In light of a recent lawsuit filed by the ACLU against CCA over its operation of a prison in Idaho, CCA replaced the top two administration officials at the facility. I'm sure that will fix every problem.
I worked there 2 years, I gave my 2 weeks notice and left. I was so disgusted at the way the place was operated. I had worked over 10 years in the state facility. My radio was held together with tape and rubberbands. I witnessed two staff tell a heavy to take care of an inmate. I was threatened by senior staff to keep my mouth shut. I seen a lot of violence and even more uneducated staff due to cca constantly firing anyone that did anything remotely wrong. They had no disciplinary action with staff. They used up so many staff at one facility back east that they had to have idaho cca staff shipped there to keep the facility going since they had hired and fired everyone in that town. They told them they were not allowed to go into town neither due to the hostility of the townspeople towards cca. So it's not just you, and or I. So many people hated that place. When I left in 2006 violence was on a rapid increase and I told staff (senior) that they had a real problem coming. no one listened. That's a huge problem. I told the seargent he had drugs on the unit I heard an inmate. He took my reports and threw them away. He would not let me walk the unit cuz I had no experience according to him. Reality was I knew more what was going on and he felt threatned by me and thought I wanted his job.
I could go on all night lol. I've never in my life seen so many staff get fired in that place. That means there is no experienced staff, that means no control over inmates, increase in violence etc etc. Lack of training, equipment and good staff and you get a violent facility.
I read the article. It's 100 percent dead on. Just basically what I said. It has gone to the dump and the State Run facility is sooooo much better. They actually train the employees and although there are those employees that are not great co's they know more in their little finger than cca knows about running the prison.
Wow it's so interesting to here your side. A lot of the news that comes out is only about really egregious abuses of prisoners, but the operational problems aren't out there nearly as much. The training of employees, or lack of it, does seem to be a huge issue at the private facilities, and I know it leads to a lot of violence among the inmates and turnover among staff. But to have them just dismiss a clearly intelligent staffer such as yourself, when you came to alert them of a coming crisis, is just sick. It's like they never seem to learn from the repeated mistake they make, and they just continue to cut corners and ignore problems until they boil over into something huge, like the riots that happened in Pecos, TX last year (check out old posts for more on them) at GEO facilities, or a lawsuit. But what makes it even worse is that the general public, or at least elected officials, don't seem to get it either. Even though there's a ton of research on how poorly these facilities are run, and it's often presented during discussions to bring in a private prison company, they continue to get new contracts. I just don't get it.
New riots in Pecos see news. Ya everyone I've told about that incident with officers targeting an inmate and telling other inmates to take care of the "problem" shake their head. The part that really blew my mind was the inmate was an old guy that just pissed off the officer by talking back. That's it. That is all he did. Man if you can't handle one inmate talking back to you.....then you have no business in corrections. That's your job, handle inmates and their problems. I'm shocked that the facility in Boise has not had a riot. My only conclusion is that they have just gotten lucky and it's a new facility. The design is well and locks down automatically all over. If it was older maybe they wouldn't be so lucky. I hope their luck continues but I fear that someday they will have a riot. One of my best friends works there still and I don't know how she does it. She's a spit ball of fire boy! Tells them Captains to go jump in a lake if she feels like it lol.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/03/17/1121017/apnewsbreak-lawsuit-prompts-prison.html
ReplyDeleteI worked there. Hated every minute of it. Some of the crap I seen there blew my mind after working in a state facility.
adios Prado u scum (the deputy warden)
ReplyDeleteSo what do you make of the lawsuit? Was/is ICC really as violent as it's portrayed?
ReplyDeleteHow long did you work there?
By the way - i came across a great editorial on the lawsuit and CCA's failure to operate the prison up to the same standards as IDOC. Here's a link:
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/cxw_editorial-why-did-idaho-let-things-get-so-bad-at-icc--856645.html
I worked there 2 years, I gave my 2 weeks notice and left. I was so disgusted at the way the place was operated. I had worked over 10 years in the state facility. My radio was held together with tape and rubberbands. I witnessed two staff tell a heavy to take care of an inmate. I was threatened by senior staff to keep my mouth shut. I seen a lot of violence and even more uneducated staff due to cca constantly firing anyone that did anything remotely wrong. They had no disciplinary action with staff. They used up so many staff at one facility back east that they had to have idaho cca staff shipped there to keep the facility going since they had hired and fired everyone in that town. They told them they were not allowed to go into town neither due to the hostility of the townspeople towards cca. So it's not just you, and or I. So many people hated that place. When I left in 2006 violence was on a rapid increase and I told staff (senior) that they had a real problem coming. no one listened. That's a huge problem. I told the seargent he had drugs on the unit I heard an inmate. He took my reports and threw them away. He would not let me walk the unit cuz I had no experience according to him. Reality was I knew more what was going on and he felt threatned by me and thought I wanted his job.
ReplyDeleteI could go on all night lol. I've never in my life seen so many staff get fired in that place. That means there is no experienced staff, that means no control over inmates, increase in violence etc etc. Lack of training, equipment and good staff and you get a violent facility.
I read the article. It's 100 percent dead on. Just basically what I said. It has gone to the dump and the State Run facility is sooooo much better. They actually train the employees and although there are those employees that are not great co's they know more in their little finger than cca knows about running the prison.
ReplyDeleteWow it's so interesting to here your side. A lot of the news that comes out is only about really egregious abuses of prisoners, but the operational problems aren't out there nearly as much. The training of employees, or lack of it, does seem to be a huge issue at the private facilities, and I know it leads to a lot of violence among the inmates and turnover among staff. But to have them just dismiss a clearly intelligent staffer such as yourself, when you came to alert them of a coming crisis, is just sick. It's like they never seem to learn from the repeated mistake they make, and they just continue to cut corners and ignore problems until they boil over into something huge, like the riots that happened in Pecos, TX last year (check out old posts for more on them) at GEO facilities, or a lawsuit. But what makes it even worse is that the general public, or at least elected officials, don't seem to get it either. Even though there's a ton of research on how poorly these facilities are run, and it's often presented during discussions to bring in a private prison company, they continue to get new contracts. I just don't get it.
ReplyDeleteNew riots in Pecos see news. Ya everyone I've told about that incident with officers targeting an inmate and telling other inmates to take care of the "problem" shake their head. The part that really blew my mind was the inmate was an old guy that just pissed off the officer by talking back. That's it. That is all he did. Man if you can't handle one inmate talking back to you.....then you have no business in corrections. That's your job, handle inmates and their problems. I'm shocked that the facility in Boise has not had a riot. My only conclusion is that they have just gotten lucky and it's a new facility. The design is well and locks down automatically all over. If it was older maybe they wouldn't be so lucky. I hope their luck continues but I fear that someday they will have a riot. One of my best friends works there still and I don't know how she does it. She's a spit ball of fire boy! Tells them Captains to go jump in a lake if she feels like it lol.
ReplyDeleteHope & Pray the Pecos riot turns out ok.