By Cory Matteson
Lincoln Journal Star
LINCOLN, Neb. — Three correctional officers who made comments on Facebook about using force against an inmate no longer work for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, the department said Thursday.
Director Robert Houston said he has no reason to believe criminal charges will be filed against former officers Caleb Bartels, Shawn Paulson and Derek Dickey, although he said that will be determined by the Lancaster County attorney’s office.
Staff did use force against an inmate at the Nebraska State Penitentiary on Feb. 8, Houston said.
Corrections policy directs staff to record when force is used with inmates and record instances that could lead to force even if they do not. A medical assessment and a statement from the inmate also are documented following a use of force. None of the information culled from those reports revealed abuse, he said.
“The Department of Correctional Services takes this matter very seriously,” Houston said in a news release. “Inappropriate actions by our staff or statements which could lead to dangerous situations in our prison system are not tolerated.”
The comments in question were posted on Bartels’ Facebook account. Comments in support of his actions appeared under the names of fellow penitentiary guards Paulson and Dickey.
“When you work in a prison a good day is getting to smash an inmates face into the ground....for me today was a VERY good day,” the Feb. 8 post on Bartels’ page said.
A post attributed to Dickey describes the incident as what happened after an inmate “didnt (sic) want to transfer to (the Lincoln Corrections Center) .... and he told the Caseworkers and the Unit Manager that he was gonna kick our (butts) if we tried to move him ...hahahaha.”
Other comments in the online conversation included “very satisfying isn’t it!!!,” and “hoho a fight?”
“That’s just not at all what the department’s about,” said Tammy Dirks, a former corrections officer, caseworker and chemical dependency treatment counselor who has worked at the Hastings Correctional Center, Nebraska Correctional Center for Women and Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.
Now, she works at Cornhusker Place in Lincoln and remains involved with the prison system in that role.
“This infuriates me and tarnishes the reputation of us all,” she said last month.
She said Thursday the comments made by the three former officers could change the dynamic of interaction between inmates and employees at the state pen.
That’s not the way she said she was taught to do her job.
“We’re supposed to be there modeling appropriate behavior,” she said.
Throughout her training, Dirks said, it was instilled in her and other corrections employees that incarceration is the punishment for an inmate. The first 2f weeks of her training in 1994 were devoted to inmates’ rights, she said.
Dirks named several supervisors who she said she would “never hesitate to put a loved one in their care.”
Houston said treating inmates with respect is still at the center of the department’s philosophy.
“Inmates are sentenced to the Department of Corrections as punishment, not for punishment,” he said. “They’ve been punished. There’s no further punishment to be carried out.”
Houston said Dirks’ sentiment reflects the responses he’s received from some of the departments’ 2,400 employees since the Facebook messages came to light.
He said staff have been disciplined in the past for not telling superiors what other staff members have done.
“We’re serious about being transparent and accountable for what we do,” Houston said.
Even the perception of abuse will not be tolerated, he said.
Copyright 2010 Lincoln Journal Star