2015 in Review: 3 major issues corrections professionals faced this year

Corrections underwent an interesting year in 2015. Due to several events, attention this year was focused on special management inmates, violation of professional boundaries, and dealing with minorities. These are critical to the safe management of inmates, the maintenance of security and the public trust, and enhancing positive interactions with inmates. There are several reasons for concerns.

First, the welfare of the inmates may be affected. Second, the way that some inmates and incidents are handled by correctional officers (COs) may result in security breaches and escapes. Third, the handling of these inmates may show either positive professionalism in the agency (or a lack thereof).

Special Populations
The first area is special populations. More training is needed in this area and the training currently provided can always be improved as more studies are conducted and information obtained on inmates that require special handling. These include such inmates as the mentally ill, suicidal inmates the elderly, transgender inmates and inmates housed in segregation units.

In 2015, several incidents made the news. In February, 2015 in Fairfax, Virginia, a 37-year-old mentally ill female jail inmate died following an emergency response team action to prepare her for transport to a neighboring jurisdiction. This was a tragedy for not only the inmate, but her family and the deputies involved. She was out of control and had to be restrained.

In an effort to gain compliance, a TASER was used. The cause of death was reported to be excited delirium. Efforts were made to save her life. But the bigger meaning is this: mentally ill inmates continue to be housed in our nation’s jails at an alarming rate. Local jails may as well put up a sign: Local Mental Hospital.

Accordingly, all jail officers who interact with inmates — whether it be booking, confinement, classification, programs, or anything else — should be trained in recognition of mental illness, how to interact and communicate with mentally ill inmates as well as referring the inmate to qualified staff for management.

Every CO wearing a uniform can be extra eyes and ears. A crucial part of training includes passing on of accurate information and an effective referral system to medical and mental health personnel. This training is crucial-supervisors may have to put up with short staffing and outlay funds to schedule officers and get mental health professionals to deliver the training. Another resource is enlisting the assistance of NAMI-the National Alliance for Mental Illness. It can provide speakers who are suffering from mental illness-but are managing it through counseling and medication. More law enforcement agencies are offering specialized training for dealing with the mentally ill, such as the CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) training.

Last July in Texas, a young African-American woman hung herself in a local jail using a garbage bag. Once again, ail suicide was thrust to the forefront. News media reports stated that mistakes were made in both booking and jailer observation. It was reported that signs of suicidal behavior were missed and she was not placed on suicide watch. It ignited protests and a lawsuit by her family has been filed with trial set to begin in January 2017. No grand jury indictments have been filed. However, the jail officers deserve a fair hearing and the facts need to be established. There should not be a rush to judgment. In a larger sense-jail suicides continue to be a problem.

Generally, suicide prevention is taught in basic jailor school. Then it is usually offered as an in service class that may be voluntarily attended by COs. In my view, it is time that it is regularly scheduled as an in service class and must be attended periodically-and I do not mean trainers rushing through an agency’s suicide prevention general order in five minutes during a roll call. That is not effective training- it is a ‘band aid’ approach. Looks good on a form-looks lousy in a civil court.

Another type of special population needs mentioning, namely inmates in segregation. First, there is a concern voiced by prison organizations and advocates for the mentally ill that prolonged segregation may be physically and mentally harmful. Humans are social creatures and activity and interaction with others are beneficial.

But some inmates are dangerous, uncooperative, and pose threats to both staff and other inmates. These must be segregated. As a former jail classification director, I encountered some inmates that I wanted to move back to general population if they improved their behavior. Some did-and some did not. Training is needed in the effects of prolonged segregation, how inmates can earn their way out of the ‘hole’ and how COs can positively interact with them.

Some agencies have modified their segregation policies to allow better due process and ways that an inmate can get off of segregation. This issue and the need for more training will both be around for a while. To the people that are pushing for the severe curtailment of segregation-before you opine, please tour your local jail. Take time to talk to COs-and understand the dangers of their jobs.

Professional Boundraies
The second area concerns violation of professional boundaries. With the escape early last summer of two convicted murderers from a New York prison, aided by a civilian employee, corrections took a ‘hit’ in its image. The female civilian employee who became romantically involved with the inmates aided their escape by smuggling contraband to them, including the materials they needed to break the perimeter. After a lengthy manhunt, one inmate was shot and killed, the other captured and the female civilian, after pleading guilty was sentenced to 2 and 1/3 to 7 years in prison, and fined almost $80,000. She did not show up at the rendezvous point for the two escapees, but the damage was done: she helped and they went on the run.

The bottom line is that in this age of PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act), statutes outlawing carnal knowledge of an inmate and studies of the inmate subculture, some COs and employees still fall victim to inmate manipulation. Clearly, corrections has to re double its efforts to train all employees having daily interaction with inmates in resisting manipulation.

Minority Inmates
The third area involves interaction with minority inmates. Police throughout our nation have been under a microscope due to the deaths of African-American males in Baltimore, Chicago, Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York. All occurred during encounters with the police and the cases are proceeding or have gone through our courts.

Everyone gets his or her day in court-including police, corrections, and law enforcement officers. Incidents like these ignite protests, and raise accusations against law enforcement of excessive force or unfair treatment. Combined with the illegal immigration problem we face, correctional supervisors and trainers would be well advised to come up with good training about interacting with minorities and illegal immigrants. Fair treatment, combined with a respect for basic for human dignity may result in several things: a professional image for corrections, ‘smooth’ shifts in the institution, and a credible defense against unfair accusations of negative treatment.

References
Associated Press/Fox News. (2015, August 4). Timeline of events in death of black woman found dead in Texas jail days after traffic stop. Foxnews.com. Retrieved from: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/04/timeline-events-in-death-black-woman-found-de...

Jouvenal, Justin. (2015, September 11). Inmate who died after encounter with Fairfax deputies: ‘You promised you wouldn’t kill me’. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/video-of-encounter-that-preceded-inmates-death-at-fairfax-jail...
www.mentalhealthcrisis.org/lawenforcement.html

Virtanen, Michael. (2015, November 6). $80,000 fine for NY prison escape. Burlington Free Press. Retrieved from: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2015/11/06/ex-guard-pay-prison-escape/75317370/