Great interview with Carl Toersbijns on the Lou Show. In 2010 Carl retired from his job as Deputy Warden at the state supermax facility, ASPC-Eyman, where many prisoners with mental illness are managed in solitary confinement instead of in a mental health care setting. Since retiring, Carl's written a couple of books about his career in corrections, and has been blogging and advocating for prisoners with serious mental illness. He's also repeatedly called for his old boss Chuck Ryan to be fired or resign. Here he addresses the abusive culture of the ADC, the role that Chuck Ryan may have had in setting the tone at Abu Ghraib, and the needs and rights of prisoners with mental illness. Please take the time to listen to this show, and go like the Lou Show on Facebook afterwards - Lou's really been great working to help us expose and reduce the abuse of state prisoners.
Showing posts with label carl toersbijns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carl toersbijns. Show all posts
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Toersbijns: On privilege, diversion and treatment for the mentallly ill.
I don't know how Chuck Ryan continues to remain in office. The governor must be about through with him - his treatment of mentally ill prisoners is calling an awful lot of attention to one of the most colossal failures of her administration: the suicide rate in the state prisons has doubled under those two, and homicides and assaults have skyrocketed.
Anyway, my friend, Carl, is on a roll this week. Here's his latest editorial...
------------from Associated Content-----------
Janice Brewer and Anthony Lester Share Mental Illness Problems
Mental Health Care is Lacking in Arizona Prisons
November 10, 2011
Carl ToersBijns,If anybody should know the issues and problems associated with the complexity of providing mental health care to severely mentally ill (SMI) persons it is Arizona Governor Janice Brewer of Arizona.
She has a son that ran afoul of the law and was considered to be eligible to be housed in a state hospital rather than the state owned prisons. This was a definite benefit for her as a mother as she was assured her convicted son was going to receive treatment for his illness that was a factor in his crime. According to public records, he is still there at the state hospital getting his medication and treatment as prescribed by a psychiatrist.
Last Friday, November 5, Channel 12 did a story on Tony Lester that was identified by the Arizona Department of Corrections as preventable suicide. The story resulted in mass viewer concerns about the mentally ill as they have no voice in the community and need protection by those who care. To summarize his death, he was given a razor blade to kill himself while sitting in a detention cell isolated from treatment and care when he experienced an episode that resulted in his death. Before he died he wrote the words 'voices" with his own blood to explain his behavior to others.
Just another name, another SMI person, Anthony Lester, was convicted of a crime and sent to prison without any considerations for treatment whether inside the state hospital or the state prison. He was discarded, abandoned and left on his own to survive his illness in a most predatory environment and received no help from anyone unlike the governor's son. The difference between the two is one major fact. Tony Lester was not the governor's son. Although Janice Brewer was not the governor at the time of this consideration, she was an influential politician in state government and given preferential treatment in the care of her son.
Anthony Lester committed suicide within a few months of his incarceration in prison. His needs were ignored by the agency and he was ignored as an SMI person incarcerated and denied care that was recommended by the judge that sentenced him and despite personal pleas from his family to high officials inside the corrections agency to allow him to be put in a mental health setting, it was ignored. Tony Lester was diagnosed to be "manipulative and gamey" by the top doctors and officials inside the Arizona Department of Corrections. He was denied care. Tony Lester earned that title of being "manipulative and gamey" from the behavior of others who are NOT mentally ill but use it as a tool to seek special housing assignments or single cells. He was put in a stereotyped class of manipulators inside prison and denied the opportunity to receive care and treatment already documented in his file.
Since the investigation there is sufficient information that there exists an obvious lack of support within the prison administration and cultural setting that allows the existence and success of prison therapy programs to work and be effectively management without political or cultural interference. The dangers associated with these released SMI persons who have not received care while in prison effects our communities and increases their chances of committing crimes again almost assuring society that they will spend the rest of their lives inside a prison with lengthy and determinate sentences to keep them off the streets in the name of public safety and tough on crime mandates or kill themselves while incarcerated as they lose their ability to cope and function according within this most toxic and harsh environment, even for those who do not suffer from a mental illness.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Watching Tony die: The Halloran Investigation and feedback.
Resistance Alley, Phoenix
June 4, 2011
Most of my readers have no doubt by now seen the Channel 12 investigation of Tony Lester's suicide. For those who haven't, the links to the first installment and the follow-up are here:
Arizona inmate suicide: Did correction officers fail to administer aid?
Tony Lester's suicide triggers 12 News investigation to find out who's accountable:
PART 2: http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2011/11/11/20111111arizona-prison-suicide-failure-to-aid-part-2.html
Viewers sound off on Lester suicide investigation:
Viewers sound off on Lester suicide investigation:
Anthony Lester Suicide, Preventable Death - Channel 12 investigation video
Carl Toersbijns
AZCentral.com BlogsWatching the Channel 12 video on this suicide, it reminded me of the many suicides we have endured in the several years while employed as a prison employee. I know that we can’t save every life nor do we feel compelled to go above and beyond reasonable measures that are both legal and morally acceptable. There are no answers for everything that happens under the heavens but for sure there is a reason for everything that does.
There are many questions still unanswered but there were no administrators disciplined for the death of inmate Anthony Lester, a mentally ill person, incarcerated and sentenced to die at his own hands. Diagnosed with a severe mental illness, his judgment and sentence report contained a recommendation by a judge to be admitted for psychiatric care while in prison. In addition, his medical and mental health files were covered with his treatment needs and were ignored by the Arizona Department of Corrections as he was admitted, classified and sent to a non-mental health unit in Tucson, Arizona.
Several months after his incarceration, Anthony Lester was put on a mental health watch for suicide risks and self-harm statements made to staff and mental health providers. His watch didn’t last long and he was released back to general population but instead of going to the yard, he was placed in isolation via a stay in a detention cell. His needs of the “voices” he was hearing was not addressed nor was he on any medication that was part of his treatment. Soon after, Lester, with the help of a cellmate, took a razor erroneously given to him by an officer and removed the blade. He then cut his body in many places and finally, he wrote the words “voices” in his own blood before he cut his jugular vein and died.
The investigation was personally handled by the director of the agency as he hurriedly appointed an investigator via telephone and gave specific instructions on his expectations and time frames to conduct this investigation. This would be revealed by the audio tapes of this case. I also know this because I have been involved in many of these deaths where the phone (sometimes the red phone) rings and it is one of the chiefs in Phoenix barking orders how to handle it. As a former deputy warden, I have been taught two things by mentors and not so mentor like people. Control the environment – first you control the internal environment (your own house and make sure the bed is made and the carpet is swept clean for company and looks) make sure the post action report is intact and not filled with red flags or inflammatory works that seek clarification or needless curiously – second control the external environment and make it quick neat and easy to understand when delivered to the press, the governor or those in the legislature curious enough to ask. This control means that the time frame of the incident must be controlled and seamless.
This is done by keeping the package tight and mum until all drafts received have been laundered and ready for inspection. This is the case in every major incident and prepared carefully to avoid any other sources under the Freedom Information Act discovery bases. Evidence is not tagged and often disregarded deemed not relevant. This also includes statements received that are in conflict with other data received. Everything is sanitized for public inspection.
The investigator was given a week to put the case together. Such cases usually take anywhere from two to three months and have a 53 day window for action but the director insisted on limiting this case to one week. Under pressure, the investigator did what he could under the circumstances. It was not a very thorough job but it revealed the staple of the case, unauthorized razor issued to the inmate that facilitated the death. It did not thoroughly glean enough facts of the culture, the practices and the decision making of the unit’s administration and custodial responsibilities. As a result, disciplinary action was limited to those present at the time of the suicide and for not performing first aid on the inmate as they took no action what so ever to preserve life and remained there in the cell until the paramedics arrived thus admitting they stood around for almost 23 minutes doing nothing.
Admittingly, the DOC admitted to it is a “preventable suicide” but did nothing to correct the problem and disciplined staffs by taking two weeks’ pay from their paycheck. They should have fired them and let the personnel board decide whether or not the act(s) were dischargable offenses. I believe it’s a Class 7. Regardless an appeal would have justified a better review than the first time around when they went head hunting and found those closest as the easiest to punish. The entire process was tainted with missed data, clues, evidence and interviews. Had an independent investigator done the job, it would have revealed a deeper cultural chasm than actually reported. That is why nobody in the top administration was admonished or punished. The DOC protects those who protect them. Politics as usual. Not just in the DOC but in many public service areas.
The director said they retrained all staff on the suicide prevention training course. I am sure they did on paper. Most staff wont engage in CPR -only the good ones do - others are told you better not start or you will be blamed for doing it wrong - otherwise they are left for medical to treat them with few exceptions as I have personally seen great correctional staff at the Eyman SMU’s do great things. In this case medical was never called nor did they arrive. They waited for the outside fire department paramedics to treat a bleeding person and did nothing else but stand around. It’s the culture that is toxic and harsh. - for those who families in prison, you should be concerned for their wellness - for those who don't you are paying for lawsuits and payouts that are not necessary but when negligence is so easily proven the cost is high.
They initiated training for 8,000 plus people on paper and will show they did the remedial training as expected by the outlines of the post o action report. But as the videos and interviews of this case reveals, these officers don’t even pay attention to the basic first aid classes and just sign in to get credit for the course. Ask any of them what they think of the training and they will laugh out loud and walk away to avoid answering you.
Wendy Halloran did a great job!! She knew the investigative process was tainted the moment the director got involved personally and directed courses of action that negated those the assigned investigator would have taken without being under duress of such administrative pressure. Meeting with the chief executive officer of the facility before any active case work is done, they develop a dialogue with them creating a compromising prejudice in the handling and direction of every investigation as the warden’s input is capricious and often tainted to reflect personal interests thus adhered to as law by these investigators. In some cases, investigators lie to others about the cases and the results of evidence. Thus this practice called “false dichotomy” that includes eliminating conflicting or contradictory information skews the reports and sends an altered message as a final result that has been deliberately botched to protect those politically sensitive in such cases. Basically, this results a finding of information versus meaning and is very confusing. The origins of such problems include unqualified or politically compromised investigators or their supervisors that cause false reports on their test results. This problem could be fixed by hiring qualified personnel, training them properly and providing adequate oversight and separating their authority and supervision from direct administration by executive personnel.
Is it fixed… not hardly under this administration but when the right person takes charge and makes human lives valuable again, it might be done right. Until then, status quo demands no changes.
Just keep paying the lawsuits, it's business as usual in the DOC.
Source:
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Suicide Watch: Too many AZ prisoners dead.
Today is:
Suicides at the Arizona Department of Corrections, January 2009-July 2011 (Chuck Ryan's tenure):
Jan - June 2009 (5 suicides in 6mos): Angela Soto (MexAmer, 28) Harvey Rymer (W, 33)
Angel Torres (MexAmer, 32) Dung Ung (AsnAmer, 32)
Caesar Bojorquez (MexNatl, 37)
July - June 2010 (9 suicides in 12 months):
Erick Cervantes (MexAmer, 30) Douglas Nunn (W, 33)
Hernan Cuevas (MexAmer, 18) Monte McCarty (W, 46)
Patricia Velez (MexAmer, 24), Jerry Kulp (AfAmer, 17)
Jessie Cota, (MexAm, 28) James Adams (W, 46)
Eric Bybee (W, 32)
July - June 2011 (14 suicides in 12 months):
Tony Lester (NA, 26) Robert Medina (MexAm, 29)
Geshell Fernandez (NA, 28) Patrick Lee Ross, (AfAmer, 28)
Lasasha Cherry (AfAmer, 23) Rosario Bojorquez-Rodriguez (MexNat, 29)
Duron Cunningham (AfAmer, 40) James Galloway (W, 54)
Ronald Richie (W, 42) Susan Lopez (MexAmer, 35)
Michael Tovar, (MexAmer, 20) Carey Wheatley (AfAmer, 49)
Michael Pellicer (AfAmer, 35) Luis Moscoso-Hernandez (MexNat, 28)
In the first 2 1/2 years of his tenure, Chuck Ryan presided over 28 suicides. That's almost one per month. During that time the prison population remained relatively stable - even dropping a bit last year. In the 2 1/2 years that preceded Ryan, under Dora Schriro, there were only 12 suicides - less than 1 every two months.
Additionally, both Shannon Palmer and James Jennings were murdered by their cellies because Shannon and James were psychotic and isolated with intolerant cellies (in Shannon's case, his cellie was also psychotic).
Most suicides occurred in higher security settings and isolation cells - as best as I can tell, all but one of the women who killed themselves in their cells were in some kind of solitary confinement.
Several things that I know of changed when Chuck Ryan took over the ADC that may have affected these outcomes. According to retired deputy warden Carl Toersbijns, almost immediately the policies for how to house certain prisoners together changed (two other prisoners - not mentally ill, were subsequently murdered by cellies), and a suicide prevention program that used prisoners as aides to help identify and support other suicidal prisoners was cancelled, despite the relatively low cost of the program.
I haven't cross-referenced the prisoner population by race and don't have some other stats for before Ryan took over. But the suicides that occurred on his watch are by and large young minorities. The white prisoners (and one African American) who took their own lives tended to be older men facing long sentences for violent crimes; a couple of pedophiles were among them. The youthful ages and minority status of the rest - and the relatively short sentences they had by the time they died - are quite disturbing.
From the data above, I would argue that the mental health of young minority prisoners seems to be taken less seriously than that of white prisoners, across the board. This is often the case in the "free world", as well - though on the outside, white males tend to have the highest, not the lowest, suicide rates. Minorities, by the establishment, are perceived as dangerous to others more so than to themselves, whether or not an individual's case or evidence exists to support that.
It is not uncommon, though, to find that many prison suicides are by individuals with a history of violence - at least two of the women who killed themselves had a history of assault in prison - which may be why they were in maximum security at the time they died. Unfortunately, maximum security means more isolation and restrictions, not necessarily closer supervision. Punishing prisoners by cancelling visitation and phone privileges seems like a set-up for more anti-social behavior, and undermines the rehabilitative process - two good reasons why the new $25 fee for visitors should have never been imposed, as it will cost prisoners a certain amount of community support and pro-social relationships (which are often so important to maintain to prevent further violence against others or oneself).
A significant number of the prisoners who suicided struggled with a previously-diagnosed psychiatric disorder. The prison psychiatric care is substandard, though, and access to the prison psychiatric facility where serious therapy is done is extremely hard to gain. Susan Lopez, for example, hung herself after two days of begging for help - including psychiatric hospitalization, and being ignored. That goes for most of the states jails, too. Just a week before she did herself in, Susan had been in the Greenlee County Jail where she was brutally strapped into a restraint chair by guards for being agitated on the phone and having a panic attack. She was sent to the hospital for unknown reasons soon after that traumatic incident.
I've heard numerous stories in the past year of how prisoners aren't getting their psychiatric meds, presumably because of the budget cuts. Tony Lester was off all his meds and getting psychotic when he cut his throat. Shannon Palmer and his cellmate, Jasper Rushing, were both seeking protective custody due to their paranoia when they were housed together, and neither - according to their families - were on anti-psychotic medicine at the time Shannon was murdered and castrated. The cell they were placed in should have only held two men for no more than 24 hours, because it was originally built to keep just one man in solitary. Instead, they were kept in that tiny cell together - without light or psychiatric care - for three weeks. When Shannon handed the guards a kite begging them to let him out of the cell with Jasper - just a day or two before he was killed - they simply laughed at him. That kite has not yet been found. I suspect this is typical of how the mentally ill in Arizona State Prisons are treated today.
Carl Toersbijns, the retired DW I referenced earlier, has done extensive blogging on the treatment of the seriously mentally ill in Arizona's Department of Corrections - check out his site here. He's also written quite a bit about alternative programming and policies that may hep reduce both the suicide and homicide rates among prisoners with psychiatric disabilities, while also improving the level of care for other at-risk prisoners. Before retiring, Carl worked in the Supermax, ASPC-Eyman, where many mentally ill prisoners are driven to psychosis and despair in isolation instead of being in a treatment setting; he knows of what he speaks. Unfortunately, the ADC seems to regard him as a traitor for his criticisms, and hasn't picked up on any of his suggestions.
In the face of the criticsm many of us have had about their suicide rates and psychiatric programs, the ADC released the following letter to the Mental Illness and Criminal Justice Commission defending themselves by minimizing our concerns and profiling a token program or two that few prisoners can even qualify for. See that memo here.
Read it for yourself, but there is no good explanation that I can see for why the suicide rates have skyrocketed under this administration - and since they fail to even acknowledge how much they are failing, I'm not optimistic that they will properly analyze those deaths and come up with more effective suicide prevention practices. Rather the memo justifies the policies and practices they currently employ, avoids confronting the possible reasons for high suicide rates, and attempts to marginalize the rest of us from the conversation as being ill-informed or even malicious. Let me remind folks that Carl Toersbijns has decades of corrections' experience, including extensive work with mentally ill prisoners, and is particularly familiar with Arizona's Special Management Units.
Finally, while the memo argues that Director Ryan implemented programmatic and staffing changes in 2010 to respond to the high suicide and homicide rates (which they wouldn't even really admit to), the data since then shows an even higher body count than before. And in no place in the ADC's response is there a satisfactory discussion of the mental health and treatment needs of women prisoners, who are the most neglected...nor does it explore the stats that concern community advocates by race, crime, custody level, or age. As long as they deny the problems they have delivering adequate mental health care to prisoners, they won't be able to effect meaningful change.
Therefore, as I've done so often lately, I'm urging readers - especially the survivors of these prisoners - to contact Representative Cecil Ash at the Arizona State Legislature. Representative Ash is chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, which seems to be the most appropriate place from which to organize a legislative investigation into the deaths and the poor mental health care in the state prisons. Ask him to convene legislative hearings into the state prisons (including testimony from prisoners and their families). The legislature has the authority to open an investigation, compel testimony, and bring many more resources to the table than those of us in the community can. Time is running out before the next prisoner takes his or her life, so please put the pressure on now. Rep. Ash can be reached at:
AZ State Legislature 1700 W. Washington St Phoenix 85007
Cecil's email address is cash@azleg.gov - but handwritten letters in the US mail make more of an impact - emails are too easily lost.
If you are the survivor of prison violence, then I'd also suggest that you try to make an appointment with him to advocate for an agency-wide investigation into the practices and patterns that are causing this level of violence and despair in our prisons to grow. He's a sincere man - very interested in the plight of our prisoners and their families - and will give you the time of day if he has it. The legislature's phone number is 602-926-5999.
Feel free to contact me with any questions - or even criticisms - regarding this post. Blessings and condolences to all of you who have lost a loved one to prison violence, abuse, or neglect. If you want to organize with other such families, please let me know.
Take care,
Peggy Plews
480-580-6807
prisonabolitionist@gmail.com
"Fight Real Power"Sandra Day O'Conner Federal Courthouse
November 13, 2010 (Phoenix)
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Toersbijns: Criticisms of Mental Health Treatment of Inmates at the ADC.
SOS DOJ: CRIPA AZ State Prisons
(Dodge Theater, Phoenix. Halloween, 2010.)
(Dodge Theater, Phoenix. Halloween, 2010.)
As some of you may have noticed, I've had a number of posts lately by former Arizona Department of Corrections' Deputy Warden Carl Toersbijns (ASPC-Eyman), most of which are pointedly critical of the ADC's high suicide rate under Director Chuck Ryan and its mental health programs, or lack thereof. Follow the link below and you can view and download the department's official response to Carl's advocacy (sorry, it took me awhile to figure out how best to get people access to a PDF from here, which is the only form I have this in).
I've also embedded a link to the document in the side column.
"Response to Criticisms of Mental Health Treatment
of inmates in the ADC."
(March 18, 2011)
Carl's response is as follows.
I'll let both his and the preceding documents speak for themselves, for now.
-------------------
Open Letter to the Arizona SMI Commission – Arizona Prisons
Carl Toersbijns
Response to document written by Deputy Director Charles Flanagan and Dr. Ben Shaw on March 18, 2011, related to maximum custody inmates and their mental health treatment needs. The following is submitted for your own information so you can be informed of the rationale behind the position paper written to enhance mental health treatment in the ADOC. It appears my criticism has created a need to defend current practices when in fact, my criticism was merely a vocalization of matters observed and experienced inside the Arizona prison system from 2005 through 2010.
Issue:
It is logical to agree that “there is overwhelming research” in the “scientific literature that mentally ill persons are no more likely to be violent or to commit crimes than are non-mentally ill persons.
Response -
| | Population | Violent offenders | Non-Violent Offenders |
|
February 2011 |
40,930 |
27,950 |
12,980 |
|
Per cent of population GAC 1/2011 |
|
68 % |
32 % |
|
Persons in Maximum Custody Count sheet 2/2011 |
3744 |
2546 (68%) |
1199 (32%) |
|
| | | |
The rationale used to illustrate the violent properties within such a prison setting is based on the fact that in the Arizona Department of Corrections reports and statistics they report in their February 2011 Glance at Corrections report the system housed 27,950 violent offenders compared to 12,980 non-violent offenders. This relates to the prison population being 68 % violent and 32 % non-violent. This can best be compared to 7 out of 10 inmates in Arizona prisons are violent offenders regardless whether they are mentally ill or not. This is a fundamental dynamic in Arizona prisons.
Under the present conditions inside prisons, it has been documented that almost 7 out of 10 are already violent and with the influx of many more such individuals coming in with a ratio of 9.3 to 1 person that is housed inside a state hospital for treatment. It is highly likely that some level of mental illness is associated with the individual in question as they arrive into the system. Therefore, this is not just a perception but facts supported by the agency’s own statistics of violent and non-violent offenders housed in their prison system. This was established by the Treatment Advocacy Center report March 2010. [1]
However, as a new commit the stress levels to cope and function within such a predatory world is extreme and pushes many to high levels of anxiety creating a coping problem for many. 99 % new commitments and many of the repeat offenders are required to show their paperwork to live on a general population yard whether sex offender or not, this practice is established by those who have a gang mentality and operate their own race’s desired placement practice not addressed by the administration.
This may result in a 70 % chance of this inmate to receive a ticket for misconduct or other “manipulated efforts” to be removed from the general population and temporarily placed in detention where they must heighten their coping skills as they are mixed with many behavioral inmates awaiting disciplinary sanctions or a transfer to a higher custody. One must be aware that as the custody level rises, so does the propensity for violence for the individuals housed there. This is a fundamental dynamic of prison. Whether the threat is perceived to be real or not, these inmates are scared and want to leave the yards thus they refuse to house. This results in a disciplinary action [in fact repeated misconduct] and ordered to house every other day to go onto the yard making them subject to further disciplinary action elevating their classification scores once minor tickets are elevated to a major ticket due to repetitions of infractions.
This has resulted in three things.
1. Staff assaults,
2. Inmate on inmate assaults
3. Requests for protective segregation.
So you see by using these “manipulation tools” mentally ill inmates as well as non-mentally ill inmates created a route that may take them to maximum custody. Herein are two problems the administration is not able to cope with effectively.
* The first stigma is a refuse to house inmate or RTH is considered to be manipulative by all staff including treatment staff. These groups of inmates are stereotyped into one group to show their reluctance to house on a particular yard and asking for a transfer. These inmates are subject to harsh treatment by the deputy warden of the unit who has been instructed to get these RTH numbers reduced and find a way to house them regardless of what the reasons are other than DO 805 issues that require immediate segregation into a detention unit pending the process. This is a fundamental dynamic in prison.
* The second stigma is the fact that mental health providers feed into this “manipulation” scheme by security and administration thus fail to follow up specific individual needs that may impact their personal safety and why they took the course to manipulate this removal off the yards writing it off as a manipulated effort to move.
The comment that “mentally illness can be present in individuals who exhibit criminal behavior – as diabetes or hypertension can – but generally unrelated to the motivations for this behavior. One must qualify that statement with the ambience this research was conducted as inside a prison such as the ADOC, it has already been established statistically, the nature of the correctional setting is both violent as well as associated predatory behaviors not likely to be found in such great numbers out on the street or community. It is reasonable this predatory environment requires a discriminating level of awareness to remain safe among those who are not mentally ill. This is a fundamental in prison.
Therefore, although I may agree that mentally ill persons are not particularly violent or antisocial when placed or housed within an uncontrolled environment that presents perils and dangers of personal harm and extortion, the mere fact that the majority of persons locked up with these mentally ill inmates are violent creates a domination factor that can’t be ignored.
Issue:
“Recent writings and presentations have suggested that inmates who are mentally ill are likely to be placed in maximum custody because they are ill and exhibiting symptoms of a psychotic disorder” is misleading or misinterpreted by the reader of the position paper. One must realize the history behind the recent high influx [beginning in October 2009] of maximum custody inmates who were formerly held at complex detention units based on bed space available at the SMU’s and Florence. Although the number of inmates has been reduced significantly by the current administration, the movement is still high and with it results the placement of mentally ill inmates inside maximum custody units needing treatment and alternatives to program under the ADA act.
Maximum custody population October – 2009 – 4,091 inmates in Level V and detention
Maximum custody population January - 2010 – 4,052 inmates in Level V and detention
Maximum custody population January - 2011– 3,744 inmates in Level V and detention
| | Population | Inmates receiving Mental Health Treatment | Seriously Mentally Ill |
|
Arizona Dept. of Corrections |
39393 |
9733 (25%) |
1350 (3.4 %) |
|
Inmates in Max Custody[2] (including detention and Intake) |
3744 (10.52%) |
1123 (30%) |
337 (3.7%) |
| | | ||
|
Maximum Custody totals for SMU I and Browning |
1891 |
581 30% |
70 (3.7%) |
|
Number of inmates in Max Custody not receiving the status of being SMI | |
(267) |
(23.7 %) |
The impression behind this conclusion was the various chasms or gaps that exist throughout the agency that demonstrates staff are ill prepared to handle or manage the mentally ill or others with learning disorders. The message in training of line staff to understand a mentally ill inmate and not misinterpret his or her actions as a disciplinary matter has not yet been endorsed by a culture that “treats every inmate the same” regardless of their status especially inside a detention unit or maximum custody facility. Records will reveal that inmates who are mentally ill are often written up for misconduct related to destruction of property or even to the extent of harming themselves without understanding the recourse available and due process unless offered an advocate of liaison that can mediate the actions observed and resolve it in a most therapeutic manner. This is a fundamental dynamic.
This mechanism of not treating the mentally ill with deliberate indifference does not yet exist universally within the agency and must be created to reduce the number of inmates housed in more restrictive housing because of repetitive misconduct that was misunderstood or “manipulated” to create an action that would keep an inmate safe. Wherever mental health is involved in such treatment of disciplinary cases, the inmate is cleared of misconduct that could result in a higher classification based on institutional disciplinary history and recommendations for supervisory changes. Therefore, mental health providers must explore this avenue of “manipulation” to find the truth and exact reason for the inmate’s refusal to cooperate that often results in three dynamics that are common. Suicide threats associated with the discontinuance of their prescribed medication and grievances that will not be finalized before they are either moved to an alternative housing e.g. detention or another yard. This is a fundamental dynamic in prison.
My position paper on mental health issues is based on inmates placed in maximum custody that includes detention units at all units statewide. One can calculate the number of beds used for such interim level V placement as many fall under four categories. They are:
1. Disciplinary – assaultive behaviors, theft, RTH, etc
2. Protective Segregation – nature of crime, witness, debriefing STG etc.
3. Pending criminal investigation – various criminal charges
4. Transient waiting for a bed or movement out of the unit (detention units are used for this purpose and at times, there are up to three inmates inside a cell designed for two creating an even more stressful living environment while waiting for adjudication of the report, movement to an alternative housing or awaiting a criminal procedure.)
One must include these beds when you configure the number of inmates in maximum custody as well as the maximum custodies in Florence Central unit and the female maximum units. Secondary, a number of suicides have occurred within these detention units and to not include them will alter the perception that maximum custody is not used as an alternative housing for those reasons mentioned above. Otherwise the total numbers of inmates housed in maximum custody are not accurate and only reflect the partial housing of maximum inmates at two locations when in fact maximum custody exists at almost all statewide units through the mere existence of detention units holding inmates for the various reasons already outlined. This creates a tremendous burden on mental health staff assigned to the smaller or more remote units as they are ill prepared to deal with such offenders at such high numbers and deal with general population inmates. This is a fundamental dynamic in prison.
Thus when the agency re-configures their total number of inmates held in maximum custody [including detention where there are high risks for suicides], these figures will reflect a higher percentage of inmates who are receiving mental health treatment inside these level V units versus those required ongoing treatment while incarcerated that is approximately 9,862 inmates during the month of February 2011.
Issue:
One’s inference that “inmates placed in maximum custody may decide to show improved rule compliance and generally improved behavior in order to be moved to lower custody settings and avoid returning to maximum custody” is false and flawed by both perception and reality.
Response –
It would be reasonable to conclude that would be the rationale for any inmate in maximum custody, however, classification dynamics govern custody settings and the override tool used for mental health and behavioral misconduct is used to keep them at a higher level. Second, unless the dynamics that caused them to go to maximum custody changed, they will “manipulate” a way to stay in maximum custody and be released from a level V unit. Some inmates just refuse to house in dormitory or double bunk settings thus prefer the single cell at maximum custody levels. Detention units are the exception as they are double bunked and triple bunked most of the time pre-April 2010. One should check the actual risk assessment scores to reveal this practice of overriding inmates regardless whether mental health or behavioral. Normally, these inmates’ score lower than actual placement. Thus that logic will not work at maximum custody for the large part as the administration deems what inmate goes down on a custody level based on their own risk assessments rather than the evidence based management tool provided by the agency and make a decision based on “knowing the inmate.”
An inmate, regardless whether he or she is mentally ill or behavioral, will not be allowed to be reduced in custody levels as long as they have severe disciplinary records that shows they are poor risks regardless how long ago such an event might have occurred. This is a fundamental dynamic in prison.
As for the comments related to doing better or worse within a program setting or therapeutic environment, it is beyond my qualifications to comment on clinical matters but rather, my approach has always been from the operational aspect of inmate treatment, supervision, classification and behavioral control. This position paper was written from this same position as voicing my concerns for these operational and environmental impacts on security and safety of all.
Issue –
The denial of recreation and showers, basic living conditions important to the inmates is based on two things daily. The first element of a regular day in maximum custody is the occurrence of an Incident Command System (ICS) event that will draw first responders from the entire unit. This interrupts or completely halts these basic services as staffs are unable to conduct their normal duties as they are handling an emergency. Second, these ICS events are frequent enough to interrupt at a minimum two of the five days of the week creating “make up” showers and rec during the weekends. This is a viable option if staff is available and no further ICS event occurs. A contributory fact is since the double bunking at Browning and SMU I, the lack of physical space to follow the required schedule on time thus staff encourages Inmates to “skip” their showers every now and then to get the majority showered. Mathematically, one can’t meet the mandate to shower and rec each inmate per policy and unless there are cancellations, some go without either. I have documentation to show such a shortcoming and welcome the findings submitted to the warden at the time of the study. I also have documentation showing how the unit deputy warden proposes to provide showers and recreation with certain staffing levels that are staged into different levels. This is a fundamental prison dynamic. In a perfect world, this would not be an issue.
Issue:
“Mr. ToersBijns’ writing reflects a misunderstanding of the process used for the few cases in which involuntary medication is being considered. The mental health staff who are involved in the ongoing treatment of such inmates have tried all of the reasonable alternatives before the PMRB is asked to consider involuntary medication.”
Response –
One can pretend that “chemical restraints” are not used. Technically and fortunately, the procedure is very rare and required the approval of a psychiatrist via a telephone call or presence once the inmate has been cleared by the PMRB committee to be sedated or medicated. There have been occasions where an inmate refused to participate with the committee and the majority present, seeing the inmate is no longer able to make good decisions concerning his own health, agrees to medicate and this has resulted in the inmate being strapped onto a gurney and taken to medical to get his prescribed medication or shot. Never qualified to determine such medical condition or psychiatric decision, we followed protocol established and cooperated with mental health and medical staff. It is the question of “tried all of the reasonable alternatives before the PMRB” action is taken since I have observed behaviors by mental health providers that appeared to be futile in efforts and reluctance to deal with. This is fortunately also rare but has occurred thus a reality it exists.
Issue:
“In his most recent writings, Mr. ToersBijns posts two new concerns; increased suicides and increased homicides, as well as the repeated and unsupported allegation that administrative disciplinary charges lead to higher custody levels for inmates with mental health issues already addressed above. These writings attempt to fit some pieces of factual data into what seems to be opinion –based thinking, which draws conclusions to suit a particular position.”
Response –
One needs to glean the individual inmate disciplinary files to show how his conduct, although related to mental health fitness has created a long string of disciplinary actions that do two things; elevate his or her custody levels and takes away time credits resulting in longer serving of the sentences. The commission can go to the website and identify the inmate’s needs at www.azcorrections.gov inmate database, pick out a mentally ill inmate and glean their history of disciplinary, classification actions and time taken to confirm this opinion.
Issue:
“Director Ryan increased the number of security staff in key inmate contact and supervision areas by restoring posts and positions. The data seems to indicate that these initial steps are resulting in positive outcomes.”
The key words are “increased the number of security staff in key inmate contact and supervision area by restoring posts and positions. The data seems to indicate that these initial steps are resulting in positive outcomes.” As you can see by the memorandums attached, there is no “increase of the number of staff but rather, a reallocation of resources to handle one area of the prison and neglecting another area of the prison. This rob Peter to pay Paul is a common strategy to “increase” staffing as well as cross leveling staff whenever they are short on shift creating deep cuts in the shifts of units having to “share” their staff with other units.
Prior staffing practices –
ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS MEMORANDUM
TO: DW C. Lang, ASPC-Tucson, xxxxxxxxxxxx
FROM: xxxxxxxxxxxx ASPC-Tucson,
SUBJECT: Replacement of Zone/Rover Posts at xxxxxxxxxxxx
DATE: 02/01/11
Approximately six months ago, before all the new changes to Winchester Unit, we had 2 yard officers, 4 zone/rover posts and control room officers conducted their own health and welfare security checks.
Now the control room officers can not leave the control rooms and the 4 zone/rover posts have been replaced by floor officer posts that can not be pulled for any reason except for an ICS response. At the same time the yard responsibilities have not changed.
That leaves the 2 yard officers trying to conduct the work of six officers with the assistance of the supervisor(s). Where at times there is only one supervisor on site to run shift which does not allow us to post ourselves without leaving the shift without a supervisor.
The yard officer responsibilities include:
3 exterior perimeters - takes approximately 15 minutes each
3 interior perimeters - takes approximately 30 minutes each
2 interior lock/fence checks - takes approximately 15 minutes each
Hot dinner - takes approximately 2.5 hours
Conducting evening chow (a hot dinner):
There are 4 officers required to conduct chow -
One at the scanner
One at the ticket register
One at the serving window
One conducting random pat searches
Run Sally port gate -
For inmates returning from dialyses 3 times per week that normally come back to the yard during chow, Canteen, and Complex moves etc.
Coordinate all movements on the yard
Conduct security checks of Programs
Cover Medical after hours and from 1500 to 1700 on Mondays
Make up bedding packs for new arrivals
Supply security for the commissary
Conduct Ice call, trash run and Uranalysis
Watch the recreation shack
Transports to West Medical, UPH, and other Units
Pick up and drop off paperwork etc. to the buildings
Observations, Suicide, 805, and Disciplinary cases must be watched continually or temporarily until able to be transported
Strip searching all the kitchen workers prior to them going back to their living area, that requires 2 officers per policy
Per. Department Order 708, Searches:
All inmates entering the programs building are to pat searched
All inmates turning out to or exiting from the recreation field need to be randomly pat searched
All inmates exiting the chow hall need to be randomly pat searched
Per. Policy/Post Orders:
There are to be a minimum of 2 staff monitoring the Recreation field at all times
as well as security checks are to be conducted on the Recreation field.
In comparison, Manzanita Unit has 3 yard officers and their yard is physically half the size ofxxxxxxxxxxx. xxxxxxxxxxx also holds 376 more inmates and feeds a hot dinner where Manzanita feeds sacks for dinner.
Due to the overwhelming amount of stress of trying to get everything done with limited resources, staff moral on all shifts is going down and may have a direct effect on the yard and inmate population.
Inclosing,
For the security and safety of xxxxxxxxxxxx we need to replace the 4 zone/rover posts that we lost.
Looking at the statistics for 2009 there were an average of 29 staff assaults per month and 52 inmates on inmate assaults reported. Gleaning the same statistics for 2010 the data reveals there the average of 28.5 staff assaults per month and 62 inmates on inmate assaults reported. There is no significant drop in suicides or assaults. However, time will tell if 2011 is a better year as it will be monitored for progress.
Per ADOC statistics this averages:
2009 – High = 74 inmate on inmate assaults
- High = 45 inmate on staff assaults
2010 - High = 88 inmate on inmate assaults
High = 35 inmate on staff assaults
ADC ratio of assaults on inmate to inmate = 17.36 Projected for FY 11 – 17.44
ADC ratio of assaults on staff by inmate = 8.83 Projected for FY 11 – 9.50
Issue:
“Picture of maximum custody housing which is quiet disturbing”
Response –
Regarding my “picture of maximum custody housing which is quiet disturbing”, I can only refer to first hand experience inside the special management units that have revealed numerous incidents detailed within this document. As the deputy warden of SMU II aka Browning, I could in fact, go back to my records and request affidavits from both staff and inmates on specific incidents that may have been concluded as abuse if the informal actions taken had not been effective to avoid a repeat incident. One should glean the misconduct tickets written and the number of grievances written to determine if there are incidents such as these actually occurred and do this under oath could reveal more severe abuse such as hazing, water torture, sleep deprivation, deliberate use of chemical agents that are dispersed as staff walk passed the cells, and many other forms of corporal punishment that were corrected but not ignored.
A public records review will glean such behaviors and documented results. One must remember that these actions are of a few and not the majority but if you take the time to look at the disciplinary issued to staff for excessive use of force, unlawful discharge of chemical agents etc you will find a pattern that will support my statement that this does occur as detailed although shocking and disturbing to many. The others, because of a flawed culture turn a blind eye to these occurrences. One must work the place to realize what staff do and don’t do in order to remain safe and in control. You must be there on every shift and every day of the week and weekends to be able to glean such poor correctional practices but as mentioned several times before, a review of all inmate grievances related to their treatment and living conditions can be gleaned from their inmate grievances related for the time period of June 2007 until April 2010.
[1] www.treatmentadvocacycenter. org
[2] One must consider that no matter where the inmate is housed in a maximum custody unit, if they require mental health treatment and observation, they must be given access to these services per ADA.
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