Who will be selected to lead the prison system in California?
By Richard Krupp, PhD
As the current Department of Corrections Secretary pulls the plug and moves into retirement mode I think back at some of his CDCR highlights or maybe comedic highlights? There have been a few things that brought a smile to my face. Of course the media did not list many of the most amusing antics from the Beard days. Here are excerpts from a recent Sacramento Bee article,
California prison chief to leave
Jeffrey Beard, 68, will retire after three years as secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown, Beard set Jan. 1 as the effective date of his departure. During Beard’s tenure, the state settled one lawsuit that contended inmates were excessively punished for allegations of gang affiliation and another lawsuit that said they were punished by race.
More recently, the secretary was put in an awkward position over department policy for staffing inmate fire camps. In October, the corrections officials said they might change a long-standing policy that excludes inmates whose crimes fall under the state’s legal definition of a “violent offense.”
The announcement raised safety concerns, however, and the department pulled back. Then it had to acknowledge that some violent offenders were already assigned to fire camps, despite information on the CDCR website to the contrary
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article47839745.html#storylink=cpy
Though the article does mention the fire camp problem, some details were omitted. We did cover the violent camper theme in an article posted here on Paco, Beard Favors Prone Position with Inmate Hosers back on October 27, 2015.
Here are some highlights,
The Fluidly Violent Fire Camp Inmate--Something Good Can Work
Who's on first?
A couple of weeks ago Secretary of Corrections Jeffrey Beard demonstrated his comedic skills by utilizing the Abbot and Costello, "Who's on first" routine to explain away the prison system utilization of violent inmates on fire crews. According to Beard,
• Some inmates are convicted of violence and others are prone to violence.
• Inmates not '"classified" as violent are banned from fire camp if they act violent.
• Inmates who are non-violent but have violent tendencies are banned from fire camp.
• A violent inmate who changes to non-violent can go to camp.
The comedic Beard made everyone feel more comfortable when he indicated that even Corrections people haven't understood this fluid concept. This has been going on a long time so don't worry about it.
And of course, who could forget the brilliant Ad Seg game playing program for problem inmates highlighted in a September 1, 2014 post on Paco,
Playing games--Waiting for the cough syrup to go down
The three stooges find miracle cure for mental illness
“Standalone unit cells are provided electricity, allowing each inmate to have an electrical appliance in his cell,” a report on the policies explains. “Each inmate in the standalone unit will receive a general orientation packet and a (workbook), as well as pen fillers, paper, a calendar, a radio provided on the first day of placement, nonfiction and fiction books, regular offering of puzzles, crosswords, games, current events materials, the unit’s menu, and personal property such as photographs and notebooks.”
A major focus will be on getting inmates out of their cells to exercise or play with balls or games. Inmates in short-term housing will get 20 hours a week of such time, double what they are afforded in administrative segregation units.
And then there is the radical "Guard One" program that involved "hitting a thing with a stick" to ensure no inmates committed suicide. Highlighted in this December 26, 2014 Paco post,
The Cool Kids for 2015?
They know where we should go
"I think we have made a lot of good progress over the past year," Beard said.
In addition to providing more accommodations for mentally ill inmates, the prison system has put in place new protocols meant to reduce suicides. Beard noted that the number of inmate suicides has fallen -- there were 30 in 2013, and 23 reported so far this year. He attributes the decline to new policies, including a requirement that guards check on inmates in segregation units twice every hour rather than once an hour.
"The one big thing that we did is we installed what's called a Guard One system in all of our segregation units, and this is a system where the officer has a (tool), like a pipe, that they walk around and they hit a thing on each door," Beard said. "And so it actually ensures that somebody is making regular rounds in the housing unit."
Also ranking high on the list was, but not in the top three was the program involving "friendly, passive security dogs" utilized to sniff out inmate smuggled drugs and cell phones. Who wouldn't want a friendly security dog? The Beard replaced the highly successful German Shepherd dogs due to complaints from visitors about the non passive dogs. More details are available on the March 17, 2015 Paco post, Prison System to get Friendly, Passive Dogs: Who is keeping an eye on this?
He headed west from Pennsylvania to find some treasure but now the Beard and his comedy act now moves on. Who is to blame for the antics that peppered the Beard years? Who will be selected to carry on? Will he be funny? Here is the song, Blame it on me by, George Ezra,
We headed west for to find ourselves some truth, ooh
We counted all our reasons, excuses that we made
We found ourselves some treasure, and threw it all away
What you waiting for
No, What you waiting for
Caught in the tide of blossom, caught in the carnival
Your confidence forgotten, I see the gypsies rule
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