I read of the concerns of both the communities of Chino and Chino Hills in the Daily Bulletin article published on Friday, February 2, 2007, entitled “Chino, Chino Hills to fight plan for mental health units” and, I must say, their apprehension over this issue is very well founded.
In a departure from their legal obligation to consult with the security experts at CIM, the current Administration at the California Institution for Men has slammed the door shut on input from the Correctional Officers who must implement the newly promulgated security policies at CIM. In fairness to this administration, this is, reportedly, occurring at all the State’s prisons.
One of the legacies left by the former Secretary of the Corrections Agency, Roderick Hickman, is the elimination of union input from the decision making process which has now become consent without advice. Incredibly, Hickman’s successor, James Tilton, continues on with this policy of exclusion.
Even though it is more comforting and expedient for some to have a boogyman to blame for the recent departmental ills, the emerging problems, since the ouster of the union from labor/management considerations, will continue to plague the prison system until there is a reversal of this philosophy at Tilton’s office.
This unilateral implementation of impetuous security policy by the various prison administrations has resulted in a systematic dismantling of established security protocols within the California prison system, all of which will be blamed on the icon of the prison system, the Correctional Officer, when the defective security policies fail to protect the community.
Such is the effect of the ideological inbreeding that comes with implementing security policy without the contractual requirements of a thorough scrutiny by the security experts working within the prison system and, while the Correctional Managers may protest that they have experience in such matters, they have been behind desks for years and have no recent experience of which to speak.
The disassembly of the Mini-Yards at the California Institution for Men (being reported on the CIM blog at http://cimccpoa.blogspot.com), which were designed to place inmates together into smaller exercise groups, is but one of the many security issues which are being concealed from scrutiny until implemented and, as much as some would like to blame all failings of the prison system on the “Powerful Prison Guard’s Union”, it is becoming manifest to all but the blindest of people that participation by CCPOA was the mucilage which held the Department of Corrections together.
Before prison communities are dumped on again by more inmate populations paired with the riots and disorder caused by the one-sided, ill conceived security procedures, Mr. Tilton must initiate a new course for the Department of Corrections, one of reconciliation and inclusion of, not only the security experts, but the communities and their elected representatives as well.
Lorraine Bradley
In a departure from their legal obligation to consult with the security experts at CIM, the current Administration at the California Institution for Men has slammed the door shut on input from the Correctional Officers who must implement the newly promulgated security policies at CIM. In fairness to this administration, this is, reportedly, occurring at all the State’s prisons.
One of the legacies left by the former Secretary of the Corrections Agency, Roderick Hickman, is the elimination of union input from the decision making process which has now become consent without advice. Incredibly, Hickman’s successor, James Tilton, continues on with this policy of exclusion.
Even though it is more comforting and expedient for some to have a boogyman to blame for the recent departmental ills, the emerging problems, since the ouster of the union from labor/management considerations, will continue to plague the prison system until there is a reversal of this philosophy at Tilton’s office.
This unilateral implementation of impetuous security policy by the various prison administrations has resulted in a systematic dismantling of established security protocols within the California prison system, all of which will be blamed on the icon of the prison system, the Correctional Officer, when the defective security policies fail to protect the community.
Such is the effect of the ideological inbreeding that comes with implementing security policy without the contractual requirements of a thorough scrutiny by the security experts working within the prison system and, while the Correctional Managers may protest that they have experience in such matters, they have been behind desks for years and have no recent experience of which to speak.
The disassembly of the Mini-Yards at the California Institution for Men (being reported on the CIM blog at http://cimccpoa.blogspot.com), which were designed to place inmates together into smaller exercise groups, is but one of the many security issues which are being concealed from scrutiny until implemented and, as much as some would like to blame all failings of the prison system on the “Powerful Prison Guard’s Union”, it is becoming manifest to all but the blindest of people that participation by CCPOA was the mucilage which held the Department of Corrections together.
Before prison communities are dumped on again by more inmate populations paired with the riots and disorder caused by the one-sided, ill conceived security procedures, Mr. Tilton must initiate a new course for the Department of Corrections, one of reconciliation and inclusion of, not only the security experts, but the communities and their elected representatives as well.
Lorraine Bradley
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