A Blogmaster's Swan Song.

As of the close of business on October 3, 2008, I, the Blogmaster, for cimccpoa.blogspot.com, will no longer be maintaining this Blog.

I would urge someone to step up to the plate and offer to volunteer to take the reigns of this blog. If you are interested, please contact Dean Drake the Chapter Secretary.

My decision does not come lightly and, after having been of service to CCPOA since 1972, it is now time to call it quits.

I have awaited the announcement of this decision until after the election of the State President so it would not appear to be politically motivated, however, with the events that have unfolded over the past few years, as a volunteer for this organization I feel the knife in my back as it is, slowly, being turned.

While some in Sacramento are living large on the duespayer's dime, the volunteers are hunkered down in the trenches with no compensation, no Christmas bonuses, no discounted houses and no union credit cards. It is the CCPOA volunteers that are, in part, freeing up the money for the Sacramento bunch to live "La Vida Loca" on the union dime.

Perhaps CCPOA could start a union for the CCPOA volunteers. They seem to have had no problem with the Minorities In Law Enforcement (MILE) and their interns.

For those of you that see this as a self-serving screed, you are right! The belief that CCPOA volunteers should be compensated arises out of the changing union landscape in which the West Sacramento bunch has recently transitioned from a philosophy of service to one's membership to a doctrine of smash-and-grab self-service. I am merely one volunteer who is attempting to keep up with the changes in philosophy.

Wishing to be a sucker no longer, supporting the opulent lifestyles of our union leaders through the self-sacrifice of non-payment for my services, I submit my resignation effective at the close of business on October 3, 2008.

Pending the appointment of a new Blogmaster, this blog will no longer be updated beyond that date.

These views are mine alone and are not representative of the CIM Chapter.

Joe Bradley

Corporate Raiders in the Prison System

UPDATED MARCH 12, 2007!

In the corporate world of business there is a practice which seeks to undermine successfully managed companies, running them into the ground for the benefit of a parent corporation. This has tax benefits for the parent corporation as the loss of the target company will be written off of their taxes. These "Corporate Raids" are accomplished by management teams that are sent in specifically for this purpose and are known as "Corporate Raiders".

Have the Corporate Raiders arrived at the California Institution for Men?

Dismantling established security procedures and failing to correct known physical plant defects, which have contributed to serious assaults on Correctional Officers, demonstrate a management team that is lying down on the job. Now, Sacramento proposes placing even more responsibility on those who have shown a remarkable lack of this quality and are not worthy of any more.

A new mental health facility is proposed to be situated at the California Institution for Men, increasing the population by a reported 900 mentally ill inmates. Wouldn't it make more sense for the management team at the California Institution for Men to get their security act together before they are saddled with any more responsibility? It would if this management team’s primary purpose were to insure that CIM continued in its mission to confine inmates while protecting the staff and the surrounding community.

It is as if this management team was sent to CIM to make this prison a political liability, through all of the adverse media that it has generated. Adversity which they court through inaction and, seemingly, the promulgation of deliberately flawed security procedures of which input from the onboard security experts, i.e. the Correctional Officers, is ignored.*

Whatever the true agenda and ultimate goal of this management team, one thing is assured, unless they change direction, the California Institution for Men will fall into the political abyss created by these Corporate Raiders. Then all can speculate whether or not they were successful in their true mission.

Lorraine Bradley

*I discovered the website and article cited below on March 12, 2007 and it seems to validate the theory of the "Corporate Raiders" in the prison system.

"Los Angeles, CA.

In an eight minute Full Disclosure Network™ video news blog, President Steve Ipsen of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys accuses California politicians of deliberately sabotaging the California Prison system thus setting the stage for a massive prison release program now underway."

http://www.fulldisclosure.net/Blogs/40.php

Tilton's Corcoran

James Tilton, California’s Prison Chief, has announced his intent to order involuntary out-of-state transfers for inmates within the California prison system. This will occur through forcible means if necessary.

Apparently Mr. Tilton has a very short memory which does not seem to extend back to the days when another inane policy was implemented by departmental officials in Sacramento. In a policy widely attributed to David Tristan, former Deputy Director of Institution’s Division, known as the “Integrated Yard Policy”, Correctional Officers were under orders to release rival gang members onto the same yard at the same time for their daily exercise. It is widely believed that the purpose of this policy was to force the rival gang members to “get along”. The violence was predictable and wasted no time in arriving.

Because of this violence, together with the shooting policies of the Department of Corrections at that time, seven inmates were shot and killed. All of this because Correctional Officers were forced to follow bad policy under penalty of being fired if they did not.

Then came the self-serving Federal Criminal Justice System who saw the opportunity for their fifteen minutes of fame if they prosecuted the Correctional Officers who were following the orders of the Correctional Administrators instead of going after the Administrators responsible for this bizarre policy. Eventually these Correctional Officers, known as “The Corcoran Eight”, were acquitted, and so the legend of Corcoran was born.

Now we fast-forward thirteen years and what changes do we find? There are different faces, but the substandard quality of departmental policy has not changed at all. It remains to be seen whether or not the Federal Criminal Justice System has improved or whether it is still populated with glory seekers who wish nothing more than to have their name in the paper every day at the expense of those who are merely following the policy of Tilton.

This will happen when inmates and their families, angry over the forced out-of-state transfers, attempt to hold uniformed Correctional Staff accountable when the eventual use of force is required to effect compliance with the transfer. Transfers mandated by Tilton who is warm, safe and protected in his palatial office in Sacramento.

It will be interesting to see if the Federal System has the courage to hold Tilton accountable or will they settle for the easy kill of smaller fish.

Lorraine Bradley

Clear and Present Danger

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

The Continuing Story of "Who's In Charge Of OZ?"

Failure to Act!

In an article published on January 12, 2007, on the blog at http://cimccpoa.blogspot.com there is a letter by Gary Clark, the President of the Chino Chapter of CCPOA, in which it was reported that a, potentially disastrous, policy was commenced on December 21, 2006, at the California Institution for Men in Chino.

It has come to my attention that the Associate Warden who implemented this formula for disaster is Mike Collier and the Warden of the California Institution for Men who is mentioned in the article is Mike Poulos.

There are only two more players in this comedy of errors who are important in this dark opera. They are the Chief Deputy Wardens and, as such, they serve as intermediaries between the Warden and the Associate Wardens. By name they are 1) Aref Fakhoury and 2) Richard Alvarado (Acting).

Now that it has been established that Associate Warden Collier has *three supervisors* who could either order him to rescind his questionable policy or rescind it themselves, the question persists, "Why haven't any of *these three* taken any action?" The dismantling of the Mini-Yards remains, as if these managers are awaiting another Correctional Officer's death or a major riot before they correct this mistake in judgment.

If you are a Correctional Officer reading this blog and you are working at the MSF yard of CIM you should have your life insurance policy paid up and in force.

Lorraine Bradley

Another Blog of Note.

The Chino Chapter of CCPOA has a blog.

It is located at http://cimccpoa.blogspot.com

Response to an Editorial

The following is a response to an editorial in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin found here:

Prison fixing its problems for a change

==============================

While Mr. Poulos, Warden of the California Institution for Men in Chino, may be worthy of praise, for the implementation of the recommendations of the Inspector General relevant to the death of Correctional Officer Manuel Gonzalez nearly two years ago, he was merely following a specific set of instructions designed to address a tragedy which had already occurred.

The true test of the competence of any manager is their capacity for independent thought and action, thereby averting future tragedies, rather than merely cleaning up the mistakes of predecessors at the instructions of others, after the fact. In this measure, Warden Poulos is sorely lacking.

Recently, there was a construction project at the Reception Center West at the California Institution for Men in which the housing units were fenced off from each other. During the construction phase, there was a riot at the Reception Center West in which the only thing saving the Correctional Officers who were on duty in the rioting housing unit, was the escape route of the office windows into the yard.

The recently completed fencing project now closes off all escape routes for the Correctional Officers who will be greatly outnumbered in the next riot.

The recommendations for an escape route for the Correctional Officers working the RCW dormitories have been ignored by the Poulos Administration.

Also, recently, there have been two, serious, assaults on staff by inmates due, in large part, to the physical layout of some of the dormitories at the MSF (minimum) yard.

In five of the dormitory housing units at MSF, the Correctional Officers's only office is an open-air podium in the middle of the dormitory. There is no proper office with walls and, under the theory that the "minimum" yard is populated by an inmate population that is appropriate for a minimum custody classification, this physical plant deficiency may seem proper. However, as recent history demonstrates, the housing of the inmate population at CIM is not always appropriate to their custody needs.

This deficiency in physical plant has yet to be corrected or even scheduled for correction, inviting the next staff assault.

While reactivity defines an acceptable, albeit mediocre, Correctional Manager, it is pro-activity which defines a great one. While Mr. Poulos is busy cleaning the wreckage from the tracks caused by the train-wreck of his predecessors, his inattention at the switch guarantees that the next wreck will be his.

I believe your kudos are a bit premature.

The Rise And Fall of a CalDORC Bureaucrat.

Recently, in an article written by Andy Furillo of the Sacramento Bee in which forgery and other improprieties were alleged, more corruption of top level officials in the California Department of Rehabilitations and Corrections (CalDORC) was exposed. This time it appears that CalDORC was either unable or unwilling to sidestep the embarrassment and Mr. John Dovey, Director of Adult Institutions, tendered his letter of resignation from his position. In Departmental jargon, this means that he will be relocated to another lofty position in CalDORC and continue on until he is ready to retire.

Mr. Dovey is a symptom of that which plagues Sacramento. He is the poster boy for their collective disease and, while being part of the problem, he does not constitute THE problem and his resignation will not constitute THE cure. His resignation, while being a nice gesture, will not significantly impact the cronyism and politics that pervades CalDORC’s “Pinstripe Wall”.

Like many of his colleagues, Mr. Dovey probably entered the upper bastions of power within CalDORC toting heavy baggage full of dirty laundry and, in true Sacramento fashion, instead of making Mr. Dovey wash his laundry before entering, they merely handed Dovey a can of room deodorizer to mask the smell and showed him the “dirty linen” closet where he could park his baggage.

“There are 8 million stories in The Naked City!”, was the popular slogan for the television series which aired in 1958. Obviously Sacramento is that city, and the John Dovey episode is merely one of the 8 million stories.

Lorraine Bradley

Leave The Investigations To The Psychics - Part 2.

On November 21, 2006, an article was published in the Daily Bulletin, written by the venerated Mason Stockstill, which exemplifies more problems with the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (CalDORC) investigators.

Once again they are struggling with, yet, another paper bag out of which they must investigate their way. Doubtlessly, these local CIM investigators will fail in their task, forever sharing another bologna sandwich and banana found languishing at the bottom of their cellulose receptacle.

For these stumped super-sleuths, the solution is simple. They need only to refer this investigation to the fabled Psychic Investigation Division of the Office of Infernal Affairs (OIA) for an expeditious resolution to the insurmountable obstacles which confront them. Once at the office, they will find an array of various tools-of-the-trade, including a variety of Ouija boards and crystal balls. If they are lucky enough to arrive at just the right time, they may see a Special Agent, in a seance, channeling the spirit of Sherlock Holmes. With all of this technology working for them, their unsolved investigations can be dispatched within mere minutes instead of months.

My message to the institutional investigators at the California Institution for Men is this, ,”Use the prodigious psychic talents of OIA to assist you.” Who knows, they may get it right this time.

Good luck and good night.

Lorraine Bradley

An Explanation of Classification Failures - A Reader's Comment.

This comment was left in a previous post and it was just too good not to post as a blog article.

Thank you Anonymous (CCI?).

==================================

"Anonymous said...

When you keep hammering away on Classification’s failure to properly house inmates at CIM, I hope you’re not referring to Correctional Counselor 1s in your assessment. We do our job and most of us were Correctional Officers prior to becoming CCIs. Like Correctional Officers, we fall into Bargaining Unit 6 and are members of, and represented by, CCPOA. We act in the best interest of security of both the prison and the community.

With regard to the classification process, CCIs assemble the relevant information for consideration in the placement and housing of inmates, however, this information may be ignored by the ultimate decision makers which are managerial level staff, often times, our supervisors.

I can only speculate as to the motivation for this irrational behavior of the CCIIs and CCIIIs when I express my opinion that the placement of square pegs into round holes may be motivated by available bed space. Shaving high classification scores down to make the pegs fit into the holes may be the ultimate goal of the classification Committee as CDCR struggles for bed space.

Just my opinion for what its worth."

Millions for Public Relations but not one cent for security!

Click The Pic & Turn Up The Speakers!

Warden Poulos Goin' To Work or
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning!"

In a variation of the quotation, “Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute.”, which is alternately attributed to both President Thomas Jefferson and/or Robert Goodloe Harper*, Warden Poulos of the California Institution for Men in Chino seems to have embraced public relations as the solution to CIM’s security problems.

Recently the public relations efforts have included a helicopter ride and grand, dusty landing for the Warden and, reportedly, the Secretary of CalDORC, Mr. James Tilton. Additionally, there was recently held the first annual “Staff Appreciation Day” in which a cookout was held on the CIM grounds. All of this occurring on the heels of two major staff assaults which were attributable to the improper housing of inmates and deficiencies in the physical plant of the housing units at the “minimum” yard. Deficiencies which are still pending resolution

In another, unresolved security problem, the individual housing units at the Reception Center West have been fenced off, with no escape route for the Correctional Officers working within them. The danger of this security breach is not hypothetical and, as you read the linked article, you should be asking yourself the question, “What would the outcome of the linked incident have been if it occurred today, now that the fence project is complete?”

Between the siren, the helicopter rides and CIM’s “Staff Appreciation Day” cookout, CIM has become all form and no substance as money is poured into public relations efforts at the expense of staff and community security and protection.

The City of Chino is properly alarmed as they have made known their intent to file a lawsuit against CIM.


______________________
*The Home Book of Quotations, ed. Burton Stevenson, 10th ed., p. 63 (1967) and “Notes and Queries,” South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, vol. 1, pp. 100–103, 178–79
(1901)

Lorraine Bradley

Leave The Investigations To The Psychics.

With the flurry of cable television shows involving “Psychic Investigators”, it is a wonder that the Grand-Daddies of all Psychic Investigators do not get involved in the fray. In fact, it is a curiosity that the Psychic Investigators for the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (CalDORC) do not have THEIR own television show.

In their, most recent, flurry of pre-cognitive acumen, the Southern Office of the Office of Infernal Affairs conducted a two day review involving allegations of misdemeanor conduct by an employee at the California Institution for Men which, so it was reported, was directed by the Warden. This, after the Report of Employee Misconduct languished for a year somewhere within departmental archives.

Without so much as a cursory inquiry into the allegations, the letters announcing the commencement of the review and the letter rejecting further action by the Office of Infernal Affairs were dated two days apart, and, in a probable cost-cutting effort, were mailed in the same envelope to save postage. Clearly the cost benefits of psychic investigations are evident, with the biggest savings resulting from reduced hours spent on unnecessary interviews and interrogations.

My suggestion is that ALL CalDORC investigational entities be incorporated under a “Forensic Action Response Team” (F.A.R.T.) with the Office of Infernal Affairs heading the “Psychic Investigation Division Dabbling In Law Enforcement” (P.I.D.D.L.E.). In this manner, OIA could P.I.D.D.L.E.-F.A.R.T. their way into unprecedented cost savings for CalDORC.

Way to go Andre and Russ, I think you’ve tapped into something monumental.

Maybe you’ll get a follow-up call from Hollywood on this one.

Lorraine Bradley

The More Things Change . . . Part IV

In a previous article, I exemplified the failures of the inmate classification process at CIM and the resulting impact of these failures on the surrounding communities and the uniformed staff working within the walls of the “Chino Plantation”. Recently there have been two, serious, inmate assaults on Correctional Officers in as many weeks at the “Minimum” yard and, so it is being reported by informed sources, an alleged inmate “Kite” informing Prison staff that an inmate takeover of the “Minimum” yard is imminent.

This has resulted in an unprecedented and coordinated effort between the three prisons within “Prison Valley” to search and seize inmate weapons and contraband, that would facilitate such a takeover, at CIM.

The whisper on everyone’s lips is, “Things like this aren’t supposed to happen on a minimum yard.” Unfortunately, thanks to a “less than stellar” performance by the committees that are tasked with the proper housing of inmates, it appears that this belief is no longer valid. Empirical evidence supports the belief that there are a number of inmates housed on this “Minimum Custody” yard who do not belong there. The larger question is “How many, of these inmates, are there?”

In the most recent examples, the physical layout of the housing units, in which the officers were assaulted, were clearly designed to house minimum custody inmates. Lacking even the barest essentials of a decent custody environment, these housing units are 200 inmate dormitories in which the housing unit officers lack an office to retreat to when the inmate violence starts. Instead, their office is merely an open air podium, in the middle of the unit, without any walls or door to close.

In contrast, the members of the Classification Committee work in relative safety, in comfortable, secure, offices while other, less fortunate, staff are left to pay for their mistakes in judgement.

This committee is also comfortable and secure in the knowledge that holding them accountable for their failings will be anathema to departmental administrative ethos. It will be more politically correct to hold a powerless, entry level, individual accountable through an incredible convolution of reason. A convolution which the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (CalDORC) has mastered over many decades.

Even as you read this, it is a safe bet that the CalDORC administration, at both the CIM and State level, is working overtime to make the assaulted Correctional Officers responsible for their own assaults, thereby allowing themselves the luxury of ignoring a prison stuffed with inappropriately housed inmates as well as sidestepping as many Workers Compensation obligations as possible. Predictably and politically, CalDORC will treat the individual symptoms rather than the disease. It was not the Correctional Officers who placed these inmates on the yard, they are merely the most recent brunt of an upsurge of prison violence that is the result of misplaced inmates.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

The Plantation.

Greatly disturbed and frustrated by CIM's continuing refusal to consider the needs of the City of Chino, Chino's Mayor, Dennis Yates, announced that he would seek legal advice in the filing of a lawsuit against CIM to stop the flood of an increasing inmate population.

The disregard for the outlying communities and the harsh, draconian working conditions that continue to be suffered by the custody staff at CIM have caused a new term for CIM to emerge. It is now being referred to as "The Plantation" by many of the staff.

At least Mr. Yates has expressed sympathy for the custody staff working at CIM. Perhaps HE should be the Warden.

Click HERE to watch the CIM excerpt from the Chino City Council Meeting

Lorraine Bradley

The CDC/FEMA scandal.

As is being widely reported, the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (CalDORC) seems to be perpetrating fraud on FEMA by certifying untrained Correctional Staff in emergency first response.

No training, just the test and an answer key, that's all one needs when receiving federal certification as dispensed by CalDORC.

As recently interviewed by Inga Barks on her radio talk show (KMJ 580), the most excellent blogger Jonathan King (http://patrioticrants.blogspot.com) talks about another aspect of fraud within CalDORC.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW.

Scandal UPDATE as of August 14, 2006:

I found this posting on the Unofficial CCPOA Bulletin Board.

It appears as if the FEMA/CalDORC fraud has been, temporarily, suspended.

=============================

State of California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Memorandum

Date : August 11, 2006

To : Division of Adult Institutions
Division of Adult Parole Operations

Subject: SUSPENSION OF MANTATORY NATIONAL INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TRAINING

Effective immediately, the National Incident Management (NIMS) training has been suspended. This suspension applies to all staff in the Division of Adult Institutions and Parole, and includes testing via the manual and internet-based processes.

Further information regarding the timeframe for re-implementing the NIMS training is forthcoming upon an evaluation of the testing process.

Please distribute as necessary to ensure awareness at all Division of Adult Operations locations.

Original Signed By:
D.L. "Weasel Dave" Runnels
Chief Deputy Secretary
Adult Operations

Fraudulent Adverse Actions.

A question recently arose which suggests that a form of adverse action for California state employees, known as a "suspension" should be illegal for Correctional Peace Officers, who are able to sign up for overtime on their Regular Days Off, if the term of the suspension excludes RDOs instead of being for continuous calendar days.

Correctional Peace Officers, up to and including the rank of Lieutenant, are considered hourly employees and, through agreements between CCPOA and the State of California, have the right to sign up for overtime on their RDOs. Failing the minimum FLSA hourly requirement or modified hourly requirement through collective bargaining, the employee signing up for work will receive straight time instead of premium pay.

The problem arises when the Warden places a "Denial Of Entry", for a suspension calculated on working days exclusive of RDOs, at the gates which denies employees on suspension the ability to work, as per their respective agreements, on their Regular Days Off by denying them access to the worksite for this purpose. The logic that the State employer seems to endorse is that the suspended employee's suspension is lifted during their RDOs, so the suspension only covers "working days".

This theory may work for salaried employees, but it fails when administered against hourly employees with the negotiated right to work during their RDOs. By agreement of CCPOA and the State employer, the employee determines whether or not their RDOs will be working days, through the overtime sign-up process. As per the calculation of the term of suspension which excludes RDOs, the suspension is lifted during the RDOs. However, the Denial Of Entry remains in place during the suspended employees RDOs, denying him/her the right to work on his/her RDOs by denying him/her access to the worksite.

Exemplary of this is the following way in which the State employer would calculate a 60 day suspension where the employee has Saturdays and Sundays off:

Suspension starts Monday, July 3, 2006 and ends September 25, 2006.

The duration of this 60 "working day" suspension includes 24 RDOs (potential working days for Correctional Peace Officers), that are not accounted for in the term of the suspension, for a total of 84 calendar days and, for an hourly employee with the ability to work his/her RDOs, this suspension totals 84 working days - not the 60 working days fraudulently asserted in the Notice of Adverse Action.

As CalDORC becomes more punitive in an effort to displace culpability for their failings to the politically powerless in their ranks, adverse actions will reach an epidemic proportion. You may be next, finding the dictates of progressive discipline an anachronism, as you receive your Preliminary Notice of Adverse Action.

Anyone up for a lawsuit?

NOW - TAKE THE POLL
(There will be one pop-up advertisement after you vote. Just click the "X" in the upper right hand corner to make it go away. This keeps the voting process FREE.)

Should suspensions for hourly CPOs be for continuous days or "working days"?
	Continuous days.
	Working days.
	I don't know.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Everything old is new again!

Unresolved blasts from the past.

"THE WARDEN MADE ME DO IT!"

and

The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same.

and

TMTCTMTRTS - Part 2


OPEN LETTER TO M.E. POULOS, WARDEN, CALIFORNIA INSTITUTION FOR MEN.


A BELATED “NOT THE SHARPEST TACK IN THE BOX” AWARD.


Must Another Correctional Officer Die?

Wardens, read this before you take action!

Below is a copy of an, unrecinded, 1998 Department of Corrections memorandum which firmly establishes a non-retaliation policy for employees participating in "public forums".

If any CalDORC employee believes that they have, in the past, or are now a victim of retaliation for communicating with reporters or speaking in any other public forum, regarding non-security matters (matters which do not effect institutional security), you may file a "Report of Employee Misconduct" against your retaliator.

This report is mandatory and pursuant to DOM §31140.7.1.

Date: April 17, 1998


To: Wardens
Regional Parole Administrators
Executive Staff
Health Care Managers


Subject: RETALIATION


How the Department of Corrections (CDC) ensures that employees are able to freely participate in public forums without fear of retaliation has been a question asked frequently during the last several months.

This letter is to reaffirm the CDC's policy on retaliation prevention. Retaliation of any kind for participating in public forums, discrimination complaint processes, litigation, or in union activities is prohibited. Retaliation can take many forms all of which are unacceptable. Staff must feel safe in coming forward with complaints. whether the complaint alleges discrimination, harassment, abuse of power, misuse of state resources or other wrong doing. Our employees must be able speak freely and candidly in all public forums. Of course, employees have a responsibility to be honest and factual.

I intend to issue a revised, comprehensive policy on CDC's expectations for preventing retaliation in the near future. In the meantime, it is my expectation that you will all use your best efforts to assure that employees who exercise their rights under any process are protected against retaliation.

C. A. TERHUNE
Director
Department of Corrections



CLICK HERE FOR A COPY OF THE ACTUAL MEMORANDUM

Reporting Employee Misconduct at CIM.

CLICK THE CAN