Saturday, December 31, 2011

Walker Adds Insult To Injury For State Correction Officers

When Scott Walker was Milwaukee County Executive, part of his areas of jurisdiction within the county was the House of Correction.  However, his myopic adherence to a destructive ideology prevented him from doing a very good job of it.

Due to Walker's inability to budget his way out of brown paper bag, the House of Correction suffered from many problems.  Most of these problems stemmed from the fact that Walker refused to adequately staff the facility.  This chronic understaffing led to many problems including a large number of escapes, higher worker turnover rates, an increase in injuries to correction officers and inmates alike, and despite Walker's insistence that he was saving money, excessively high overtime expenses.  Needless to say, morale was at an all time low:
So now you have officers that are working 12 to 16 hours a day, six to seven days a week, week in and week out. Officers are getting so burnt out that they are purposely disrespecting superior officers, or violating other policies, just so they can get suspended and have a day off. (This also adds to the shortage of officers, and causes even more forced overtime for the others.) 
When you have people working these many hours, without a day off or even enough time to do more than catch five hours a sleep before going back to work on a daily basis, mistakes are going to happen. People aren't as alert or as careful as they should be, especially in a prison setting. 
The chronic fatigue, the inability for officers to see their families, and the increasing risk of injury has caused an all time low in morale. This is exasperated when they have people threatening their job security with talk of privatization.
Things got so bad that the facility got very low marks from a federal audit looking at all of the problems Walker had created.  Things were so far gone that the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisor felt compelled to take the HOC away from Walker and put it under the oversight of the Sheriff's Office.

Fast forward five years and it quickly becomes apparent that Walker has learned absolutely nothing from his previous mistakes.  In less than a year, he is making a shambles of the state's correctional system.

Due to his punitive Act 10, Walker has inspired a higher number of retirements than has been seen by the state before.  And because of the poor way he treats public employees, they are having a very difficult time filling the empty positions.  And even when they do find someone to try the job, they do not have the experience of the officers they're replacing.

On top of that, Walker's push to repeal the early release program has only made things worse.  Recently, four officers at the Dodge Correctional Institute were injured.  The inmates no longer have a reason to be on good behavior and are taking out their frustration on anger on the only people available to them, the correction officers:
“With changes in sentence structure due to Truth in Sentencing laws and the recent repeal of Act 28 (a provision that allows for the early release of some inmates), many inmates feel they have no options,” said Phil Briski, union president at DCI. “The inmate that left one of our officers with serious injuries said he had no hope of getting out of prison and was going to assault a staff member no matter where he was (incarcerated). They’re stuck in here for longer periods of time, and we’re the ones who are going to pay for it.” 
Briski thinks the low incidence of uprisings in Wisconsin correctional institutions over the years has been due to a highly trained, experienced staff. 
“With the contempt that’s been shown to us, people don’t care as much. They figure there’s no benefit to being above average,” Briski said. “Things are going to slip, and there’s going to be mistakes made due to the turnover in staff, overcrowding of prisons and the legislature’s failure to deal with the issues.”
I wonder what how a federal auditor would rate DCI now, even with less than a year of Walker's misguided policies.

But just when it appeared that morale among the correction officers couldn't get any worse, Walker adds insult to the injuries they've already suffered.

Through his Secretary of Corrections, Gary H. Hamblin, Walker has released a new set of rules over the work place.  All of them are aimed at further breaking the unions and, apparently, the spirits of the correction officers.

Some of the new rules were to be expected, such as limiting the ability of the unions to defend it's members against frivolous complaints or ensuring work place safety is being enforced.

But others are nothing more than the punitive actions of an insecure bully.  One of the more ridiculous changes is the removal of the union bulletin boards:
All union material on bulletin boards should be removed and returned to union representatives.Keys to the bulletin boards should be returned to management (Regional Chief, Superintendent,Warden, etc.), however, I am requiring each DOC work site to have at least one Employee Services Board. The current union bulletin boards may be repurposed as Employee Services Boards (if one does not exist) or used as general use boards.
o Material posted on the bulletin boards will be reviewed by management, but most information will be permitted, including notices of union meetings outside of DOC work spaces. Material deemed inappropriate will be removed. Individual work sites may determine their review or approval process for posting material
Despite this statement, correction officers are having to take down ALL union related materials. Per an email I received from a correction officer, these threatening things include plaques and certificates from the community, groups such as the Boys and Girls Club, thanking the union local for their support.  Another thing that Walker's administration is frightened of is a sign saying "Correctional Staff Support Workers Rights."

I have news for Walker and Secretary Hamblin - if you're scared of such innocuous items, you've already lost the battle and are now only fomenting the resistance of more and more people.

Another peculiar rule they decided to enforce is the abolishing of "paid professional days or training days."  It is curious how they expect the correction officers to maintain required standards of ongoing training and certification if they do not allow time for such trainings to take place.

Earlier in this piece, I said that it appeared that Walker learned nothing from his mistakes as county executive.  I may have to retract that statement.  Given these course of events, plus the impending doom when the current budget implodes, Walker apparently did learn something from his previous mistakes.

He has shown a marked improvement in efficiency, as evidenced by the fact that he is making even bigger mistakes at an even faster pace than he did as county executive.

34 comments:

  1. Walker is the perfect example of why you should "FLUSH" the toilet when you'er done taking a S**t!!! The public does not want this kind of S**t walking around, even more , they don't want them running the Government!!!!!!!!!

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  2. I'm hoping that all the workers create some kind of "bulletin board response" to the situation, in the same spirit that Mic Check (the human microphone) was invented out of the restraints imposed on amplification. Disallowing the flow of information is un-American, even anti-American, whether you believe in unions or not.

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  3. you think that it has changed at the HOC under sheriff Clarke's command???? The officers are still doing massive overtime and working 6-7 days a week and in some cases 20+ days in a row. And since they moved huber there its even worse. More of the same does NOT matter who is in charge

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  4. Walker's attempts to destroy the Department of Corrections don't simply stop with prison guards. With concealed carry, State employees and criminals (who haven't been convicted of felonies, and there are a lot of this type) are allowed to carry by law. How about Probation/Parole Agents? The State employees that deal with these convicted criminals in the community and in the criminals homes and neighborhoods? THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO CARRY WHILE ON THE JOB. That's right, that DOT worker issuing you your vehicle registration could be packing, but that Probation/Parole Agent going into the rapist, murders, or drug dealers home isn't allowed to! You figure that one out.

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  5. I'm a co, I can't believe training days were eliminated. Not allowing po's to carry on the job is nuts. A lot of co's supervise 100 inmates independently which is a daunting task.

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  6. I understand the issues that have been caused by Walker and just like so many other Wisconsinites I'm working recall him. However, it does not constitute the disciplinary issues you mention regarding poor behavior by correctional employees due to their morale. I was taught to do my very best no matter what the wage and the situation. If they are that unhappy with their situation they need to get their resumes in order and see what else is out there right now. Regardless of your station in life pride in what you do is more important than anything else.

    Again, I'm not under valuing the horrific issues that have been caused by poor leadership. However, behaving poorly vs finding or being the solution to the issue is of far more value.

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  7. My husband is a member of DOC staff at CCI. He and many of his co-workers are constantly afraid of getting ordered to mandatory overtime! Even on a day like today, New Year's Eve, they are concerned that they will not get out. There have been so many retirements in the recent months that there are often not enough staff members to cover all positions on a given shift. There have been times that at least 25% of the staff is working an OT shift at any given time. They know that they have no recourse in protecting themselves from attack from inmates. They are tired and not working at optimum levels and dealing with health issues because of this as well. There is one officer in particular who had been ordered 50 days in a row other than his scheduled days off. That is something that they are concerned about as well; getting ordered to OT on their days off and vacations too. Mr. Walker thinks that he has the power of God, or perhaps the power of previous little dictators like Hitler. We need to stop this evil little man NOW!!!

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  8. You think the officers in the DOC made a lot last year, just wait and see what Walker cost this awesome State in the coming year... Poor display of leadership. Bullying is a law he should be arrested. As a State worker, i will go do my job keep my head up and pray no one loses a life working for this State in the DOC.. Cause that would be the first and that would be all Walkers fault!! He just committed political suicide i think...Walker Gov. no! Walker CEO at best maybe for Koch bro.... Never give up the fight to recall this not so smart man with no education but training at some political training for 2 weeks.

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  9. From reading the previous posts I would suggest a complaint of workplace violience and safety of employees be made from each of the correctional facilities to their local OSHA offices. Give the date the incident occured and the many number of repeated pleas for corrective actions that were made to management. Sounds like WILLFUL intent to me. When making the complaint also file for your 11C rights under OSHA against retailiation. Wisconsin has four local OSHA offices. Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton, and Eau Claire. It takes time but someone has to file a complaint to get any action started.

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  10. You may say to yourself that OSHA does not cover Public Workers and you would be correct. As a public employee you are covered by the commerece dept for the State of Wisconsin. But if you file a complaint with OSHA they will get both you and your complaint over to commerece and track its progress. Your 11C rights though ARE covered through the Feds and the Whistleblower Investigators who handle those cases are located in each OSHA office. So when you make your call get the dates documented. Just a little fyi from someone who would never want any employee of any entity to be harmed in any way at work. For 40 years OSHA has vowed to protect the nations workers and you at the Wi. DOC are some of the finest. Soildarity in numbers.

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  11. I personally am all for truth and sentencing for inmates! If you want to blame anyone it should be the last bleeding heart Liberal we had in office who came up the stupid early release and earned release programs! Yeah it sucks that a correctional staff was assaulted, but those assaults happen all the time, and there were many before Walker and there will be just as many after. Now I am a Correctional Sergeant for the state of Wisconsin and yeah some of the changes Walker has made are tough to deal with, but at least I have a job and good benefits still. As far as the overtime goes, there are still plenty of staff willing to take this overtime and work 16's everyday. Crying about overtime you are banking on sounds crazy, because if there was no overtime you union lovers would be crying about that! I think the inmates should serve there full sentence, hell its not even a punishment in Wisconsin! The only punishment I see is separation from society. Going into a State prison in Wisconsin is an upgrade for most of the inmates. During sentencing they should just tell them congratulations you have just won! You get free room and board, free clothes and linens, cable TV, three meals a day with dessert at every meal, free gym membership, free education, free health care; with any surgeries you need or may have needed in the past and did not have the funds to take care of it. Oh it doesn't matter if its life threatening we will take care of it free of charge! Any medication you need or think you need will be provided to you free of charge. On top of your three free meals a day we will also allow you to order from our canteen list (these items you must pay for but they are at a reduced rate to make it easier for you to afford them)and you can eat and drink as much as you want. Don't worry about getting fat or high blood pressure or even diabetic, we will provide medication for that free of charge. As a matter of fact not only do you get all of this free of charge to you we will actually pay you to be here. Now we know its not very much pay but it adds up and without any expenses who cares. One last thing, your family and friends are welcome to come visit you every other day for up to 3 hours a day. Enjoy your stay with Wisconsin Prison system. If there is anything else you might need during you stay just ask one of our friendly blue shirted staff members!
    Man if the state would focus on reducing wasted spending inside the prisons we would be a rich state with no debt, hell us state workers might even get a raise. Look into it people stop focusing on what we aren't getting and focus on wasteful spending with in the prison. Start with the healthcare for inmates, all the medication we give out is crazy! and why do we provide non-life threatening surgeries for inmates!!!! That shit is expensive!

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  12. @Anonymous 9:29

    Oh, I know full well that Clarke is being as much as an idiot as Walker was. However, I usually save my Milwaukee County-related posts for my group's site, Milwaukee County First. You can access that site by going to milwaukeecountyfirst.com or clicking on the MCF icon at the top of the side bar.

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  13. Bad bosses don't usually get good work out of their employees. Those cheering Walker on need to realize that his poor employee relations just hurt the services we're all paying for.

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  14. I have three simple suggestions:

    1. Rejoin our union and keep it alive. Our grandparents understood that each and every one of us together ARE the union. They had the union for 30 years before any politicians passed a law allowing them to have the union. They negotiated as a BIG group, in the faces of the politicians every chance they got. End result: Politicians passed a law allowing the union to make the big group stop getting in their faces for changes and improvements. We have to remind the current politicians why the old crop of politicians gave public workers the law in the first place.

    2. Actually get up and work at recalling Walker and then go vote him OUT!

    3. GET ORGANIZED! Talking trash about our union means talking trash about ourselves. WE ARE THE UNION. Some of us have forgotten that. Let's say something good about us! Let's get organized! Let's fight these politicians to get our rights and respect back! Our grandparents would have done nothing less.

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  15. I agree with "Anonymous" in principle, in that you should never be a jerk on the job JUST to "earn" a day off. First of all, that kind of behavior COULD follow you around for the rest of your career, if it is bad enough. Secondly, it's disrespectful to your superiors to act like a jerk just to "earn" a day off.

    THAT SAID, the people who work in corrections, especially in the prisons, ARE specially trained for THIS kind of work. It's not as if they can just leave their jobs and go to a different prison in the state, simply because the problems that are affecting ONE prison ARE, undoubtedly, affecting OTHER prisons in the state, due to Walker's piss-poor management of the system as a whole.

    Scott Walker has to go. I could say that he needs to get his act together, but I think it's safe to say that we ALL know that that will NEVER happen. Thus, it is time for the state of Wisconsin to do the RESPONSIBLE thing and recall Walker and put someone in the Governor's Mansion who has a better understanding of what being Governor of Wisconsin is all about, because Scott Walker surely does NOT have a clue.

    (By the way, to set the record straight, the name of the Secretary of the DOC is Gary HAMBLIN)

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  16. I am a retired P & P agent. I retired because I did not want to be facing what my union brothers and sisters (oh yeah....there is no more union under Scottie) are up against right now under the Walker Regime. Everyone needs to work to get that S-O-B out of office. He ruined things in Milwaukee County and now he is F**king up the State work force. It is so obvious that he has absolutely no clue how to manage people...He is a total asshole.......It includes all state services as well as school teachers (our children's future), and most social service agencies.........And I am not anonymous.....Steven Dobschuetz (Green Bay)....... Still proudly a member of the Union

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  17. To the ANONYMOUS that likes Truth in Sentencing (legislation proposed by Scott Walker when he was a legislator). They do not serve anymore time under TIS than they did under Old Law or New Law...but it was a political tactic to make it look good to the public..."look, now they serve all of their time." Under old law and new law, they may have been sentenced to 20 years, and served 13...now they are just sentenced to 13 and serve 13. THE DIFFERENCE IS...old law and new law offenders behaved themselves and did rehabilitative programming in order to earn a release from the parole board. TIS offenders need to do nothing and do not need to behave, and they will still leave on the same day regardless...perhaps as worse criminals than when they came in...so, no, it does not make sense...but looks good to the voting public who do not have an understanding of what TIS, old law, new law even mean...

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  18. Walker has only contempt for people not in the league of the Koch Bros. That brown ring around his nose speaks volumes....

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  19. Walker once again attacking the 1st Amendment in the form of Union Bulletin Boards. Seriously, how far is this man's reach in controlling every aspect of our lives since we are state workers? I have come to the point where I feel as if I am being punished for working for the state. Am I the only one who feels this way?

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  20. Kimberly M,

    Not at all. Walker's hatred of the public sector is well documented.

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  21. The article is almost 100 percent spot on.... only one issue I will address

    Professional days are related to "professional" staff meaning SWs, Teachers etc. It was a bargained deal in their contracts.



    Training days of course will and have been severely reduced for several years, but training for CO's wasn't effectively cut and laid out in the new rules - although Im sure they will be reduced further.


    As a supervisor I can def attest that morale is really bad. I try to shoulder the burden and understand, and work with it all from all 3 sides the best I can. But to be honest.....im looking to just walk away after 17 years and even giving up a M-F Captain gig.

    Hard to hold your head up and continue to be proud of what you do, when you hear all the stuff in Madison and what many people think of you after they have been pitted against you for no reason other than political strife.

    Kari is right as usual..... not only is she smart, she got big muscles too - will see if she figures out who this is :)

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  22. I spent a few years in the Wisconsin legal system. And let me tell you, under walker in milwaukee, it was a nightmare. I got out of there though, and left the state after my time was up.
    I feel sorry for the employees who are stuck with these crappy jobs. There aught to be a law, no more than 10 days in a row working, and at least 2 days consecutively off between stints.
    Treat the officers well, they treat the prisoners well. Treat the prisoners well, they treat the COs better. Still criminals, but hey, a criminal who isn't stressed out and pissed off is far less likely to do harm to the wage slave.

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  23. The private sector has plenty of positions; not as much pay, not as many benefits, fewer paid days off, and unless you find a way into one of the less than 12% union shops any insubordination leads to immediate termination.

    Something to think about.

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  24. So instead of racing to the bottom, why don't we try to elevate everyone's quality of life and bring back the unions to the private sector as well?

    Something to think about.

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  25. This not only applies to corrections officers, but all corrections staff. I'm offended by the comments always refering to officers. I am a Food Service Leader and I work more closly with inmates than most of the officers in our area.

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  26. For the first time in 99% of DOC Managements' careers, they have the upper hand. Free reign to do what they want. It's going to be the biggest power trip we have ever seen. Try to see them as the main character in "Great American Hero" These guys have a power suit, but no instruction manual. I am going to enjoy them running face first into a brick wall...

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  27. Lord help us all! What a mess Walker has made of our once proud state...

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  28. So true!! It sure is very sad :(

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  29. I agree with the coments here. Walker is scary.And Walker is the dumbest governor Wisconsin has ever had. But you have to ask yourself how this blithering idiot got to the Governor's chair in the first place. He was voted in to office. I continue to point out that Wisconsin's voters did not do their homework before they went to the polls. If Wisconsin's voters would have taken a look at Walker's track record in Milwaukee, we would not be trying to recall Walker - at great expense to us taxpayers I might add - right now.

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  30. It seems the dictator (emphasis on the dic)who is currently our Gov wishes to make more cutbacks--this time its guards and probably police and parole officers, etc. He has too damn much time on his hands if he takes time to regulate bulletin boards while he awaits his orders from the Koch's.
    Who will expell recallers, pro union people, and other dissenters from the rotunda if he cuts back on everyone?? Ghost Busters?

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  31. Destroy State corrections and any other state funded service so taxpayer dollars can be transferred to for-profit companies...it has been an A.L.E.C. game-plan for a long time... Corporatists own tools like Walker.

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  32. Give Walker an EARLY RELEASE...He EARNED IT!

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  33. Complete garbage. I was a CO some time ago. Walker deserves a moment to reflect under the care of our current CO's.

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