roll call july 2011

8/4/2019 Roll Call July 2011

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A publication of the American Correctional Officer Intelligence Network"

July 2011

Jul 1, 2011By Tom CallisPeninsula Daily News

CLALLAM BAY A prison guard was the only corrections offi-cer supervising 104 inmates in the laundry and garmentarea when he was taken hostage Wednesday during abotched escape attempt.

The unidentified guard, armed with only handcuffs and aradio, was one of two corrections officers assigned to thatshift at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center.

He was left to supervise the inmates, assigned to clean theprison's laundry and make uniforms, by himself at about 10a.m. when his partner left the room to take a 30-minutelunch break standard staffing practice in state prisons.

Inmates Dominick Maldonado, convicted of wounding sevenpeople during a 2005 shooting rampage at Tacoma Mall,and Kevin Newland, convicted of murder, seized the oppor-

tunity.

Maldonado, with scissors in hand, took the solo guard hos-tage while Newland, who murdered Spokane teenager JamieLynn Drake in 2006, grabbed his keys and unlocked a fork-

lift chained to a wall.

Newland was killed in the escape attempt while Maldonado,who is serving a 163-year sentence, faces additionalcharges.

Clallam Bay Corrections Center Superintendent Ron Frakeracknowledged Thursday that the inmates exploited the op-portunity but said it's unlikely that having two officers pre-sent at the time would have prevented one from being takenhostage.

The two inmates, both 25 and assigned to sewing machines,

had prepared for the escape attempt by sewing food, watercontainers and medication into their clothing, prison officialssaid.

Other prison staff assigned to the industries area rushed tonotify security staff, but not before Newland hopped onto

the electric forklift, which he crashed through a rollup doorand into the prison's two perimeter fences.

A corrections officer conducting firearms training nearbyoutside the facility fatally shot Newland after firing a warning

(Continued on page 2)

Guard taken Hostage was Alone Among 104 Inmates

Clallam Bay prison Superintendent Ron Fraker, center,

speaks to the media on Wednesday night at the prison as state

Department of Corrections Deputy Director Dan Pacholke,

left, and corrections spokesperson Chad Lewis listen in.


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PO Box 1175 Thayne , WY 83127 [email protected] Tel. 1-307-883-9707 Fax 1-307-883-9708


FROM THE EDITOR:

Please stay safe, and watch each others Backs!

Henry J. RuizHenry J. Ruiz

ACO Communication Director & Editor

[email protected]

shot and issuing verbal commands.

Maldonado followed his cohort outside with his hostage but surrendered immediately after seeing Newland shot.

The prison will remain on lockdown for at least the next few days while an investigation is conducted, said state Depart-ment of Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis.

Prison officials said the staff acted admirably by stopping two violent criminals from escaping.

You have got to be very proud of that, said Dan Pocholke, state deputy prisons director.

But would it have happened if there was more than one officer in the room at the time?

Per prison policy, neither was armed with a gun, pepper spray, a baton or a stun gun out of concern that such weapons couldbe seized by an inmate, prison officials said.

I think he could have been taken hostage, said Fraker, who has worked at the prison since 1990.

Whether they would have done that is another question at this time.

Fraker said the number of officers assigned to any area of the prison is based on a model that takes into account avail-able staff, the number of inmates and their tendency toward violence.

Lewis said the model is used statewide, and neither he nor Fraker said they expect that to change, despite the attack.

Lewis said the National Institute of Corrections determined the state's model to be as good or better than the national av-erage after investigating the death of Monroe Correctional Complex Officer Jayme Biendl, who was killed while workingalone with an inmate in January.

(Continued from page 1)

(Continued on page 3)
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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I don't think it will make a lot of sense to look at it again, Lewis said.

I don't think it will find anything different.

Clallam Bay employs about 250 corrections officers, he said, and houses about 850 inmates. The number of officers hasnot been reduced due to budget cuts, Lewis said.

Biendl's death prompted Teamsters Local 117, which represents corrections officers, to hold rallies around the state inMarch protesting what they saw as poor safety oversight. Rallies were held in Port Angeles and Forks.

Local 117 spokesman Paul Zilly said Corrections can always do more to improve safety conditions but added that theunion is not commenting on Wednesday's hostage taking and escape attempt until more is known about the incident.

We need to have a broader picture of exactly what happened before we can say what it was that caused this, he said.

In response to Biendl's death, Corrections has increased checkups on officers working solo posts, Lewis said. That wasdone with the help of a $6 million infusion of state funds.

But due to staffing limitations, having one guard on duty in an area can't always be avoided, Fraker and Lewis said, evenfor 30 minutes.

Lewis said that is typical for prisons around the United States.

Eventually, you have to operate in reality, he said. Just like any other job, you have limited staff.

Still, some changes are coming.

Lewis said Corrections plans to issue pepper spray to some guards shortly in response to Biendl's death.

Guns at state prisons are limited to officers in guard towers and each prison's armory, Lewis said.

New panic buttons are expected that would be placed near the officers' shoulder rather than a radio. The guard taken hos-tage was unable to use his radio's panic button, Lewis said.

Corrections has also reduced shifts from 8.5 hours to eight hours at the Monroe prison.

That move, which may be implemented statewide in the next few months, would have required the second guard to eat athis post, Fraker said.

Overall, prison violence is down 20 percent over the past four years, according to a Corrections report.

Prison staff attribute that to taking a less confrontational approach to inmates.

That includes keeping a close eye on behavioral changes and doing fewer forced-cell extractions, Lewis said.

What we have been doing has worked, he said.

Fraker said violence has been down significantly at Clallam Bay since he started working there 11 years ago.

He attributed that to focusing more on de-escalating situations through verbal commands.

It has to do a lot with attitude and how we treat the offenders and try to work with them, Fraker said



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Oneida facility closure is 'tearing up families'By AMANDA FRIES

Observer-Dispatch

Posted Jul 06, 2011 @ 07:58 PM

ROME When Danielle Fountain got pregnant thesecond time around, she didnt anticipate her hus-band not being around for it.That was the case for her first child, a now 3-year-olddaughter. Fountains husband, Patrick Fountain, saidhe was on the road for about two years prior to land-ing a job at Oneida Correctional Facility as a correc-

tion officer 3 years ago.

Now, Danielle Fountain is 5-months pregnant andfaces the chance of her husband being transferred to

a facility hours away from their Oneida residence.

Im upset for the little ones. Hell have to leave quitea bit for awhile, Danielle Fountain said, cradling herbelly. Im sure hell miss things I dont want him to

miss.

The Fountains are just one of hundreds of families who will be affected by the correctional facilitys closing, which is

expected to happen within 60 days as a cost-saving measure for the state.

To show their displeasure, more than 70 employees and their family members Wednesday blanketed School Road inRome picketing in front of the medium-security prison, which employs about 500 civilian and security personnel and

houses 939 inmates, about 80 percent of its capacity.

Public officials State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, and Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney, R-New Hartford, also were in

attendance.

Griffo said he disagrees with the decision made to close the facility, and is requesting information as to the method

and data used to make the decision.

A lot of this happened very quickly, Griffo said, adding he questions what will be done with the soon-to-be vacant

building.

Workers Wednesday also questioned the validity of the decision to close Oneida.

Some said it doesnt make sense to close the facility because it already has cost-effective measures in place, such as

sharing utility and infirmary services with nearby Mohawk Correctional Facility.

Peter Cutler, director of public information for the state Department of Correctional Services, said there were a varietyof factors that went into determining which facilities would be closed, such as the capital costs in operation of the facili-

ties, capacity factors and movement of inmates.

Last spring, the state Legislature authorized the elimination of 3,800 state prison beds and gave Gov. Andrew Cuomo

sole authority to decide which prisons to close.

We will do everything we can to mitigate the impact that this is having on (workers) lives, Cutler said. Beginningnext week, Human Resources will be traveling to each affected facility to meet with employees and go over the proc-

ess.


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Other facilities closing are: Buffalo Work Release in Erie County, Camp Georgetown in Madison County, Summit Shockin Schoharie County, Fulton Work Release in Bronx County, Arthur Kill in Richmond County and Mid-Orange in OrangeCounty.

Oneida is the largest facility slated for closure, although a food production center that is operated out of there and em-ploys 89 people will remain open.

Communities affected by the closure can request funds from a $50 million fund, as well as tax credits and other incen-

tives to offset the economic loss.

Closing all the sites is expected to save $72 million in the upcoming fiscal year and $184 million over the next two

years, according to the governors office.

Data concerning how much will be saved by closing specifically Oneida was not available Wednesday, as well as where

any of the employees may possibly be transferred to, Cutler said.

Officials have said seniority will be a factor when determining which employees are transferred and where they can go.

Patrick Fountain said a transfer will bring about new expenses, such as having to rent a place in another town while

paying a mortgage here.

The 'what ifs' are whats got everyone upset, Danielle Fountain said.

Herkimer resident and 15-year correction officer Shawn Kozna said he has two young children to support and a home

to build.

(Cuomo) is tearing up a lot of families, he said.

Inmate gets 12 years for biting officer's face6:42 AM, Jul. 12, 2011

CAMDEN A Camden County inmate charged with biting a corrections officer was sentenced to 12 years in prison onFriday.

Bernard Jenkins, 26, of Camden, will have to serve an additional 18 months as well for a charge of subjecting a lawenforcement officer to bodily fluids, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

Jenkins was convicted of a June 27, 2008, incident where he created a disturbance inhis cell and then bit a responding corrections officer in the face, tearing away a one-inch piece of skin.

The officer needed 18 stitches and has a permanent scar on his cheek.



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Connecticut to Ban Porn for Prison Inmates byMid-2012By Mark KernesJul 11th, 2011 06:27 PM

HARTFORD, Conn.With no discernable scientific evidence to back him up, Connecticut Department of Correction(DOC) Commissioner Leo Arnone announced today that inmates of the state's prison system will no longer be allowed

to possess sexually explicit material after June 30, 2012.

According to a DOC spokesman, the move has been under discussion for more than a year, at least since Arnone tookhis commissioner's job last fall, when the former corrections officer expressed concern about prisoners' access to thematerialviews which may have been affected by one of Arnone's other previous jobs, as Director of the state's Bureauof Juvenile Services, the job he left to take the Commissioner post.

"It's of concern when it comes to the basic safety and security of the facilities in terms of rehabilitation of the offender,"said DOC spokesman Brian Garnett. "We've got a lot of sexual offenders and this is obviously not material that a sexualoffender should be engaged in if they're trying to be rehabilitated."

While it's unclear just how many sexual offenders are in the Connecticut prison system, Arnone and his "experts" haveapparently missed the fact that, if their worry is that convicted rapists will rape more women when they're released, allevidence points to rape being a crime of violence that is generally not inspired by sexually explicit material. As for childmolesters, child porn is already banned, as is material depicting bestiality, sadomasochism and images of sexual vio-lence. But more importantly, considering his long experience in the prison system, Arnone should know that sexual re-lease is an important part of human behavior, and that completely frustrating convicts' ability to get off is likely to lead

to more prison unrest, not less.

But according to a DOC press release, Arnone may be less worried about prisoners' mental health than he is about of-fending female corrections officers, who in searching through prisoners' belongings, sometimes find the material which"creates a hostile work environment for our staff, which is exposed to it on a daily basis."

According to Garnett, Arnone and his associates studied how other states handle sexual material in prisons, and foundthat the rules differ greatly from state to stateagain, with no discernible difference in prisoners' behavior whether theyhave access to porn or not.

"This material is detrimental to the safety and security of our institutions, to our efforts to rehabilitate the offenderpopulation and it creates a hostile work environment for our staff," Arnone told theNorwich (CT) Bulletin. "We havedone a review of how other states around the country have handled this issue and believe an overall ban is the mostappropriate approach."

Arnone has given inmates one year to allow current subscriptions to X-rated magazines to expire, and any inmates whoretain their sexually explicit material past mid-2012 will face disciplinary action, which could include loss of privilegesand may affect their ability to get paroled.



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Inmates charged for uprising at Fort LeavenworthThe Associated PressWed, Jul. 13, 2011

TOPEKA | Thirteen inmates at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth face charges for their roles in an Au-

gust 2010 uprising in the prison's special housing unit.

Army spokesman Jeff Wingo said Wednesday the incident occurred last Aug. 12 when two inmates in the maximum

security wing who were out of their cells for recreation overpowered a corrections officer.

The men then took the keys and unlocked the cells of 11 other inmates. The rest of the 450-inmate prison was lockeddown without incident while guards regained control of the unit. The inmates involved in the disturbance include six

men sentenced to death.

"They didn't get out of the unit, but they did take control," Wingo said. "All 13 inmates then worked collectively to main-

tain control of the unit for several hours."

The inmates fashioned weapons from wooden brooms and metal table legs, flooded the housing unit and barricadedthe doors during the standoff. An Army Criminal Investigation Command team and barracks staff tried to negotiate the

release of the guard, but efforts failed.

Wingo said the disturbance ended shortly after 10 p.m. when a special reaction team entered the special housing unit,subdued the inmates and rescued the corrections officer. The team used pepper spray and rubber bullets to subdue

the inmates, several of whom were treated for minor injuries.

The corrections officer and one member of the response team who suffered non-life threatening injuries were treated

and released from nearby hospitals.

The inmates involved face a several charges, including mutiny and kidnapping. Four of the inmates have completedgeneral courts martial resulting in sentences of 40 months to 15 years, which will be served consecutively with their

current sentences.

The prison is the only maximum-security facility in the U.S. military. All inmates housed the prison have sentences of at

least five years and are from all branches of the military.

There were two large uprisings at the old military prison at Fort Leavenworth in the 1990s. The first in 1992 involvedseveral hundred inmates who refused to return to their cells after changes in regulations regarding smoking, clemency

and movies.

In 1996, four guards and three inmates were injured in a disturbance involving between 35 and 50 inmates. One guard

was taken hostage after he confronted an inmate for violating the prison dress code by wearing a T-shirt on his head.

The new prison, with space for 515 beds, opened in September 2002. It is adjacent to the newly built Joint Regional



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Confinement Facility that opened in 2010. That prison is where suspected WikiLeaks suspect Pfc. Bradley Manning isbeing held while his case is pending in military court. Manning is suspected of supplying classified documents to the

WikiLeaks website.

Man with 'skinhead' tattoo wants taxpayer help toremove it5:30 AM Thursday Jul 14, 2011

Carl Drewett got skinhead tattooed across his forehead while in prison five years ago. Photo / APNA former white supremacist wants taxpayers to help him remove his "skinhead" tattoo so he can start living a new life.Carl Nathaniel Drewett, who has an extensive criminal record, was once proud to wear the tattoo across his forehead.

But now Drewett, 28, regrets getting the tattoo; it isone of many white supremacist tattoos on his bodybut is the only one that can't be easily covered.

He wants it removed but that will cost about $2500 -a lot more than the $40 he spent getting it done inprison at the age of 23.He will need eight to 12 sessions of laser treatment,one every six weeks, but even then it is uncertain

whether all traces will be removed.

Drewett's former probation officer is looking at op-tions to raise cash for the procedure, including apply-ing for funds through government agencies.

A Department of Corrections spokeswoman said: "Anumber of providers with a vested interest in thisoffender's rehabilitation have been approached inregard to supporting his tattoo removal".

"[Community Probation Services'] role is to manage the offender to hold him to account for complying with his homedetention sentence, manage his likelihood of reoffending (including support for his rehabilitation efforts) and any riskof harm to others. However, we do not provide funding for tattoo removal."

Drewett was aware people may question spending taxpayer dollars on removing his tattoo but said: "Everyone makesmistakes, some worse than others".

"If someone is trying to change for the better, for somone to then be judgmental - it wouldn't be about me that'd beabout them and how naive and judgmental they are.

"Everyone deserves a second chance ... the more help I can get the better."



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He plans to put some money aside each week to contribute to its removal; his mother has also offered to help.Drewett hopes to start laser treatment as soon as possible so the tattoo will be gone before his home detention sen-

tence is over in a year.

He was convicted in the Rangiora District Court on Friday on a charge of intentionally injuring a man and two charges of

drink driving causing injury. He was sentenced to home detention and was also disqualified from driving for a year anda day.

Drewett acknowledges the tattoo was a mistake.

"I didn't really take into consideration how the community was going to look at me when I got out. That was irrelevant,that wasn't my life, prison was my life."

He said he adopted white supremacist beliefs about the age of 13 because of his uncle's influence but now he wantsto leave that life behind.

"It's a road to nowhere. The culture of it is violence and drinking," he said.

"Once this tattoo is off, many doors will open. I won't be judged as some dodgy loser criminal. In terms of employment it

would help a lot."

He is considering studying business while on home detention.

Perfect storm for Iowa prisons needs immediateattentionBYDI EDITORIAL BOARD | JULY 13, 2011Corrections officers throughout the nine state prisons in Iowa are concerned about the safety and security of institutionworkers, prisoners, and the public.

In a July 5 press conference, corrections officers belonging to Iowa Council 61 of the American Federation of State,County, and Municipal Employees presented their concerns regarding understaffing at all nine state institutions. Theirconcerns stem from funding cuts, which continue to result in understaffing and, ultimately, safety and security prob-lems. Understaffed, overcrowded prisons should prompt the state government to act immediately to alleviate the prob-lems by greater funding, prison reform, or both.

AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan asserts that the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, commonly knownas the Oakdale prison, is extremely understaffed. Today, there are 57 fewer staffing positions than in 2010.

We did not have many problems until the money was taken from the budget, Homan told the *DI* Editorial Board.Understaffing has resulted in things such as one night when a nurse and a custodian were the only ones running theunit.


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Homan said the Oakdale prison gave back $1.7 million to the Iowa Department of Corrections in order to help fund theeight other institutions. However, more than $300,000 of that money was kept by the Iowa Department of Correctionsand distributed throughout its administrative offices.

Fred Scaletta of the Department of Corrections released a statement in response to the AFSCME press conference inwhich he wrote that the department recognizes the concerns presented by the AFSCME.

The department will continue to work to provide safety, security, treatment, and reentry services within the appropri-ated resources available to us, wrote Scaletta.

In the statement, he also addressed funding for future correctional officer positions.

The department is grateful Gov. [Terry] Branstad recommended and the Legislature approved funding for 40 addi-tional correctional officer positions in the current FY2012 budget, Scaletta wrote.

Homan says that these 40 correctional officer positions dont apply to the Oakdale prison. Twenty officers will be as-signed to the Anamosa State Penitentiary, and the other 20 officers will go to the Clarinda Correctional Facility.

There is still a shortage of officers. We have routinely not been provided breaks or meal hours. The officers dont evenhave an opportunity to take a five-minute break, Homan said. They refuse to hire overtime. We then run short on offi-cers, and this becomes stressful for the officers who are on duty. Its putting everybody in jeopardy.

Poor working conditions arising from understaffing breed hostility, resentment, and sloppy work. With Iowas prisons 23percent over capacity (nowhere near the level at which the federal government intervenes but still worrying), theres noroom for human error the risk of which increases as employees are forced to do more.

Today at the Newton Correctional Facility, we have correctional councilors working the living unit thats not theirjob, Homan said. They arent trained to do that. Next theyll be using other unqualified workers. Its not safe.

Not only is it unsafe for the guards, its also unsafe for prisoners. Poor conditions also belie the notion that Iowas pris-ons are places of rehabilitation. Perhaps a punitive philosophy can justify unsafe housing for inmates, but many of

them are eventually going to be released into society, and rehabilitation ought to be a goal. Adequately funded prisons,preferably with numerous opportunities for education and counseling, benefit guards, prisoners, and society.

Of the 500-person staff at the Oakdale institution, approximately 150 of whom are administrative workers, Homanrepresents the concerns of roughly 350 union members. Even given this number, Deputy Warden Greg Ort told theDIEditorial Board, We dont feel that theres an impact regarding funding or staffing negatively affecting the depart-ment.

This lack of ability to see things as the corrections officers see them is contributing to the continued decrease in staff-ing and hindering the safety and security of the prisons.

Theres a broader picture here: Iowa is not the only state facing overcrowding and other serious threats to prisonsafety. The nations prison population has expanded even as crime has decreased, and many states are considering

privatization or, as with California last month, are being forced to release some nonviolent offenders.

The perfect storm for Americas prisons is here in Iowa: Understaffing due to budget cuts and overcrowding due to botha bloated criminal-justice system and a lack of funds for expansion.



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Branstads spokesman, Tim Albrecht, told the Editorial Board that the governor has yet to act on the portion of thebudget pertinent to the prison system, but he expects to do so in the next 30 days.

Hopefully, Branstad will work to alleviate the fiscal and practical stress on Iowas prisons.

Safety and security should be prioritized. And perhaps, somewhere, we should reform our prison system, too, withprison alternatives for nonviolent offenders and evidence-based rehabilitation programs.

It would protect both prison workers and our state.



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60 tied to Zetas escape prison in Nuevo LaredoBodies of 7 members of rival gang left behind. Lockup saw 151 inmates flee in December.By Jason BuchSaturday, July 16, 2011

About 60 inmates tied to the Zetas drug trafficking organization broke out of a Nuevo Laredo prison Friday, leaving

seven members of a rival gang dead in their wake.

The late-morning escape is the latest violent episode in a prison that was the site of a massive breakout last year and

where the Zetas execute with impunity those who displease them.

Five guards also are missing from the Centro de Ejecucin de SancionesNo. 2, known by its acronym CEDES, where 151 inmates escaped

in December.

After that escape, the prison's warden went missing. His replacement

was stabbed to death in March during a confrontation in the prison.

Few details about the escape were released Friday. Officials from thestate of Tamaulipas were not available for comment but did confirm theescape with a brief news release Friday afternoon. The state said 59

inmates escaped, but some Mexican news outlets put it as high as 66.

The situation is currently under control and the facts are being investi-gated in a coordinated manner with local and federal authorities, the

news release read.

Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar said that like the December escape,Friday's was an effort by the Zetas to free members and poten-

tial recruits.

The gang is strapped for manpower as they face a crackdown by the fed-eral government and a war against their former masters, the Gulf Cartel.

The seven inmates killed were Gulf Cartel members, Cuellar said.

The Zetas have effectively run CEDES, executing rivals and disobedientmembers and orchestrating escapes when it pleases them.

Among the 151 escapees from December were men accused of having

committed homicides inside the prison on behalf of the Zetas.

At the time, authorities said the escape was organized by the nephew of the Zetas' No. 2, Miguel Trevio Morales.

There's not any evidence that those escapees came to the U.S. to avoid recapture, Cuellar said.




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We don't have any indication on that, he said. We had rumors back then, but we never could confirm any of it.

As it did after the mass December escape, the administration of President Felipe Caldern seized on the prison break as

an opportunity to criticize the Tamaulipas government.

Tamaulipas is a holdout of Mexico's former ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which will challenge Cal-dern's National Action Party for control of the presidency next year.

A news release from the federal government said more than 400 inmates escaped from Tamaulipas prisons betweenJanuary 2010 and March 2011, calling it unacceptable and saying the government strongly condemns the lat-

est escape.

Similar prison breaks in the past three years have led to the firings of four prison wardens and two directors of Tamauli-

pas' state prison system.

The breakouts included 41 prisoners who escaped in Matamoros in March 2010, 85 others who busted out of Rey-

nosa's state prison last September and another 17 prisoners who tunneled out of Reynosa's prison in late May.

Most of the escapees including 35 of Friday's escapees had been jailed on federal charges, usually meaning organ-

ized crime.

Tamaulipas is divided between the Gulf Cartel and Zetas gangs, onetime allies that have been warring bitterly for the

past 18 months, leaving several thousand dead across northeastern Mexico.

Many of those jailed in the state are affiliated with one gang or the other.

Mexican soldiers several weeks ago took over many police functions in 22 Tamaulipas cities and towns includingNuevo Laredo, Reynosa and Matamoros while those forces are purged of officers thought to be colluding with the

gangs and new recruits are trained.

Prison security has become a major challenge amid Mexico's crackdown on organized crime, which has crowded statejails nationwide with federal prisoners. Prison riots between gangs and jailbreaks, usually with the participation of war-dens and guards, have become common. After the December prison break, 41 guards were charged with helping in-

mates flee.





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Threat to prisons as North East prison officersplan protestby Michael Brown, The Journal

WILDCAT strikes could leave thousands of prisoners unattended in the North East as staff are ready to walk out todayover pension changes.

Members of the prison officers union, POA, say protest meetings are planned in every jail in the region.

And with their members so angry at Government proposals, union grandees said they cannot guarantee they will returnto work.

Prison officers are banned from striking because it could compromise the safety of prisons.

And Professional Trades Union for Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers (POA) general secretary SteveGillan said as far as the union was concerned any action would only take the form of the protest meetings.





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But he could not say for definite what will happen after that.

Members will be given a chance to get their point across, he said. And we will start to ballot our members tomorrowabout other action.

But currently temperatures are raised and I dont know to be honest what will happen after the meetings. As far asstriking today is concerned, as a union, that is not our intention, but in the future were not ruling anything out.Only last September Mr Gillan reportedly told a fringe meeting at the Trades Union Congress his members were pre-pared to strike even though they are not allowed to by law.

One prison officer, who asked not to be named, said the level of anger was such that a wildcat strike could not be ruledout. Im going to a protest meeting at Low Newton and the union position is that all were having is the protest meetingand then well be balloted about further action, he said.

Protest meetings are happening at every prison Acklington, Castington, Deerbolt, Durham, Holme House, Kirkleving-ton and Low Newton.

As far as I know it will only be at the 11th hour if staff decide not to go back in to work. But with the strength of feelingamong union members its possible.

The proposed changes to prison officers pensions are the same as those which today see teachers, lecturers and civilservants walking out across the country. POA spokesman Glyn Travis moved to reassure residents that a prison officerwalkout would not mean criminals escaped.

If the prison officers dont go back after their meetings then that just means the prisoners will stay behind closed doors,with nobody to let them out, he said. The prisons will remain secure.

Lukiskes Prison, a reminder of blood-soakedhistory, is to shake off the fame with relocationJul 13, 2011By Linas Jegelevicius

KLAIPEDA - Tomas Navickas, a 32-year-old Lithuanian emigrant in the United Kingdom who was sentenced in March bya UK court to life in prison for murdering his concubine, is one of a handful of vicious Lithuanians who will likely spend

the rest of their days behind bars.

The murderer prays he will be held in an English penitentiary, promising

Western-like hotel-type prison amenities, rather than facing the prospect ofbeing extradited back to Lithuania, as serving the sentence in the notoriousLukiskes Remand Prison makes him shiver. For Tomas, as well as mostLithuanian convicts abroad, extradition to Lithuanias correctional facilities,undoubtedly, would be the severest punishment they could receive. With therates of crimes by Lithuanians abroad swelling, Western countries opt to put

the question of extradition on the table of various-rank Lithuanian authorities more and more often. Luckily for the 32-year-old Tomas, no agreementon the issue has been reached so far.





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If you happened to walk down Gediminas Avenue to the Parliament, in Vilnius, you would, I bet, never guess that one ofthe oldest, yet Russian czar-conceived, prisons in the Baltics lies right in the heart of the city. Literally a 5-minute walkfrom the Parliament, if you, instead of making a loop, through a narrow vaulted backstreet from Gediminas Avenue, passa glossy state-of-the-art building, you will be at the foot of the architectural splendor of the very beginning of the 20thcentury Lukiskes Prison, conceived by Russian Emperor Nicholas II. Opened in 1904, the prison building initially con-

sisted of two wing-type structures, with the emphasis on the prison church of five bronze-shining domes. Czarist Russiaimprisoned in the fortress not only criminals, but also political figures, such as the Russian Bolshevik movement leaderFelix Dzerzhinskis.

As I walk along an extended three-meter high yellowish crumbling-brick wall with dense barb wire atop, I feel, I have toadmit, quite uneasy. I had been in the prison before, a long time ago, as a rookie journalist, but I had never felt goodinside. Is it because of my karma? I wonder. To fight off my gloomy mood, I try to scrutinize the never-ending graffitidrawings on the prison wall. At the entrance, as I try to spot a buzzer in the wall, my hands fumble. Failing, I peek

through a dark thick bar-crossed little window in the heavy handle-less door. I hear a buzz go off, then the door clicks,forcing itself slightly ajar.

I grab its edge, pull it heavily forward and am in, just finding myself in the front of another heavy bar-crossed metal door.Two penitentiary officers behind a shadowy and metal bar criss-crossed window in the check-in desk ask for my ID, and I

meekly hand it over. Both your IDs, personal identification card and your press card, are expired. You should renewthem, a pale skinny officer in a greenish outfit declares behind the thick-glassed window. As I frantically search for anexcuse, another officer, also wearing a greenish uniform with pronounced insignia, appears at the bar-crossed and mas-sive bolt-studded door, opens it up, grins feebly and invites me in. He asks me to lock up my cell phone and keys in asafety locker. As I hear a few polite words regarding the purpose of my visit, setting into a matter-of-fact composure, hewarns me: Please, do not take pictures of convicts above their waists.

Do you want to see anything in particular?- he asks. I do not, only regular places of regular journalistic interests. Ido not feel I want to be, in any way, extraordinary with my wishes in the most heavily guarded Vilnius building which, asof July 1, 2011, houses 1,020 prisoners and employs around 250 prison guards. Most prisoners are there under tempo-rary arrest awaiting court decisions or transfers to other detention facilities, but there is also a permanent prison withabout 150 inmates, 87 of whom are serving for life.

Before, we had more inmates in all sections of the prison, sometimes up to 1,200 in total. However, recently, due to

the large emigration and, presumably, lesser charges in court, the numbers have gone down, the Lukiskes RemandPrison deputy director said to The Baltic Times. I learned of the mans capacity by sneaking a quick glance at his badge he had warned me not to mention his name in the story on Lukiskes.

The 1,000-something inmates in Lukiskes Remand Prison are only the cream of the crop, as, according to Prison De-partment data, as of July 8, 2011, as many as 9,514 persons are incarcerated in Lithuania 8,383 of them are alreadysentenced and the rest, 1,131, still awaiting court trial.

Statistically, 250 persons are sentenced per 100,000 people in Lithuania, which is one the highest indicators in theentire European Union, Audre Miseikiene, the spokeswoman for Lithuanias Prison Department, informed The BalticTimes.

Upon my approval, the deputy director takes me first to see the prison compartment where inmates serve life sen-

tences. It takes up three floors in one part of the fortress. He stops by a first cell door in the dimly lit, high-ceiling corri-dor, albeit I see many cell doors down the corridor. As similar-looking warders pass by us, recognizing their superior in amatter-of-fact terse word exchange, the Lukiskes Remand Prison deputy director peeks through a small bar peek-window in the green-painted cell door and opens it up. All cells in the prison are of no less than eight square meters.The inmate is currently working in our production shop. He has been awarded this right for his impeccable behavior.Only a few dozen inmates work in the prison.

Work is extremely valued in it, a sort of privilege as, this way, the inmates make some money and, more importantly, ithelps time pass faster, the high-ranking prison official says. The convicts, mostly, labor in the jail kitchen, while a hand-





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ful are involved in the production shop, assembling various trifles, like bird nest-boxes, rabbit-nests and bee hives. Theinmates get paid a minimum, and working a few hours a day, they receive a few hundred litas per month. Sure, we makebank transfers, no cash is involved in penitentiaries, the deputy director explains.

Inside the cell, I look around. I have to admit it is rather dim, however, tidy and clean, painted in the same dark greenish

color, breathing a mildew-soaked coolness, as the only source of light, a roughly one-square-meter heavy bar-crossedwindow in the wall across the door, emanates, seemingly, excessively bright light from the sun-lit prison yard. I get closer

to the window and I peek through it, noticing several plain-dressed loitering convicts outside. They are chatting, but Ihear no sound. As I draw back, a picture of a Saint, put on a bookshelf full of books, among which I discern shiny letterssaying Bible, catches my attention first. Among the books I notice some legal stuff as well. There is also a TV set andeven a computer in the cell.

There is no Internet in the cells. As for TV sets, they air only basic Lithuanian channels, the prison official suggests. Iam curious to find out whose cell we are in, and, as I proceed with the blunt question, I receive a straight-forward an-swer: Justinas Buta. Besides work, he is also engaged in studies of Social Sciences in Vilnius Pedagogical University. Heis one of a few students in the prison. Sure, he studies by corresponding. The young man has been incarcerated for therest of his life for a bank robbery and murder of its security guard in 1995. The killer had been sentenced to death first,but after Lithuania joined the EU, the penalty was commuted to life in prison.

For toilet purposes, a single open hole in the corner of the eight-square meter cell serves. Though the cell accommo-dates two bunks, only one is occupied. If an inmate serving a life sentence wants another inmate in his cell, we always

try to satisfy the request. However, often, the inmates prefer staying alone in their cells, like the one whose cell we arein, the prison superior says, emphasizing that most cells of other inmates house three or four men. All cells can provide

the inmates no more than two square meters per person, while the EU recommendation is three square meters.

Among inmates serving life sentences, there is the only woman, Alma Bruzaite-Jonaitiene, incarcerated for life for killingher two small sons, a tragedy that had shaken all of Lithuania a few years ago. The woman works as a seamstress dur-ing daytime, and fondles a cat in her single-person cell at night. The prisons administration has made an exception, al-lowing the child killer to keep a feline in the cell.

After more than a century of continuous service, the prison suffers from overcrowding and is in need of thorough im-provements, which might partly patch up the blood-soaked prisons history. The last execution in Lukiskes Remand

Prison dates back to 1995, when the then-Vilnius mafia head, Borisas Dekanidze, was, presumably, shot in the prisonschambers for organizing the murder of Vitas Lingys, a prominent journalist.

Throughout the 107-year history, the prison chambers have witnessed the most heinous tortures and murders, most ofthem going back to the early 1940s. In June 1941, during the German invasion, the NKVD - Russias secret militia - sim-ply shot the prisoners. The prison became even more notorious during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania, when it wasused by the Gestapo and Lithuanian Saugumas (Security) to hold thousands of Vilnius Jews. The majority of them were

taken to the outskirts of Vilnius and executed in a cold-blooded manner.

The prison store, a dim-lit, mildew-smelling premise, reminds me more of a storage room in an old house - many goodsare packed in large batches.

Sure, the inmates do not possess any cash, and the prison regime does not allow them to leave their cells. Only the

employed inmates, a group of 38 men, in the production shop, can come into the store after their shift is over. Usually,an inmate writes a request first, then we check if he possesses funds in his bank account. If he does, wardens go to thestore and pick up for him what he needs. Sure, as you see, there is no Maxima-like choice in the prison store, the dep-uty director emphasizes. Cigarettes and tea are the most sought-after commodities in the store, a saleswoman, a plain-faced woman in her forties, adds.

The prison, in conjunction with several universities, as a part of the inmates correctional program, offers several state-funded programs aimed to facilitate the convicts return to life outside the prison and nurture positive alterations in per-





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sonality. Some attend the programs eagerly, some disdain any attempt to bring more positiveness into their life, theprison official acknowledged.

The prison houses a modest, however, cozy Catholic Chapel, where a priest celebrates Sunday masses. A dozen inmatesattend them, finding solace and taking advantage of cheering up their otherwise tedious life. However, even in the

chapel, two present wardens have to monitor closely mass attendees, as they often run into heated skirmishes, an-other head of a prisons sub-division admitted, having taken me to the chapel.

Upon my request, he also took me to the prison library. High-ceilinged, and with books strewn all over, with the shelvesfull of dusty antique-looking books, climbing four meters up, it reminds of a medieval library in a monastery. Most in-mates find reading to be their only amusement, so I have to turn head over heels to satisfy their needs, the librarian,Katarina Jurkeniene, admitted to The Baltic Times. She says that most inmates are interested in detective stories, aswell as legal literature. Oh, there is a small section of foreign literature, which also has its readership, a handful of con-victed or trial-awaiting foreigners.

One of the foreign inmates, Michael Cambell, who was arrested in Lithuania in 2008 for allegedly attempting to pur-chase arms for Oglaigh na hEireann (commonly known as the IRA, the Irish Republican Army, responsible for a numberof bloody military acts), although he maintains he traveled to Lithuania to purchase counterfeit cigarettes and is the vic-

tim of a set-up by Lithuanian and British authorities, is a The Baltic Times subscriber and an ardent reader. I wanted totalk briefly to him, but the Lukiskes Remand Prison deputy director frowned disapprovingly. Hey, buddy, regardless ofyour guilt or non-guilt, do not let it bring you down!

Lithuanian correctional facilities have long been notorious for their Soviet-time castes, ranging from the lowest rung,punks, to the highest one, vierchs.

Over twenty years of independence, they have been nearly rooted out. Many convicts eligible for easier-regime correc-tional facilities beg us to let them serve their sentence in Lukiskes Remand Prison, as they feel much safer here, thedeputy director asserted.

The statement may sound as a stark contrast to the numerous human rights watchdogs reprimands over the unsatis-factory prison conditions, far from the EU recommendations in EU correctional facilities. However, the Lukiskes RemandPrison history-hallmark decision by the Lithuanian government has been here - the prison is due to be moved out from

the center of Vilnius by 2014.





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N.J. Dunkin Donuts worker caught in 'extra sugar' sex stingBy (Morristown, N.J.) Daily Record

ROCKAWAY, N.J. A 29-year-old woman working the night shift at Dunkin Donuts faces prostitution charges for alleg-

edly taking breaks from selling donuts

and coffee to provide sexual services in

exchange for money

Melissa Redmond, 29, of Mine Hill, was

arrested after a six week investigationknown as "extra sugar" that began when

police got a tip that people could go to the

Dunkin Donuts on Route 46 and arrange aliason with Redmond.

"I had gotten an anonymous tip," Detec-

tive Sgt. Kyle Schwarzmann, who led the

investigation. "She was a night time em-

ployee (working 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.), sup-posedly a very good one."

Schwarzmann began gathering informa-

tion and doing surveillance at the scene. He noticed on multiple evenings that she would go out to cars to see customers andwould spend 10 or 15 minutes there, he said.

"Sometimes I'd even see money changing hands," Schwarzmann said, adding that sometimes the cars would stay in the park-ing lot and other times they would drive to another nearby location.

An undercover operation was developed wth the assistance of Officer Robert Koehler and Officer Scott Haigh acting as the

undercover "John."

"He went in plain clothes through the drive-thru window," Schwarzmann said. "He spoke to her and she said if he wanted a

good time to call her and she gave him her phone number."

Haigh parked in the parking lot and Redmond alleedly came out, approached him and gave him a specifc price list for her ser-

vices.

Haigh returned on another occasion and inquired about her services, was offered a new, and lower, price so he said he needed

to go to a bank machine but would return with the money.

When Haigh returned, they drove to the back of the building and the arrest was made. Redmond was then processed, served

her complaint and released.

Dunkin Donuts employees declined to comment Monday morning
http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Organizations/Companies/Food+and+beverage,+Agriculture,+Chemical/Dunkin'+Donutshttp://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Organizations/Companies/Food+and+beverage,+Agriculture,+Chemical/Dunkin'+Donuts


20/20

NOTES: Guards

One of our readers wrote recently to complain that the articles in Roll Call briefing often refer to ourprofession as guards or in other unflattering terms. We completely agree and believe that changing

our image is just the first step in getting our issues addressed. However, we cannot change the contentof these articles as written. We do not write these articles they come from various news sources aroundthe globe.

However we do attempt to notify the authors that the language they use is often offensive to themen and women who walk the toughest beat in law enforcement. We ask that if an article comes formyour jurisdiction and contains unflattering terms to describe our profession that you drop them a lineand let them know how you feel.


American Correctional Officer

Intelligence NetworkPO Box 1175

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Tel. 1-307-883-9707Fax 1-307-883-9708

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