I Don't Get it!
Content
Stan Moody
POB 240 Manchester, ME 04351 207/626-0594 www.stanmoody.com
Help! I Just Don·t Get It!
April 3, 2010 As do all new employees, I had the good fortune of receiving 8 weeks of orientation before assuming my role as a prison chaplain at Maine State Prison in Warren. Sprinkled in among the good information was a litany of well-worn horror stories that have become common prison lore. As these stories of guns, blood, feces and urine bore up under repetition, I began to wonder how many years had transpired between these events. It is almost as though working in a prison involves waiting for the next shoe to drop while running through your head what you are supposed to do when it does. These stories are very familiar to the press, to the legislature and to staff, so much so that when something serious happens, like the hostage-taking incident in the library, the public just yawns, thinking that it is business as usual. You cannot be heard to object to lack of press coverage if you create the impression that every day you go into the prison you take your life in your hands. The stories are decidedly one-sided. They omit references to the kind of medical and security neglect that led to the death of Prisoner Weinstein and injuries to a parade of others over the years. Somehow, we have created a fear culture of them vs. us. Fear leads to playing defense instead of offense. Playing defense leads to protecting yourself instead of those you have been hired to protect. Is it any wonder that morale among guards is rock bottom? They have been indoctrinated with fear and put in uniform on their first day at work only to be coached by others taking great pride in having stayed the course while walking a gauntlet. Does it not seem logical that if you do your job with respect for human dignity, are consistent and fair, are blind to a prisoner·s crime, are willing to listen, you can work miracles while assuring your own safety? The problem is that respect for human dignity, fairness, objectivity and willingness to listen are in short supply from the top down and therefore are not characteristics well respected. The stories of trouble within school systems that have been making the news lately may be helpful in understanding this crisis of authority. A recently immigrated Irish girl in South Hadley, MA, Phoebe Prince, was so brutally bullied at school and on Facebook that she hanged herself. The bloggers say, ´She was probably mentally and emotionally disturbed.µ Well; she certainly was attractive. She smiled a lot. She talked funny ² differently from MA kids. Maybe she got the idea that she was alone with no support from those in charge, including her parents. One blogger, hiding behind the pseudonym ´clinteastwood.com,µ suggested that teachers are afraid of the parents, parents are afraid of their kids, and the kids are afraid of nobody, so we should just lock the bullying SOB·s up, and they will learn what punishment is all about. Who is the anonymous clinteastwood.com afraid of ² his own identity or those SOB·s who are afraid of no one?
1
Applying that rationale to a prison culture that winks at bullying, guards are afraid of the public, the public is afraid of criminals and criminals are afraid of nobody. So we should just keep the SOB·s in solitary indefinitely? Alexa Gonzalez, a 12-yr. old girl from Queens, NY, wrote something about her faith and friends on her desk with a washable marker. She was handcuffed, driven to the police station, booked and sentenced to community service. Her treatment was justified as standard procedure for a graffiti ordinance violation. Standard procedure is expected to cost the school district somewhere around $1M. The image of frightened people in uniform treating every school kid like a ticking bomb or a prisoner like a caged tiger makes one wonder where our culture is going. You cannot expect people to love their work if respect, fairness, objectivity and a willingness to listen are not held in the highest regard from the top down. How long will it be before good teachers and honest prison guards begin saying, ´I·ve had enough. It·s time for change!µ? Here are a few suggestions: Make Deputy Wardens line managers out on the floor, working directly with the divisions under their command and with the prisoners. Tone down the guard uniforms. Test guards for psychological fitness for the job. Train them in the psychology of human interaction, and pay them better. Set up a system to receive tips from staff anonymously either through a third party or through a numbering system. Conduct exit interviews and compile the results for adjusting the training program. Place a high priority on doing what you say you·re going to do and doing it when you say you are going to do it. Maine State Prison loses upwards of 100 officers a year through its revolving door. Many of these have been harassed by seasoned guards. Most of these are just bored out of their skulls from playing defense in a system that fails to respect creativity or initiative. Meanwhile, officials from the Department of Corrections, miles away, issue statements that have little relationship to reality because the only thing they know is what they are being told by people who have gotten out of touch. I just don·t get it!
2
POB 240 Manchester, ME 04351 207/626-0594 www.stanmoody.com
Help! I Just Don·t Get It!
April 3, 2010 As do all new employees, I had the good fortune of receiving 8 weeks of orientation before assuming my role as a prison chaplain at Maine State Prison in Warren. Sprinkled in among the good information was a litany of well-worn horror stories that have become common prison lore. As these stories of guns, blood, feces and urine bore up under repetition, I began to wonder how many years had transpired between these events. It is almost as though working in a prison involves waiting for the next shoe to drop while running through your head what you are supposed to do when it does. These stories are very familiar to the press, to the legislature and to staff, so much so that when something serious happens, like the hostage-taking incident in the library, the public just yawns, thinking that it is business as usual. You cannot be heard to object to lack of press coverage if you create the impression that every day you go into the prison you take your life in your hands. The stories are decidedly one-sided. They omit references to the kind of medical and security neglect that led to the death of Prisoner Weinstein and injuries to a parade of others over the years. Somehow, we have created a fear culture of them vs. us. Fear leads to playing defense instead of offense. Playing defense leads to protecting yourself instead of those you have been hired to protect. Is it any wonder that morale among guards is rock bottom? They have been indoctrinated with fear and put in uniform on their first day at work only to be coached by others taking great pride in having stayed the course while walking a gauntlet. Does it not seem logical that if you do your job with respect for human dignity, are consistent and fair, are blind to a prisoner·s crime, are willing to listen, you can work miracles while assuring your own safety? The problem is that respect for human dignity, fairness, objectivity and willingness to listen are in short supply from the top down and therefore are not characteristics well respected. The stories of trouble within school systems that have been making the news lately may be helpful in understanding this crisis of authority. A recently immigrated Irish girl in South Hadley, MA, Phoebe Prince, was so brutally bullied at school and on Facebook that she hanged herself. The bloggers say, ´She was probably mentally and emotionally disturbed.µ Well; she certainly was attractive. She smiled a lot. She talked funny ² differently from MA kids. Maybe she got the idea that she was alone with no support from those in charge, including her parents. One blogger, hiding behind the pseudonym ´clinteastwood.com,µ suggested that teachers are afraid of the parents, parents are afraid of their kids, and the kids are afraid of nobody, so we should just lock the bullying SOB·s up, and they will learn what punishment is all about. Who is the anonymous clinteastwood.com afraid of ² his own identity or those SOB·s who are afraid of no one?
1
Applying that rationale to a prison culture that winks at bullying, guards are afraid of the public, the public is afraid of criminals and criminals are afraid of nobody. So we should just keep the SOB·s in solitary indefinitely? Alexa Gonzalez, a 12-yr. old girl from Queens, NY, wrote something about her faith and friends on her desk with a washable marker. She was handcuffed, driven to the police station, booked and sentenced to community service. Her treatment was justified as standard procedure for a graffiti ordinance violation. Standard procedure is expected to cost the school district somewhere around $1M. The image of frightened people in uniform treating every school kid like a ticking bomb or a prisoner like a caged tiger makes one wonder where our culture is going. You cannot expect people to love their work if respect, fairness, objectivity and a willingness to listen are not held in the highest regard from the top down. How long will it be before good teachers and honest prison guards begin saying, ´I·ve had enough. It·s time for change!µ? Here are a few suggestions: Make Deputy Wardens line managers out on the floor, working directly with the divisions under their command and with the prisoners. Tone down the guard uniforms. Test guards for psychological fitness for the job. Train them in the psychology of human interaction, and pay them better. Set up a system to receive tips from staff anonymously either through a third party or through a numbering system. Conduct exit interviews and compile the results for adjusting the training program. Place a high priority on doing what you say you·re going to do and doing it when you say you are going to do it. Maine State Prison loses upwards of 100 officers a year through its revolving door. Many of these have been harassed by seasoned guards. Most of these are just bored out of their skulls from playing defense in a system that fails to respect creativity or initiative. Meanwhile, officials from the Department of Corrections, miles away, issue statements that have little relationship to reality because the only thing they know is what they are being told by people who have gotten out of touch. I just don·t get it!
2
