a table and talk. Set aside the phones or cellphones at the moment and enjoy the moment of opportunity to get to know your staff.

Frank Smith speaks out on Charles McCluskey Murder Trial in Albuquerque

This case is a poster child for why inmates shouldn't be sent to for-profit prisons.
Management and Training Corporation (MTC) understaffed this Kingman prison with employees being, according to the warden, "80% new or newly promoted."

It was built on the cheap by Dominion of Edmund, OK, and like most or all of their speculative prisons, was grossly substandard. The state claimed it would only send minimum security offenders there, mostly those doing short terms for drunk driving offenses.

The alarms hadn't worked properly in years, some seven yard lights were burnt out, staff had no control over inmate identification and basic security procedures.

It happened because state regulators were uninterested in professional operation.

It grossly failed to oversee its operations and sent hordes of inappropriate prisoners to a place that could never expect to hold them securely. This included many lifers incarcerated for homicides, escape risks, members of security threat groups (STGs) such as neo-Nazis, and those with parole holds from other states.

As long as the campaign contributions kept rolling in, supposedly conservative legislators, executives and bureaucrats championed the nonexistent "savings" they provided. As long as the revolving door spun at a dizzying pace, no department of corrections official was likely to insist on delivery of anything remotely near the level and quality of contract performance that the state required.

Not that long afterward, Arizona did a research study that estimated that contract prisons cost the state 16% more, per prisoner, than did professionally managed state prisons handling matched populations.

On the evening of July 30th, 2010, the chickens came home to roost.

Three long-term inmates broke out with the assistance of the ringleader's girl friend, who reconnoitered the prison, then drove to its rear after sundown and threw small bolt cutters and other tools to breach the fence, as well as bags of pistols.

She had been arrested not two months earlier, for bringing drugs and other contraband into the prison. However, the Mohave County sheriffs offered her a deal: She could give up her suppliers, whom they said she claimed were neo-Nazis, and they would let her go free.

Of course, had she followed through, her fiancée would have been targeted after he got out of solitary for being on the receiving end of the smuggling.

On the fateful night, she had forgotten where she had parked the ringleader's Chevy Blazer, out there in the desert, so the four split up to search for it. One, Daniel Renwick, who was doing 44 years for a particularly cruel robbery-murder, quickly found the SUV and absconded with it, abandoning his confederates in the desert.

The accomplice and other two, John "Charlie" McCluskey, who was doing two 15-year sentences for attempted murders and who was a white supremacist, and Tracy Province, who was doing life for two murders, began walking through the desert like Moses, looking for a vehicle to steal or hijack.

It took over 100 minutes for the staff to discover the inmates missing from their dorm, but they weren't sure who was gone. Instead of reporting the escape to outside law enforcement and the Department of Corrections, they fiddled around, looking for them for another hour. Their motorized guard who had been making regular rounds, somehow repeatedly missed the huge hole in the outside perimeter's single fence.

The fugitives had by then walked miles before a helicopter showed to try to locate them in the sparsely vegetated desert. Unfortunately, it was operated as incompetently as the prison, and just circled the prison in tight circles, far from the escapees' location.

At last they arrived at an eastbound 18-wheeler that had stopped for a brake check miles south of Kingman at an I-40 exit. They took its East Indian drivers with them and drove to Flagstaff, stopping to call for assistance from friends and relatives along the way. Eventually, the ringleader's ex-wife agreed to pick them up and drove to meet them in Flagstaff.

At that location, they waited for their ride and the drivers agreed to wait 15 minutes after it arrived before sounding an alarm. They had taken $60 from one and $40 from the other, but rejected more, leaving each with more than half their cash.

McCluskey even turned down an offer by the owner/operator to go to an ATM to furnish them with more money.

The ex-wife dropped them off after stopping in Payson, then went on to Mesa. There they got another car and took off for a hideout in Southeast Arizona, only to find it occupied. They continued on toward their destination, Gentry, Arkansas, stealing a license plate from a car in Moriarity, New Mexico, on their way east.
Unbeknownst to them, their fellow escapee who stole the getaway car, had gotten into a shootout with a Garfield County sheriff's deputy and City of Rifle police, and spilled the beans on his erstwhile companions.
He is now doing 60 years for that shootout, at Colorado taxpayers' expense.
The three remaining fugitives heard news of his capture and squealing on them on the radio as they were going through Texas. Knowing their plans had been revealed, they quickly reversed direction. When they arrived at the New Mexico I-40 welcome station, they picked up maps and then noticed a couple who were pulling an RV with a crew cab pickup. They approached them and warned the driver not to go for one of his many handguns that was within reach.
That, unfortunately, sealed the fate of the hapless couple who were kidnapped.

Now a two-car convoy, they continued, going west toward Santa Rosa, when they were ordered to pull off on a frontage road. They were forced back into their trailer, allegedly by the ringleader, while the lifer drove the pickup and his girl friend followed in the beat up grey sedan they had bought in Arizona.

According to his indictment, the ringleader shot the couple, then when the truck stopped for gas, they noticed that the victims' blood was pouring out of the trailer onto the ground. They sped off, then exited to an unpaved country road, where the trailer was unhitched, splashed with liquor and set afire.

Eventually, the lifer, intent on suicide, changed his mind, going to a church in Meetetse, Wyoming and singing with the congregation. The minister gave him a jacket and $40 for mowing the church lawn, and he cadged a
motel room floor to spend the night. The next morning, after a church member saw his picture on TV news and called police, he was captured while hitchhiking to Casper.
The fleeing couple had already gone on to Billings, Montana, then to Gentry, Arkansas, a week later. There they held up a beauty salon, but thanks to law enforcement dithering, the pair continued on their nationwide flight.

A week after that, they were spotted by an alert forest service employee at a campground and a swat team descended upon them to capture the pair.

Now the federal government is prosecuting the ringleader, hoping to get a death penalty conviction from a jury that will have to endure a four month trial. Federal, Arizona and New Mexican taxpayers will be footing the bill for millions for this search, apprehension, Arizona and New Mexico trials, and continued imprisonment.

McCluskey, being 48 years old, suicidal and in poor health, is not likely to ever be executed. There have only been three federal executions in the last 50 years and three Virginians have been on death row for over 20 years. Appeals of death sentences cost the public fortunes.

If McCluskey makes it that far, he will join Sherman Lamont Fields, who promised a bribe to a Texas for-profit prison guard in exchange for a key to his prison, escaped and promptly kidnapped and murdered his ex-girl friend.

The U.S. Attorney who decided to seek the death penalty, Kenneth J. Gonzales, was perhaps awarded a federal judgeship for this sort of grandstanding, and was sworn in last week.

Unfortunately, no one seems to be really talking about the whole picture.

Somewhere, just as they did in Kansas five to ten years ago, corrupt officials are no doubt meeting with industry executives and cooking up more plans to expand their leaky, for-profit American gulag.

Who will tell the people?

Working with Fear - Earning Respect

When we engage in a profession such as law enforcement or public safety we agreed to work with fear. Seeing how fear impacts our practical ability to work day in and out in such a vulturine setting we must see or manage to find ways to control or fear around us so we can focus on those this that we are tasked to do. Fundamentally speaking we can’t let fear run or ruin our lives or how we do our jobs. We must be motivated to overcome the feeling of fear and minimize its effects of anxiety, stress, worry or distrust. Fear is real in many cases. It is built-in in the job we signed onto do. What we need to do as correctional officers is identify its debilitating effects and keep them from inhibiting us. We have to approach fear directly and at least stun those influences it creates so we can deal with what it is we fear while on or off duty.

Our job as penal practitioners is to meet the challenges what are in front of us inside large jails or prisons without complications. We have to learn how to react according to our training and experience and set aside or minimize the fear of harm, failure or even guilt for doing a most difficult job under difficult conditions. The more we accept fear as being a natural part of our job the stronger we get. However, in doing so, we must make sure we have the right mindset, tools and approach to do this safely and effectively.

Certainly I am not proposing you meet fear directly in a reckless manner especially when it may be dangerous to do so or too overwhelming to conquer. What we need to do is fight the fear with calmness and understanding that it can be controlled through the mind if you allow the mind to engage with each deep breath you take conditioning your calmness along the way. The calmer you are, the less fear you have. Remaining calm will keep you from becoming controlled by the grips of fear. The calmer you are the more fear loses it power over you. It should not be your intention to get rid of your fear but rather to subdue it to a point of self-control and explore it and understand it better. Seeking such resolution creates a practice that brings confidence to the forefront and lessens the emotions associated with fear such as anger, embarrassment, dissuasion or guilt.  Hence we reduce the dominance of fear within ourselves that allows us to function near normal in getting things done.

The symptoms of fear are common. There may be butterflies or twisted pain in the stomach feelings, sweating or rapid breathing along with a sense of vulnerability to pain or other emotional sensations. The main thing is to focus on your ability to remain calm and breathe deep while undergoing the discomfort fear brings to you and your body. Much of the tension, tightness and constriction will begin to unravel as you control your self-awareness through self-control.

Certain kinds of wisdom arise only through seeing something happen repeatedly. Commonly referred to as lessons learned we often have to become very familiar with something in order to be free of fear. I found this to be the case with worrying as I seem to worry more about something or someone when I saw others around me worry validating my own fear through the eyes and thoughts of others. Had I questioned their fear I would have taken some power away from my own fear as I realized that it may have been worrisome at one point but not all the time.

Go back and investigate the fear when things are passive around you and reflect what has happened or occurred and validate its origin or significance. Trust develops, not from willing ourselves to trust, but from discovering for ourselves that we can learn our experience and not over- whelmed by it. If you investigate fear you will reduce it.

Source: https://www.myptsd.com/c/threads/working-with-fear.13790/

The New Orange – Not Working Well

There are major differences between the convict of yesterday and the inmate of today. Dressed in the new orange these new type of offenders are not a fraction of the kind of convict prisoners were in the days of past when a man would work for a day’s pay and no handouts. It is with high certainty that there were cookie cutter convicts back then as they all had their own personalities and their own characteristics but back then, even crooks had honor.

Today’s prisoners are apples and oranges compared to the past and come with multiple personalities, characteristics, habits and mandates that makes treatment most complicated and diverse as some hang onto their own culture to show them the ways to live in their own distinct politically and socially impacted world and backgrounds even if it is in conflict with their current placement or prison setting. It is likely that the old orange had these same issues but kept them under control and dealt with them in their own ways instead of being a burden to those around them. Each had their own self pride and esteem to take care of business the way we call ‘old school’ and that was up personal and close yet confidential and private.

First of is to denote the differences in the penology theories there is a significant difference between old style rehabilitation and the new version of rehabilitation.  The old way every prisoner underwent into cookie cutter programs and whether they needed it or not, it was determined to be beneficial for them to be educated and worn out at the end of the day for working a job that was manual labor and considered hard labor even on chain gangs. Here there were no cultural divides or territories.  Everybody worked and pulled their weight.

Prison wardens had three easy choices, educate them, work them or let them sit idle and do nothing. Most wardens made sure that the prisoner engaged in at least two out of three with idleness being the least option in the book. A weary or worn out prisoner is a well behaved individual and keeps the peace much easier than those that do nothing all day thinking about how they can disrupt their world.

Today’s rehabilitative programs offer so many different programs that the list is too extensive to list. The fact is if they weren’t court ordered most of them were optional in nature thus often not offered or available. This includes substance abuse programs and other treatment programs that gives them a chance to quit an addiction or manage their anger more constructively and stay out of trouble in the future. Programs are selected like one was in college and if it’s one thing a prison isn’t is a campus or college driven environment.

The old system focused on self-esteem and character traits that counted and provided a person with good moral guidance and ethics to change their ways. The new system ignores the inner self and focuses on rethinking and retraining behavioral issues rather than morality of their character. The new style is holistic in nature and departs from the old style of faulty thinking and worthiness.

Contrary to the new whole person concepts taught, there is a distinct conflict between the two teaching styles for the new orange prisoners are given options in their sentences that were never offered before and allows them to balk at the project to stay busy and learn something.

Many are lazy and take no initiative to attend school or classes for self-improvement unless made to do so by court order or mandatory rules of classification and treatment plans. Rehabilitation only works if the person is receptive to the concept and work to change. Changing behaviors and not the person is a difficult approach. When I compare the two styles it is my opinion that the old style was more practical and more applicable than the new approach of trying to change the persons.

Everyone knows sociopaths can’t be treated and remain to be one of the most rapidly growing populations which are unpredictable and volatile while housed inside our jails and prisons. Thus these type of individuals require a stern hand and structured behavioral modification approach that builds incentive for good thinking and takes away incentives for bad thinking patterns.

The other rapidly growing population are the mentally ill and treatment programs for them are severely limited as well. Since psychotropic medication is very expensive and mental health providers are scarce and untrained in the prison setting, there are many challenges facing this group of new orange that are under the influence of a psychotic breakdown or mental illness diagnosis.

The old types of programs are no longer accepted because they do not cause the person participating to believe they are faulty but rather their behavior is faulty. It is the way of the new that has stifled the practices of the old. The new orange does nothing in the way of making people attend programs or school.

There are too many loopholes that keeps this from being enforced.  Participation is the only way rehabilitation has a chance at working so I believe the changes are not good and unnecessary and under the new rules, participation is rarely mandatory like in the old days. It is up to the prison administrators to ensure the new orange carries out their own self-improvement programs and attend treatment that would benefit them greatly.

The sad part is that today’s administration is just as lazy and weak as the new orange regime. They have no empathy of the setting and take no ownership in how well it is being run and administered. They rely on others less skilled or trained to their dirty work and are fast to point blame when things go wrong and quick to take the credit when something goes right.

They think they are an army of one and do nothing to help or support the correctional counselor or officers in their jobs and stand by to criticize them readily and never once ready to praise them when they do their jobs like they are supposed to and without any fanfare.

Many are college graduates that have never worked inside a prison before applying for the management positions. They are good at counting beans but lack the skill to manage people. They have no loyalty to the workforce and communicate in terms that are difficult to understand as they are often given without preparation or explanation of goals or objectives desired with a mission statement or strategy provided.

 

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Trust me

How many times have you heard this expression and make you either feel at ease or very uncomfortable. These two words can mean so much to some and taken for granted by others. The meaning of “trust me” goes deeper than most realize and should be taken with a grain of salt or pessimism as it does not always mean what it says.

Today we use abuse this word way too much. We say “trust me” like it’s a common word that we all understand and know what it means. In all reality what is trust? Trust is something of value and dependability.  Trusting someone is relinquishing control over something or someone and providing yourself with the predictability that everything is fine and things are under control and done in the manner or expectation or responsibilities implied. Although rarely seen in this light, trust is an emotion. It conveys feelings that are suitable for openness and willingness to expose yourself to vulnerabilities that others may take advantage of if given to the wrong person.

Trust is given by being logical about your decision making and choices in life. When you trust someone there is always a risk involved but based on your emotional bonds and your common sense that tells you have made a good decision it takes in considerations of probabilistic elements that tells you that there will be something positive come about on this decision and give you a level of confidence you can deal with ease.

Basically speaking most people can feel trust when they associate it with special persons such as family, friends or other companions in their lives. Associated with this feeling of predictability and comfort are satisfied feelings that reflect agreement, relaxation and comfort with the act of finding someone or something trustworthy of your confidence.

Life has taught two things for certain. The greatest average rate of risk is 50 per cent in most cases. It is either a good or bad decision or it is either a reasonable or unreasonable decision. It will either work out as planned or it will not. This is where predictability is measured based on how you think situations will occur or be resolved. Knowing who to trust or what to trust plays into this factor as you exchange information you have about your family, friends or other persons who you have placed a level of trust in. Anything less than 50 per cent is just a poor choice made if you have insight on what other people will do and how they will handle a situation when it occurs.

Last but not least is the exchange value of trust. In a relationship one expects love in return for trust. In a business relationship one expects loyalty in return for trust and in in business matters we expect a principle at work where you trust you get your money’s worth for the price paid.

Therefore trust is a perpetual feeling or emotion that goes with the mood or emotion of the moment as well as the sensibility in making good choices based on experiences to not fully knowing what has value and how much value it contains but are willing to take the chance that it is what you expect it to be or claimed to be. Trust now becomes particularly important, because otherwise we are giving something for nothing.

When we trust other people, we may not only be giving them something in hope of getting something else back in the future but we may also be exposing ourselves in a way that they can take advantage of our vulnerabilities known commonly as being “burned” by another person who you should not have trusted to begin with. Hence lessons learned are valuable assets in making such decisions in life and the workplace. 

Trust should be used sparingly and with wisdom. Once someone has failed your expectations and trust they should hold no more value at the same level as before to you and that broken relationship brings a lack of understanding that goes deeper than the surface for it impacts respect, love and dependability thus establishing the other person as someone unworthy of being reliable and having value in your life.

Corrections – a House of Cards

It is becoming clear by the chain of events that have occurred since the beginning of 2009 the Arizona Department of Corrections has been on a slippery slope resembling a house of cards that has been identified to have a flimsy and instable structure and a very fragile internal arrangement of management that is undependable and ineffectively put together that is definitely in danger of collapsing or failing public safety and the safety of those employees that work there.

Without targeting or identifying any specific position or person it is fair to say that its entire performance records has demonstrated ill and poor prison management principles that have cost the state taxpayers excessive amount of money due to its inability to control prison bed growth and its lack of using and implementing innovative sentencing alternatives within the community.

Applying the funds provided by the legislature that total well beyond the sum of one billion dollars and with the realization that the prison population has not grown in the past year and more plans are in place to expand beds, it would behoove the agency to re-allocate some of those funds and fix these systems that are barely kept together with a thread of hope that they don’t break down completely. Realistic assessments of the DOC will reveal weak infrastructure in many of their systems that have been neglected now for years. Specifically we need to address funding and attention to the following systems:

·         Information network system

·         Inmate classification system

·         Security perimeter alarm system

·         Fire alarms system

·         Staffing pattern and deployment system

·         Personnel retention system

·         Preventive maintenance system

There are many other sub-structured systems that are impaired or fragmented but essentially, these are the core systems that provide the public safety for our citizens. The fact of the matter surrounding such weaknesses is the necessity to fund restoration programs and prioritize capital layout funds to address these immediately if Arizona public safety is going to be taken serious. The reason for such dereliction is the lack of financial and administrative attention paid to these systems and the lack of funds directed at these important functions that keep the prison system as a whole accountable and secure in its mission.

Lawmakers should immediately draw up a plan and ask the current administration a preventive maintenance plan that will avoid a systematic failure or partial shutdown of essential operational elements in the near future that may cause the entire prison operation to be interrupted and have a cause and effect that could impact the safety of the public, the safety of the employees and inmates and the safety of visitors that enter these facilities on a regular basis.

Using the house of cards metaphor should illustrate vulnerability that exists today after years of neglect. Small house of cards are easy to rebuild but when a large house of cards fails, removing one card could make everything collapse. There is too much interdependency on these systems to risk such failure with such various individual systems. The large house of cards where the independent systems form above, are at the bottom and the integration layers are built on top. Here we also need reassurances to repair as you can see one card being removed and where the house of cards have collapsed.

Recovery Matters

Everybody needs to recover they life at one time or another. Every person has a different recovery to make. Some have lost relationships, some their health and some their confidence in themselves or others. The fact you have recovered yourself matters. It matters so much that one has to dwell on its importance in order to understand the concept completely.  Whatever it was you had lost is always there to reclaim unless you are not aware of what it was you have lost. Recovery is more than just rebounding or reconnecting with yourself or others. It’s about identifying what you are made of and what you can or cannot handle in life.

 It’s about survival and the ability to overcome and adapt on matters close to you and important to you as well. It’s about healing the mind, body and spirit back to the point where it can again endure life’s pressures and stressors while effectively deal with the stimulus that causes such stress around you.

Thinking about the process we must determine it what we believe to be a recovery process is fact or fiction. Is it the truth in regards to plausible evidence or is it with utter suspicions that it may not be possible at all? Is there a reality involved or is it just a perception. Are we interpreting things like we want them to be or how they actually are? The answer is to look at every angle and determine just how effectively we can recover what we lost and how much we got back from our efforts to attain such a reclamation process successfully.

The act of recovery is an action needed to restore a balance of systems within your body, your mind and your spirit. What happens if you don’t do this right? One can apply even more stress than there was before you started this journey to recovery. Failing to identify your goals and your purposes is detrimental to your success and may make your recovery only partial which may impact your confidence or realization.

One must be cognizant that if one is to completely recover, one has to replace the energy and effort spent during this process with added efforts and energy than ever before in your life. Doing it wrong will cause a breakdown either psychologically or physiologically and create more stress and anxiety thus there is a certain determination level of commitment that must be made before you being the process.

You must be prepared to be worn down, exposed to other risks or injuries and replace what you lost with more sweat and tears. Your mind should be focused on your resilience towards adversity, your need to rehydrate your body and in all cases, protect your immunity to other influences or powers that can impact your strength politically, physically and psychologically. Thus you must bring about an attitude that nothing is going to deter you of reaching your goals and nothing will stop you until your work is done completing this challenge to recover whatever you may have lost.

The more of a recovery you make, the better you will feel. Don’t be fooled by false securities or sensations and quit or lower your energy prematurely. Resist the temptation to ease off and keep the pressure on yourself to keep on going. The more you recover the further the gains made. Being productive and vigorous is the key to success. Try not to compensate for the pain but endure it. There must be pain associated with the recovery. It keeps your mind focused on why you are doing this to begin with and keeps you from slowing down or stopping completely short of your goals.

Trust yourself and trust your instincts to stay on track. You will reap the rewards as your recovery gains the momentum you know you can attain and soars you to your desired level of your plan. Become a believer and strengthen your confidence to accomplish anything you set out to do even when you may have lost that strength for a moment in your life but you decided to fight and get it back. In the end you will be stronger, smarter, more balanced and effectually healed to face the world with the energy and spirit that brought you success.