Reports from financial insiders at the California Institution For Men in Chino tell me that the average daily overtime costs, for this one prison alone, are $50,000.00. Yes folks, thats Fifty Thousand Dollars a day, every day, in overtime paid from the wallets and purses of the taxpayer.
Now, before the black helicopter crowd can formulate a knee-jerk reactionary belief that this is part of a grand conspiracy by the prison guard's union (CCPOA) to enrich their membership, a bit of explanation is in order.
The decisions within the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (CalDORC) which eventuated in this monetary hemorrage, were made by the former Secretary, Roderick Hickman who, following the cost-cutting directives of his boss, Arnold Schwarzenneger, closed the Correctional Officer training academy in an effort to save a buck. History is already showing that this decision was penny wise but pound foolish even though it may have seemed to be a good decision at the time.
Being a consummate political kite, sailing on the winds of political change, no one could accuse The former CalDORC Secretary, Mr. Hickman, of being in the pocket of CCPOA during his final days, as the acrimony between he and CCPOA was obvious through postings on the official CCPOA web site and the unofficial CCPOA bulletin board.
Caught in the middle of this bonehead decision are the uniformed correctional staff, some of whom willingly benefit from this situation, but most of which would rather have a life outside of the prison walls and spend time with their families. For the latter, they are forced to choose between their job and family. As if this situation were not absurd enough, it is being reported that additional vacations are being granted to correctional staff, above and beyond the capacity of the pool of assigned relief staff, to fill behind these vacations and, as a result, these "extra" vacation vacancies are being filled with even more overtime staff, further exacerbating the order-overs.
In light of the staffing emergency at CIM, if this information is accurate (my sources are usually very reliable) this has to be one of the more bonehead decisions made by any of CIM's management teams. I hope the Main Stream Media will keep this in mind when they do their annual bloodletting about all of the money correctional staff is making within CalDORC.
The last time this occurred at the California Institution For Men was when a memorandum, from the Department of Finance surfaced, cosigned by Larry Witek (then the Deputy Director of Institutions Division) and Wendy Stihl (from the Department of Finance) approving the provision of Vacation and Holiday Relief Officers, on an overtime basis, to augment the Vacation Relief pool of Correctional Staff. However, at that time, CIM's staffing was not so deficient that this had an appreciable effect on staff being ordered over to work these overtime shifts.
The most recent carpetbagger to trudge through the office of the CalDORC Secretary is James Tilton, and it will be a fascinating study to see if the past "creative accounting" of the Department of Finance, from whence he comes, has rubbed off on him.
Welcome to the Office of Secretary Mr. Tilton, good luck and good night.
Lorraine Bradley
Sunday, April 30, 2006
$50,000.00 a day, that's all we ask.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Making Bricks With No Straw.
In the Bible's Book of Exodus, Chapter 5, is the chronicle of Pharaoh and his order to the taskmasters of the Hebrews that the Hebrew slaves should make bricks without the straw necessary to bind the clay. Pharaoh further decreed that the production of these strawless bricks would not be decreased.
The Israelite's labors caused them to be weary and Pharaoh's taskmasters beat the Children of Israel if they fell behind in production of the strawless bricks.
Now we fast forward, many thousands of years, to the newest incarnation of Pharaoh who, while Secretary of CalDORC, established the royal decree which is being carried on by his heir, Jeanne Woodford. The only difference is, instead of making bricks with no straw, it has been ordered that prisons will be run with insufficient staff.
Immediately, upon the appointment of Roderick Hickman, by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hickman decreed that the Correctional Officer Training Academy be closed, thereby shutting off the flow of needed Correctional Officers into the prisons during an unprecedented period of inmate growth, exacerbated by custody staff attrition through retirements.
Like the Children of Israel, the Children of CalDORC grow weary, their spirits and morale sagging, as they are ordered to work overtime on a daily basis. Not even on their two days of rest are they allowed to rest, but are told, by the taskmasters, that refusal to work overtime will lead to punishment and punishment will lead to termination, famine and pestilence.
Nowhere is this more apparent than at the California Institution For Men in Chino, where relief through assistance from the National Guard may be the only option.
While legislated policies exist, governing the dispensation of overtime, these policies have been unilaterally abrogated by the management of CalDORC under CalDORC's unofficial theory that there exists a quasi-emergency involving a shortage of staffing. To officially admit that it is what it is, a genuine staffing emergency, would focus the light of scrutiny on the, continuing, mismanagement of CalDORC and, as we know, that will NEVER happen.
This is another area in which the Pinstripe Wall's Code Of Silence has manifested itself.
"Oh great Pharaoh, we beseech thee to hear our cries and give us straw for our bricks!"
First there was bricks without straw, then prisons without sufficient staff.
What's next? Only time will tell.
Lorraine Bradley