PROFESSIONALS RESPOND TO CONFLICTS

Don't worry. This is not a hate letter nor will I put great effort into an articulate, provocative response. Unfortunately, You know very little about prison dynamics and its staff and inmates. Officer Lathrem (The proper term is correctional officer and not guard. Your usage of that pejorative hinders your credibility) was loved by the inmates. The perp also killed an inmate, and critically injured another inmate, defending her. The perpetrating inmate was a convicted, first degree murder.

Too bad you couldn't wear the brown uniform for a day and put in charge of 240-inmates by yourself. Maybe then you can experience the self-centered demands of 240 convicted felons and feel the heat of an administration that expects you to have them behaving like West point Cadets. Corruption goes right up to the White House, so lets not single out correctional officers.

I agree that the pendulum has swung way to far to the right after the permissive, soft-on-crime, Sixties and Early Seventies. Nevertheless, that's a different issue that deals with a whole new set of bureaucracy and officials.

It was just pointed out to me that in the letter I sent out last night, "No More Money for Band-Aids", my common sense message that money won't fix the department's problems was overshadowed by my use of the word 'guard'.

My critic was right: Unless the reader already knows my philosophy, it did sound as though I was putting all employees of the Department of 'Corrections' into the derogatory category of 'guards', which is something I would never want to do, knowing as many C/Os as I do. I only gave one clue in the entire email that I was referring specifically to bad employees:

"If the DOC got rid of them [guards] or got them in line, I'd be glad to push for a pay raise for those professionals who really do go to work every morning in a prison to do his job 'by the book'."

I'm sure others will have missed my one sentence differentiation so I want to clarify that I know there are MAJOR differences in guards and C/Os:

To clarify my use of these terms, I refer you to the opening page of my MTWT site, where I explain:

*In any of my work, "Cops" refers to irresponsible and/or immoral police officers, just as "guard" refers to the same breed of "Correctional" Officers. I have the utmost respect for people who do these difficult jobs in a professional manner, always remembering that they are dealing with human beings. In fact MTWT's Gold Star Award is given throughout the site for employees of the department who show professionalism above the norm to those who nominate them."

Again, on the MTWT INDEX OF GUARDS & 'CORRECTIONAL' OFFICERS at https://www.angelfire.com/fl4/prison/guard.html , I explain:

"NOTE: I put quotation marks around 'Correctional', not because the officer in question is not a real C/O, but because it is not the proper word when no corrections or rehabilitation is happening. That is the fault of the mass incarceration of the drug war, bad leadership in the state of Florida, and most especially, those who deny reform is needed.
The issue in question here is: Although the DOC denies it, there are two kinds of people in their employment: There are real 'Correctional' Officers and there are guards. The questions is, How Do You Tell The Difference?"

I apologize to the many 'Correctional' Officers for not making myself clear. I have great respect for C/Os who are doing a difficult job to the best of their ability. Many of them help me in my work. Because of them, I know the job CAN be done properly. Getting rid of guards would make the C/Os job - and mine - much easier.

Kay Lee

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Thank you for your reply. I guess you can figure out that I am a Correctional Officer. A good book to read that might give you an understanding of the job is NEW JACK: Guarding Sing Sing. I forget the name of the author. [Ted Conover] The book is written by a professional journalist who worked as a correctional officer for a year.

Another dynamic of the job is inmate demands. You mentioned ignoring inmates who ask for toilet paper. In all honesty, [some] inmates tend to be extremely rude-- often childlike in their ill manners. Imagine working as the only waitress in a restaurant with 240-customers. Now imagine each customer shouting "Give me." (I'm not going to mention that some of the 240-customers would kill you without compunction)

I always give the inmate his roll of toilet paper, inmate request form, callout form, over-the-counter medication, pass to the law library, pass to medical or any one of nearly a hundred things that they are entitled to on demand. Except that I insist that they first say "Please." An Officer

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You mentioned rehabilitation. Four theories of corrections exist: rehabilitation, retribution, deterrence, and containment. Presently, the Florida system is based on containment. A judge decides that a defendant is unfit to live in free society so he has the DOC warehouse that person.

You are correct. Too few programs and rehabilitory opportunities exist for inmates. Also, administrative paranoia is rife: the reasoning for limiting or banning body building, boxing, baseball, or work shops. You also have external politics. Many in the public are fed-up with crime and want for the system to make inmate lives miserable.

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Unquestionably, many "guards" see themselves as punishers, others are control freaks. Those individuals clearly need weeding out. Working the prison beat is rife with temptations. Some "guards" are venal and corrupt. Others are merely weak and vulnerable. The pay is low. I won't even get into the dynamics of throwing a male into a house full of sex starved female inmates.

An Officer

To give you some feedback based on over five-years of full time work in the Florida Prison system. Turnover rates terrifically high and staffing is highly unstable. Owing to the low pay, many officers take the job as a gateway to the law enforcement profession. Many are only biding their time until a police force or higher paying corrections department (County or Federal) will hire them.

Others hate the uncomfortable work environment. We are locked up with the inmates. For our 40-hour week we endure the drab gray concrete walls, the specter of razor wire, and the brutal temperatures. Many front line officers feel that the inmate dorms need air conditioning. Unfortunately, that is more a political issue.

Much of the public want the inmates to be uncomfortable. Former DOC secretary Michael Moore used to brag about how the inmates didn't have air-conditioning and other amenities like TV and recreation equipment.

Another reason for turnover is that many officers just can't cut it. I know of very few officers who quit over peer misconduct. Presently, firing is rife. Many officers are getting weeded out over the abuses that you state. I am also sure that you are aware that even the slightest use of force results in five to ten hours of paperwork (Depending on the thoroughness of the captain).

Low pay is a problem and big reason for turnover. Most of the good officers who stay with the state, stay because they are too old for another agency to hire. Moreover, the extra education incentive pay is well below that of police forces.

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I'm sure you realize that society has extremely violent miscreants. Those individuals are removed from society and incarcerated. Correctional Officers then have to deal with those individuals. Understand the danger of that daunting task.
An Officer

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I agree that incarcerating fewer people is a good idea. Yet that is a political issue and not a DOC issue. The inmates are usually honest about who is a good officer and who should be removed. Ms. Lathrem, the unfortunate officer murdered in the line of duty, was much loved by the inmates.

Write any inmate incarcerated at Dade CI. Ask how they feel about the sergeant that they nickname "Smack Down." You will find that this incorruptible sergeant never resorts to force or abuse to achieve the departments goals. Ask about a sergeant that they nicknamed "Taps." Taps will give you much material for negative DOC portrayals.

An Officer

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I'm not sure where this fits in the overall scheme of things, perhaps it's just rambling.

I read a quote in one of the articles on your site attributed to a DC official that suggested officers are daily locked in classroom daily with 25 or so inmates with only pepper spray and a radio. I think this is not totally accurate. I see officers go through classrooms randomly, but rarely stay.

I also see the teachers in those classrooms - with neither pepper spray nor radio - remain in those classrooms after the random officer leaves. I see the teachers preparing these men for TABE and GED tests, and I see them doing it with only a vey small number of disturbances by the men they are teaching.

I also see these teachers doing this job in the same environment where the security staff is considered to be at high risk, with a greater retirement percentage than the teachers are afforded. Seems strange to me.

Now I see where the state is cutting approximately 150 positions from the education department (statewide.) From a rehabilitation point of view, this seems to me like increased warehousing, which ultimately can only lead to increased recidivism.

I don't know if any of this is useful to you, but if so, do what you will with it. I wish, however, to remain anonymous. An Officer

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I fully agree with you that bad employees should be rooted out……….there are bad employees at IBM, Kroger, Publix, US Army, Federal Corrections and in DC, but all of these organizations have good and decent OFFICERS too. You might consider recognizing this while your whip is in motion. As long as the whip strikes the CORRECT target, even those in the officer ranks (the good ones) will support you.

I worked down in the trenches where it’s muddy and bloody and know fully what I say in terms of Correctional Officers in DC.
Ex-Warden

INTERVIEW WITH EX-WARDEN

Kay: What wonderful history you've given me. It helps to see the struggle the officers have had, but it also suggests some of those in higher positions don't care a lot about their employees.

Ex-Warden: "Many at the top of DC really do care about those in the trenches. I don’t think the present secretary does….he claims to have come from the trenches and initially tried to lead the media to believe he had been a correctional officer at one time…..Not a chance…he never worked a prison floor and was never a correctional officer. In fact, as a warden he would not enter the compound of any prison (according to sources that served under him) without a body guard. I know for a fact that he did not come inside XXX prison without a body guard when I was the warden. If he didn’t support the continuing personnel cuts he should be quoted as feeling this way….but he doesn’t."

Kay: I received a response this morning that said that CA had given a raise to their officers. The result, they said, was a slight elevation in officer behavior due to the better quality of people the pay attracted. Do you believe that would be the case in Florida?

Ex-Warden: "Just imagine for an instant….you are working two 16 hour shifts each week (OT) and cutting grass in your neighborhood so you can take care of your two kids…you may be a single parent or just a poor money manager, but the fact remains that you can’t make ends meet…You know that you have one of the most, if not the most stressful jobs in America and you know you are poorly paid and NEVER APPRECIATED…unless of course you get killed and then there’s lots of hoopla. OF COURSE A PAY RAISE RAISES MORALE…even for the ignorant redneck who belongs to a goon squad. Improved morale is always going to spill over…it does at my house…and it did at the institutions where I worked all over the state of Florida."

Kay: Or aren't we just going to keep paying the small town people who are already there and not taking their duties very seriously?

Ex-Warden: "This is my favorite and most stressful area……….Thanks to the unions and their lawyers, five men from a small rural area who enjoy ‘kicking ass and taking names’ can actually murder an inmate, walk into court, have a jury not only of their peers, BUT WITH A RETIRED CORRECTIONAL OFFICER AS THE FOREMAN OF THEIR JURY and beat the case hands down. As this case was being put together, Rod Smith was still the State Attorney for that particular district…close buddy to the Warden at FSP at the time of the murder. Don’t give up on this case even so………..there’s still civil rights and the day shall come when the truth will be known…"

Kay: I'm interested in your concept of micromanagement (by the Florida legislator?). I haven't given that enough thought except as it refers to federal supervision. I would like to understand the term well enough to make a decision to support it or oppose it.

Ex-Warden: "Micromanagement wasn’t referred to in its true form here………the point being made was that we have a secretary who was the governor’s chairperson for Union County during the elections of Bush, and who was appointed secretary by the governor….now there’s a murder of a female officer and one must ask…since the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (directly under the governor..buddy to the secretary) is investigating… WHEN IN FACT, the Florida Statutes require the sheriff of Charlotte County to investigate all murders in that county. The micromanagement I’ve referred to is just that……HAVING THE LEGISLATURE SEE TO IT THAT ALL THE QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED BY CHARLOTTE OFFICIALS AND SECRETARY OF DC."

Kay: How far would you expect micromanagement would have to go in order to bring some kind of safety and rehabilitation back to the system?

Ex-Warden: "When a Warden is busted for CONDUCT UNBECOMING, playing games with the employee’s benefit trust fund, etc….reduced in rank to Assistant Warden and four years or less later is appointed to the number two position in the Florida Department of Corrections (Mike Rathman).. SOMETHING IS VERY VERY STRANGE and needs the legislature to start asking questions."

Kay: Also, referring to the last sentence in your letter - Do you believe the guard died because the officers are not cared for properly or because the inmates are not?

Ex-Warden: "4000 positions have been cut from DC in the past 5 years….most of these positions have not been correctional officer positions BUT THE WORK IS STILL BEING ACCOMPLISHED……… Yes, correctional officers are being used to do human resource work and a multitude of other tasks….thus reducing those on the front lines where safety and security is involved. So, big government got smaller and we save a lot of money so we can send one little female officer off in the dark with a group of level II CLOSE CUSTODY dangerous inmates (who know well they’ll either die in prison or be extremely old when they get out) for a work squad detail….all alone…with CLASS A TOOLS…long screwdrivers, SLEDGE HAMMERS, etc…and now instead of asking was saving that money the right thing to do………..FDLE rushes to the scene and takes charge of the investigation."

Kay: Since your letter is up for open publication, would you mind if I put it onsite?

Ex-Warden: "Please, not at this time. Thanks. Ms. Kay, I have 23 wonderful years in corrections. There were times when I truly wanted to write letters such as that to the Orlando Sentinel…and quite frankly, sometimes I did. I was careful not to call the governor a monkey, but I was well known for supporting both staff and inmate rights. I was extremely well known for NEVER TOLERATING THE BEATING OF AN INMATE or racial discrimination. During the years of Singletary and Moore I was respected for this to a large degree, but I did make some enemies along the road…some that are now in charge…………………."

Kay: Thank you for giving me new perspectives.

Ex-Warden: "Remember this………when officers are not cared for….paid poorly…..promoted according to a union contract instead of their individual abilities/education/etc….INMATES are treated poorly because they wind up with a larger amount of bad officers……"

Florida's Correctional Officers are being robbed by the legislature and by PBA. I have just completed a comparison of 10 states' compensation for their Correctional Officers, and guess where Florida ranks...9th. I included Texas, Georgia, California, Michigan, Ohio, Alabama, New York, New Jersey, and Tennessee and of course Florida.

I included Texas and California because they are the states that incarcerate more inmates than Florida. The initial pay scales are about the same for probationary Officers, but the largest discrepancies lie in the fact that many of the others receive a step pay plan that allows them to attain a pay rate that many Correctional Officers in Florida will never attain. Imagine that. After 5 years in most states, Correctional Officers make more per hour than most CO's in Florida will make in their 25 year career.

In Michigan, Correctional Officers start making $13.85/hr and at the end of 5 years, they will be over $20.00/hr. The same is true for Texas, New York, ALABAMA, California, and Ohio, except these states won't quite be at $20.00/hr.

A Florida Correctional Officer now begins at approximately 13.65/hr and is stuck there until the Legislature decides to give a 2 or 3% cost of living adjustment. This is not an every year thing, and many of these men and women will never see $16.00/hr over the course of their careers. The Cost of living increase that they are receiving this year is the first one in 3 years.

Imagine that... paying 50% more for gas and bread and even daycare for your kids, on the same paycheck that you were making 3 years ago. They wonder why the turnover is so high, well there it is in a nutshell ( aside from your occasional firing for misconduct).

I am very adamant about this and I intend on forwarding this comparison to the PBA, the Governor, and the Legislature. I will also distribute it to my friends who still work for the department. You have a mission in life, so do I. I feel that these men and women deserve salaries commensurate to the job that they are expected to do! You said that you wanted the truth that I knew, well here is the first one right here.

Florida already requires the same, if not more, training in some instances than every state mentioned. All of my data is in rough draft form currently, but I would not mind sharing the information with you for informational purposes once it is complete. I believe that most states (At least the ones that maintain an ACA certification) adhere to training standards set forth by ACA (not a fact only an assumption), and that this figure is around 650-700 hours of training.
An Officer

The quandary for me is, I know the pay raise would probably attract and keep better people, but the bad will be attracted too.

What you write here is very true, Kay. But I have almost 20 years’ exposure to the situation under my belt and I have not seen much change or improvement. California does pay their guards a decent wage and elevated their status to semi-professional. I am not certain, but I have been told that this has made a difference in the caliber and quality of those applying for open corrections officer positions out there. It should do the same in Florida

Keep up the valiant fight,
Sid

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Just in case you didn't know here in California the C/Os have just about taken over the Governor's office. They do have a tough job mainly, as you point out, because of the overcrowding caused by the drug war and the odious "three strikes." Even though corrections and rehab can't take place under such conditions the "Guards' Union" opposes any effort at sentencing reform.
Jerry Sutliff

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FYI, while all other California governmental departments have been forced to drastically reduce their budgets, the sole exception has been salary increases for prison guards. This is not out of anybody trying to raise the level of professionalism amongst prison staff, but simply due to the fact that the prison guards' union was the biggest contributor to the governor's election campaigns. If anything, prison guards in California are less accountable than ever for their actions and, consequently, the California prison system has become the most punitive and dangerous in the U.S. Unfortunately, Florida isn't far behind.

Gary

I haven't posted here in awhile. However, since the incident at Charlotte CI, I just can't help myself to express how I feel.

Bad management is totally responsible for ALL deaths, inmate and officer. PBA is too busy getting a license plate approved through the Senate and too busy catering to managements needs. Once again, Crosby is responsible for the mishap within the DC. Staff shortages and white shirts that have NO business running a shift are his responsibility and nobody else's.
Because the Warden retired sends the message to me that he cannot run the institution per policy and law because of orders given from Central Office and Tallahassee. "Get the job done or else."

Officer safety and procedures come second to all ** sporting events and political rallies. Darla's and the inmate that died did so in vain and for no other reason except for the irresponsible leadership that this agency insists on keeping.

Bush stated that he was so impressed with the way in which Crosby handled the Valdes incident. How stupid can he be? Until the public and ALL officers start standing up and saying NO to orders that are clearly unlawful and not in chapter 33 will anything be done.

My sincere sympathy goes to all families and friends who have lost a loved one at the hands of DC, who clearly does not give a damn. As far as the inmates who tried to help stop the murder or Officer Darla, I believe they should be given all of the privileges that can lawfully be given to an inmate for assisting an officer in the line of duty. Their acts of bravery should be recognized and honored by the State of Florida.

As an Officer, I find great peace in knowing that inmates will assist when it is clear that staff does not give a damn. Am I an inmate lover? NO, but I believe that these inmates did the job that should have been carried out by security staff and therefore I am grateful to them for their efforts. Thank You to all inmates who realize that they are incarcerated to do time and not to harm others, including staff. Their families should be honored that they assisted in a blood bath that resulted in severe injuries and deaths.

The staff of DC should be ashamed of how this happened and do the right thing by firing all management that was on duty and have Mr. Crosby publicly say why he believes he is not responsible for staff shortages due to ball tournaments and political rallies.
AN OFFICER UNDER BAD MANAGEMENT

** DOC SPORTS