Thursday, April 19, 2012

Walker's Failed Policies Leave More Corrections Officers Seriously Injured

I have previously written about the way Scott Walker's insane ideology had caused mayhem at the Milwaukee County House of Corrections.  He left he facility dangerously understaffed, opening the door for more injuries and ran up budget-busting overtime costs.

As governor, Walker did the same thing to the state correctional system. But not only did his policies make the prisons dangerously understaffed, but he actually made things worse.  When he repealed Act 28, which allowed inmates to earn an earlier release, he also took away their reason to behave.  This made an already dangerous situation untenable.

This was evidenced by the assault of four corrections officers at the Dodge Correctional Institute.

But instead of fixing the problem, Walker instead chose to try to clamp down on the news from the prison system.  Thus, the unions are in the process of holding informative rallies and pickets at various institutions around the state.

Sadly, Walker is too busy traveling around the country, asking wealth campaign donors for bail money, to address the problems he's created.

So, it's saddening and maddening, but not at all surprising that two more corrections were seriously injured.

But while the mainstream news media will not put forth the effort to break through Walker's news block, I am not willing to accept this.

The officer, a female sergeant whose name I will not disclose, received a black eye and had several teeth knocked loose as she was repeatedly struck in the head by inmate Paul Golden.  Another officer which was working with the sergeant was also assaulted and was bleeding from their ears.

Before this assault, another inmate at the Stanley Correctional Institute had cut himself pretty badly, which only traumatized the COs and inmates even more.

The only workable solution is for the state to immediately start bringing staffing up to safe levels.  And if that means some of Walker's campaign contributors don't get their lavish tax breaks or grants. I can live with that.

More importantly, the corrections officers will be able to stay alive with that as well.

19 comments:

  1. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/19/scott-walker-nugent-was-best-part-of-nra-convention/

    Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recently praised a conservative rocker who is being investigated by the Secret Service to determine if he threatened the life of President Barack Obama.

    Scott Walker- It's Ted Nugent, the guy who wrote the song Girl Scout Cookies, on line one.

    "I like to eat my girl scout cookies,
    I could eat them all night long,
    I like em late at night with a glass of milk,
    them butter creams go down smooth as silk,
    I like em late at night when I'm in my bed,
    don't let them girl scouts
    don't let em go to your head
    (Chorus)
    The coconuts just drive me wild,
    I buy my cookies right from a child,
    that peanut butter gets stuck to the roof of my mouth,
    I love them girl scouts
    east, north, west, and south"

    Watch Scott talk about his pant crapping draft dodging hero.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JTQkEgYo65o

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Motor City Maroon Ted Nugent signs a Plea Deal with the Feds.

      " Activist and musician Ted Nugent has signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors admitting he illegally shot and transported black bear in Southeast Alaska two years ago, according to the agreement."
      www.adn.com/2012/04/20/2433298/ted-nugent-admits-illegal-bear.html

      Delete
  2. what is wrong with walker,he dosen`t care about the officers well-being,what would he do if the prisinors took over one of these prisons.he qwould have only himself to blame.

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  3. It can be much more common for a CO to get injured than a road officer. My husband tussled with more people in his 10 months as a CO than he has in his years as a police officer. Understaffing has definitely been an issue in state facilities, so I see what the article's intentions are but I would have liked to see yearly stats or something instead of a handful of stories.

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    Replies
    1. I have been a Sgt at a correctional facility for 30 years and have never seen as many assaults as in the last year,There,satisfied?

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    2. No. I am not at all a Walker supporter, but personal stories don't beat stats (yes, I cited my husband to point out COs DO get hurt, but with regards to the article, I already said stats would be more meaningful). Comparisons to crime rates and other factors would need to be done. Less than a handful of random stories doesn't make for a strong argument and weak arguments don't help get DBs out of office.

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    3. I am sure the officers that have been assaulted do not feel like they are some random story. Really!

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  4. I am a retired officer and remember assults happening for many more years than Scott Walker has been in politics. These assults are horrible, and your institution is responsible to keep their staff safe---they make the staffing patterns, etc. This is just assinin to put the blame on SW---

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    1. I'm a retired capt. in corrections and my only comment is , there are too many decisions made in madison overlooking lake mendota and not visiting the facilities to know what goes on inside it's real easy to make decisions that way, let walker work there a week to see the real corrections makeup.

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    2. What, Walker work? Ha!

      Walker would rather criminalize more things and then not deal with the punitive end of the judgement.

      But, this is where his private prison labor "investment" supporters will be able to make some bank. Not only on the public, but through their "work" programs, as well as making the incarcerated pay for their time under lock.

      Wisconsin will get what it wants to pay for.

      Delete
  5. It would take years to get the Walker administration to allow an audit be done, much less make them publicly available.

    However, the federal government did an audit of the Milwaukee County House of Corrections while Walker ran that. The results weren't pretty.

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  6. Aren't the officers diligent enough? Does the state trying to be fiscally responsible cause officers to be hurt. No. All the new policies do is take the gravy train from the state employees to where they are paying a little bit on their health care and for retirement, just like all the private party employees have to. Walker is the best thing that happened to wisconsin in a long time.

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    Replies
    1. Working for the DOC is a totally thankless job with no real way to feel good about the work you do as in the private sector. I'm not sure about the DOC but teachers were already paying into their pension and healthcare and had agreed to pay more. Walker took away their collective bargaining anyhow. Something he had not campaigned on.

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    2. It is very obvious that Anonymous 5:18 is one of Walker's campaign trolls, and probably hasn't worked an honest day in its life, nor left its momma's cave.

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    3. I think the people who own a lot of the real estate around Stanley have made a lot of money off the amount of sales and rent due to the prison being there.

      Check out the Duplexes and Four-plexes that were getting over $800 a month per unit in that area.

      Well, they were getting that.

      New construction, EVERYBODY living high on the hog. Rent 'em high, live it up.

      (Oooops, total housing meltdown! Sorry if you over spent and got greedy and now you're getting in the arse. :P )

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  7. To anonymous #1 - Our friend has been working many 16 hour shifts at a correctional facility in the last 5 or 6 months due to downsizing of staff. He had lost $400.00/month in wages after Walker was elected. How safe is anyone in a correctional facility - inmates or staff - working with 4 or 5 hours sleep? The morale among the staff is terrible. So before you make a blanket statement like you did, get some facts please!

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    Replies
    1. Well said.

      The entire subject area of prisons are glossed over so often.

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    2. The only time the media looks at corrections in WI is when a staff member is accused of something with an inmate or something negative.

      If being a C.O. in WI is so plush and such a great deal, why aren't you working there? There are hundreds of openings currently with the DOC. and with so many people on unemployment, why don't they apply? HA!!!!!!!!!! Yeah right.

      If the public only knew of the millions of dollars spent on inmates health care, they would call for Walkers head.

      You have piddly stuff like taxpayer provided microwaves for inmates--can any of you tell me why you think a convict NEEDS a microwave???? This is just one example of waste.

      Did you know YOU are paying for hormone therapy for transgender inmates? You are, and it's expensive. Where is Walker on that topic................I only hear crickets.

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    3. That's true on the employment openings. Looking for better employment almost constantly, I have always found many openings within the DoC available.

      However, being that is still human life behind bars....

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