Blogging Blue

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, noted for his top-notch managerial skills, has come under fire from the union representing corrections officers at the Milwaukee County House of Corrections for his attempts to enact staffing changes in violation of negotiated labor agreements (emphasis mine):

Clarke said he decided to use the sergeants as backup for guards after an initial review of the House of Correction operation. Sergeants have a different job classification and their main duties include supervision, booking inmates and training.

Schoofs said the union contract did not allow interchanging sergeants for lower level correctional officers, unless the only alternative was forced overtime.

The sheriff said he didn’t care what the job duties were on paper and that he wants to use the available staff more effectively and avoid the big overtime costs that have plagued the House of Correction. Overtime costs for 2008 were expected to exceed $4.3 million, despite the hiring of dozens of new correctional officers.

Sheriff Clarke’s not noted for a leadership style that inspires his rank and file subordinates, but it seems to me to be extremely counterproductive to pick a fight with corrections officers shortly after taking control of the management of the HOC. For as long as I can remember, one of the biggest problems at the HOC has been the severe morale problem among many of its employees, a morale problem which has affected not only retention of staff, but the hiring of new staff as well. As a veteran of both the HOC and State correctional facilities, I know that many of the problems the HOC faces, such as a chronic shortage of staff and the massive amounts of overtime - both voluntary and forced - that are a result of understaffing at the HOC are not as pervasive a problem at many state correctional institutions.

By their very nature, jobs in correctional institutions aren’t conducive to high morale. Those jobs are demanding both physically and mentally, and those demands can be difficult to deal with, especially when compounded by management that cares less about staff and more about a bottom line and “proving a point.” If Sheriff David Clarke really cared about improving things at the HOC, he’d be a little more willing to work with the line staff, instead of purposely trying to work against them.

I suppose it’s only fitting that former Milwaukee County House of Corrections Superintendent Ron Malone’s ID card and badge turned up in a toilet at the HOC last week, considering it could be said his career’s in the toilet as well. Malone has done a terrible job as Superintendent at the HOC, resulting in the HOC being rebuked in a federal report for being “marred by security lapses, bad management, poor employee morale and crowded conditions.”

As a former employee of the House of Corrections, I can attest to the difficult (that’s probably putting it mildly) working conditions for security staff at the HOC. Employee morale was a problem for the duration of my time at the HOC, as was a lack of adequate staffing, which resulted in tremendous amounts of overtime for staff. In fact, I distinctly remember working 27 of the 30 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas one year, and I was always amazed that more wasn’t done in the nearly 8 years since I worked at the HOC to alleviate the problem. I was on my way out the door at the HOC when Ron Malone was hired as Superintendent, and I can remember my hope that as a former manager within the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Malone would bring the fresh perspective that would be necessary to change the culture and environment at the HOC. Alas, it seems Ron Malone was simply content to collect his fat County paycheck without doing much to change things at the HOC, and so I’m not shocked he was demoted and placed under Sheriff Clarke’s authority.

Although to be honest, I’m not sure Sheriff David Clarke’s the kind of leader the HOC needs to change the culture, because he’s not exactly a leader that inspires those who work under him. If anything, Clarke will tighten up security at the HOC, but I don’t see much of a culture change, and until that happens, the HOC will always have problems it has now.

H/T to capper.

This past Wednesday, inmate Martin Williams escaped from the custody of the Milwaukee County House of Corrections after overpowering the lone corrections officer escorting him to a doctor’s appointment at St. Luke’s in Milwaukee. Williams was caught six hours later during a traffic stop, and when he was arrested he was in possession of a loaded gun.

Without knowing the specifics of how Williams was escorted to St. Luke’s, for example was he in handcuffs, or was he wearing leg irons and belly chains, it’s hard to say what went wrong, with one exception. All reports indicate Williams was being escorted by a lone corrections officer, which seems like a curious policy for escorting a felon with a violent armed history. Today’s JSOnline has a story indicating the HOC has changed its policy on escorting certain prisoners, which is certainly good news, but what I’d like to know is what took so long. Now it’s no secret I’m not a fan of Superintendent Ron Malone, primarily because I believe his style of short-sighted leadership is exactly what the House of Corrections doesn’t need if it’s going to enact the meaningful changes that will be necessary to both improve staff safety and morale, but also increase the community’s safety.

This most recent escape just underscores what I’ve been wondering for years: Why is the HOC’s leadership so content to be reactive instead of proactive? Instead of waiting for an inmate to overpower his escort and flee during a doctor’s appointment, why don’t the HOC’s managers sit down, take a comprehensive look at all their security policies, and figure out what works and what doesn’t, and then work to change those policies that need to be fixed? I know that would mean a lot of hard work, but the community deserves nothing less, given all the problems the HOC has had when it comes to inmate escapes and whatnot.

If Ron Malone were really committed to changing the culture of the HOC and improving not only safety, but morale, he’d start by working hard to implement meaningful changes. It’s just disappointing the HOC - and Milwaukee County - don’t have the forward-thinking leadership they need to ensure the continued safety of the community and the staff that work at the HOC.

Being a former employee at the Milwaukee County House of Correction, I try to keep up with the latest news and happenings from that particular institution, so imagine my surprise when I opened today’s paper and saw an article about an inmate from the HOC who’s being charged with first-degree reckless homicide after being accused of supplying another inmate with prescription methadone pills, causing that inmate’s death. What’s most disturbing to me, at least at first glance, is the fact that the HOC wasn’t even licensed to distribute methadone to treat heroin withdrawal:

Methadone is frequently used to treat pain and as a non-addictive substitute to help wean heroin addicts off that drug. The House of Correction is not licensed to treat heroin withdrawal with methadone, according to the criminal complaint. It wasn’t immediately clear why Fitzpatrick was getting the methadone, but according to the complaint, he had been getting 14 pills twice a day from the medical dispensary. He traded an unspecified number of the pills to Orlowski for snack chips from the House of Correction commissary, the complaint says.

While it’s obvious to me internal House of Corrections policies regarding prescribed medications are largely to blame, both for continuing to give an inmate methadone despite not being licensed to do so and also for allowing the inmate to hoard his methadone for weeks at a time. However, I can already see who Scott Walker and HOC Superintendent Ron Malone are going to blame, in order to deflect blame away from themselves:

Attempts to revive Orlowski about 6 a.m. were unsuccessful, the criminal complaint says. A correctional officer checked on Orlowski at 4 a.m., when he was snoring loudly, and last checked on him at 5:25 a.m., the complaint says.

The Orlowski family claim says that correctional officers “refused to look at or check up” on Orlowski early that morning despite repeated pleas by other inmates.

If you’d like to read more on the foibles and follies at the Milwaukee County House of Corrections, check out a series of excellent blog entries by capper over at folkbum’s, or feel free to check out my archive.

All Politics posted an entry earlier tonight highlighting the differences between Lena Taylor and Scott Walker as election day draws closer. What I found most interesting was this particular blurb:

Taylor also criticizes Walker over escapes and walk-aways from the work-release center. Walker puts the blame on judges, saying greater care was needed in who is sentenced there.

I find that particular blurb to be most interesting because it really highlights Scott Walker’s management style: when something goes wrong, blame someone else. Scott Walker’s assertion that judges - and not he as the County Executive - are to blame for poor management and security procedures at the Community Correctional Center is absolutely ludicrous.

What’s more, Walker has provided further proof that his hypocrisy and willingness to lie knows no limits, as evidenced by this ad:

Sure, it’s a mildly amusing take on the ever-popular Apple ads, but what I found most amusing about the ad is Walker’s assertion that he’s diverted money from parks and transit in order to enhance public safety - an assertion that flies in the face of the cold hard reality of things in Milwaukee County. After all, if Scott Walker’s been putting so much money into public safety, how does he explain multiple escapes from county facilities, one of which ended in a murder?

Sometimes as I sit and think about the upcoming election for Milwaukee County Executive, I can’t help but wonder how how much more of a hypocrite Scott Walker could be, considering his status as one of Milwaukee County’s foremost practitioners of the dark art of hypocrisy.

After all, who can forgot these humdingers:

• Taking credit for Milwaukee County’s seven million dollar budget surplus, despite the fact that the surplus came about as the result of a budget Walker himself vetoed.
• Or how about the fact that Walker touts his concern for public safety - despite the fact that during his tenure in office the House of Corrections has been plagued by chronic understaffing, not one, but two high-profile escapes, the second of which ended with a citizen being murdered. And lest we forget Scott Walker’s plan to “keep Milwaukee safe” by closing CCC and placing the individuals confined there on GPS.
• And then there’s Walker’s hypocritical attacks against Lena Taylor for raising campaign funds from outside Milwaukee County, when Walker’s own campaign has been hitting up out of county donors for campaign contributions.

As I sit here thinking about Scott Walker’s repeated hypocrisy, I’m left to wonder if his hypocrisy knows any limits.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has talked a lot about his desire to close the Community Correctional Center - Milwaukee’s Huber work release facility - and replace it with GPS monitoring for offenders who would have otherwise been housed at CCC. Walker’s touted his plan as being one that will save the County - and taxpayers - millions of dollars, but Sheriff David Clarke isn’t buying it. “If you are not going to do GPS right, I’m going to stand in the way of it,” Clarke said to the MJS. What I found most interesting was this passage from the article:

Clarke said in an interview that serious unanswered questions about the GPS system remain. To be done properly, inmates considered for GPS monitoring should be carefully pre-screened, he said. All violent and drug offenders should be excluded, Clarke said.

A successful monitoring program also should have frequent drug testing, he said. And the program needs extra law enforcement help to round up inmates who set off alarms for straying from approved travel routes to school or jobs.

All those things cost money that hasn’t been found yet, Clarke said.

That’s exactly the problem I’ve always had with Scott Walker’s plan to close CCC - the fact that it may not actually save much more money than keeping CCC open and fully staffed. Another concern of mine was also raised by Sheriff Clarke - that being the fact that offenders on GPS could still be committing new crimes while they’re being monitored, because a GPS bracelet won’t prevent someone from committing murder or dealing drugs.

Ultimately, any solution to the problems that have plagued CCC will come only after Scott Walker and Ron Malone, the Superintendent of the House of Corrections and CCC, finally admit that the problems at those two facilities aren’t simply a matter of lazy staff who don’t want to do their jobs properly. If I were running things at the HOC and CCC, my first course of action would be to change the entire culture and improve working conditions for staff, because staff who don’t like coming to work aren’t going to do their best while they’re at their jobs. There’s no denying there’s a lot of problems at the HOC and CCC, but those problems can most certainly be fixed - but only if management is willing to work collaboratively with the rank and file corrections staff to enact real changes that not only improve working conditions, but that also keep our communities safer.

GPS monitoring isn’t going to be a magic fix for what’s wrong with CCC, and if Scott Walker thinks it is, he’s fooling himself.

capper over at folkbum’s is talking about this too.

This past weekend, I blogged a bit about some of the crazy stuff happening at the Milwaukee County House of Corrections and its work release facility, CCC. I noted the fact that when asked about inmates being allowed to stay up until 3:30 a.m. on the weekends, Ron Malone, the Superintendent of the HOC, declined to comment, saying he wasn’t familiar with inmate hours. I noted how odd it was that the Superintendent didn’t know the policies and procedures of the facility he was charged with supervising, and so you can imagine my surprise when I happened across an article in today’s MJS that notes the inmate “all-nighters” on weekends have been cancelled, effective immediately.

What’s most curious about the change is a comment by Superintendent Malone, who said the change was made in part because of the MJS’s previous article on the inmate late nights, but also had been under consideration and would likely have been made by January in any case. So only a week ago Ron Malone said he didn’t know the inmates’ curfew on the weekends, yet now he’s saying that changing curfew had already been under consideration? What’s more, the President of the corrections officers’ union told the MJS Malone told him he was adamantly opposed to changing the policy during a recent meeting with the union.

I’m willing to bet this policy wasn’t already under review; it just got changed because the HOC’s management - and no doubt the County Executive - can ill afford more bad publicity in an election year.

…but things have been busy, to say the least. Between a boy with a broken arm, a computer that took a dive, and a work schedule that’s been hectic, there hasn’t been much time for BloggingBlue. But all four of you out there who still surf on by every once in a while can rest assured I’m back.

But now onto serious business.

This story caught my eye while I was on my sabbatical, in part because I’m just amazed Scott Walker still thinks he’s qualified to serve as County Executive. According to Supervisor Richard Nyklewicz Jr., “We did not fully fund everything” included in the budget submitted. Those comments were made not long after the County Board approved the county’s new budget, leaving me to wonder what kind of mid-year budget crisis we’ll have this year, since Scott Walker’s budgets seem to always run into problems towards the middle of the fiscal year. Knowing that there’s going to be a budget “crisis” sometime next year due to Scott Walker’s fuzzy math, I can’t help but wonder what programs will get cut this time.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Another story that caught my eye is something capper over at folkbum’s rambles and rants has been reporting on, namely the myriad of problems plaguing the Milwaukee County House of Corrections (HOC) and their work release facility, the Community Correctional Center (CCC). From the shocking (an inmate who was marked as being “in” at CCC was actually out and committed a murder) to the bizarre (inmates are allowed to stay up until 3:30 a.m. on weekends at the HOC, there’s no shortage of news being made by the folks over at the HOC and CCC.

To start, let’s talk about the murder committed by Freddie Dudley, an inmate at the CCC. Mr. Dudley apparently murdered a man during a robbery, a crime that was committed while Dudley was “signed in” at CCC, which means he was supposed to be at CCC during the time he committed the murder. Wingnuts all across the blogosphere were quick to blame lax supervision at CCC as the cause of Freddie Dudley committing murder, but having spent some time working at CCC, I can attest to the horrible working conditions. Staff shortages are commonplace, resulting in officers frequently working 16 hour shifts day after day, and while that’s no excuse for those same staff taking shortcuts, I believe they were only following the example set by their supervisors.

After all, the corrections officers in question wouldn’t have been able to do what they did if not for the failings of CCC supervisors to adequately supervise the officers. It’s the job of management to manage, and in this case - and other cases involving problems at the HOC/CCC, management has been derelict in supervising the employees.

While not as serious as an inmate committing murder while on work release, this story about HOC bedtimes caught my eye, mostly because of what the HOC’s Superintendent, Ron Malone, had to say - or not say - regarding inmates being allowed to stay up until 3:30 a.m. on weekends. According to the MJS article, when asked about the late hours, Malone declined to comment, saying he wasn’t familiar with inmate hours. Now I’ve never met Ron Malone, but there’s something really wrong with his leadership if he doesn’t even know the policies and procedures of the facility he’s responsible for. His first task as Superintendent of the House of Corrections should have been to thoroughly review the facility’s policies and procedures, not only so he was familiar with them, but also so he could begin making any necessary changes to improve those policies.

The problems with the HOC/CCC run deep, and they start at the very top. I remember when Ron Malone came aboard as the HOC Superintendent, and I remember how he was being touted as someone who could come in and fix what was wrong with the HOC. Being that Malone was an outsider (he came from the Wisconsin DOC if I recall), the hope was that he’d bring new ideas on how to fix all that ailed the HOC, from the massive amounts of overtime corrections officers were working to the horrible conditions they were forced to work in and inmates were forced to live in. Ron Malone’s had a lot of time to turn the HOC around, but he hasn’t gotten the job done, and for him to say he wasn’t aware of the hours inmates were allowed to stay up shows he’s asleep at the wheel.

Those folks who are calling for the heads of the corrections officers involved in the Freddie Dudley situation should also be calling for the heads of all their supervisors, up to and including HOC Superintendent Ronald Malone, under whose “leadership” all these problems have continued to simmer without any action to correct them.