Short Staffing Problem

February 16, 2009

Recently COII's from other units at the Tucson complex have been filling in at the Manzanita Unit. Contrary to pupular belief and information provided to Arizona's lawmakers and tax-payers, filled COII positions in the ADOC are lacking. Enough so that guards must be pulled from other units to keep the minimal number of guards needed to keep a unit running. And lawmakers are currently in the process of reducing the number of COII's in ADOC by 614. Being short staffed while over-crowded can be very harmful. Especially in a place riddled with drugs, frustration, hunger, animosity and addicts who believe they have nothing to lose.

"I got point. Just don't forget about me," Paul told the three men huddled in the small cubicle that provided a miniscule amount of privacy between bunk-beds in the dorm. As he stood at the entry to the dorm, he watched for the guard while Todd cut a piece of tar heroin off of a gram nugget.

Looking over at Todd as he dissolved the opiate in a plastic spoon, Paul was mesmerized by the act of the clear water dissolving the dope leaving the water a cloudy mocha color. Just as Todd dropped a small balled up piece of cotton in the liquid which instantly became saturated, Paul heard the jingle of keys.

Snapping out of his daze, Paul turned his attention back to the dorm entrance. Not more than five feet away, a guard had just entered the dorm. Blocked from seeing what was going on in the cubicle, one step forward and the COII would discover exactly what was going on.

Panicked, Paul stepped forward towards the unwary guard and announced "One time!" Startled by Paul's suddenly close presence, he tried to step to the side, still unaware of what was going on. The side stepping of the guard belied an intent to get past his into the dorm, so Paul took drastic action without any fore-thought.

Whipping his arm around the guard's throat and placing his leg behind the guard's, Paul took the young man down. SUrprised, the guard went down hard on his back. Paul was immediately ontop of him. "Stay the fuck down!" He yelled at the stunned guard.

After Paul took down the guard, who were now wrestling on the floor with each other, Todd stood and scooped up the gram off the table. "Take care of that shit," he told the guys still in the cubicle. Pulling a small balloon containing four more grams, he quickly tucked in the remainder of of the gram nugget and tied the balloon off. He'd swallow it.

Stepping into the walkway, balloon in hand, Todd found himself face-to-face with the guard who had wrestled himself away from Paul and wound up down the run directly in front of the cubicle.
"Give me what's in your hand!" The guard yelled, lunging at Todd after seeing the balloon as well as the makeshift syringe and spoon sitting on the table, dope still in it.

Tossing the balloon over the guard's head, where Paul had approached him from behind and reactively caught it and turned towards the bathroom to flush it, Todd responded, "I ain't got nothin."

Grabbing Paul by the shoulders from behind. the guard yelled "Give that to me!" Paul turned, putting his free hand ontop of the guard's on his shoulder, trying to throw him, but the guard yanked his hands away and stood his ground.

Tossing the balloon over the guard's head, back to Todd, Paul and Todd played "Keep Away" with the guard two more times before Todd tackled the frustrated guard.

On the ground, lying on top of the guard, Todd had him in a rear naked choke-hold and yelled "Go! Go!" Paul immediately ran into the dorm bathrooms and flushed the balloon.

"Stay down! Stop struggling and I won't hurt you!" Todd told the guard, tightening his hold on him, cutting off his airway. The guard went limp and Todd eased his choke-hold.

Five minutes passed by as dope and paraphanelia was stashed and flushed in the dorm. No other guards came. Nobody was aware of what was transpiring. There weren't enough COII's to go around. The guard was released, minutes later other guards arrived answering his belated call for help and the unit was placed on "lock down". Placing the entire complex on lock down to amass enough guards to search the unit, it was too late. Nothing was found. Todd and Paul went to the hole.

Being short on prison guards can prove to be a huge problem. And most likely will. I defy anybody to show otherwise...

A Long Lost Friend & Family

February 15, 2009

I recently learned that Danny, a childhood friend, and Katrina's brother, has been on the yard for more than a month.

Nearly 20 years ago, Katrina & Starr, their brothers Danny & Chris, Mary, Teresa & Jimmy Franklin and myself roamed the 27th Ave & Bethany Home Rd. area. My trenchcoat and combat boots days. We were hellions en masse. Like a pride of young lions, we were cute but dangerous. Especially together. At least we were in our minds. LOL

Danny and I have spent the past week catching up and reminiscing of all those years past. All the happy times. All the wasted times. All the brain-cells fried. All the unproductive time. It's a wonder how only three of us ended up spending time in prison.

Like myself, Danny has it set in his mind that he's done with this life and has made dramatic changes in his life to help him succeed in securing a future for his loved ones and himself. His girl, who has stood strong with him when he was at his worst, his son and family are his priorities. His head is on straight and he's focused.

Katrina, write your brother! He misses you and loves you!

Tucson Man Hunt

February 1, 2009

Exiting the convenience store, the uniformed prison guard made her way to her vehicle.
It was a typical Saturday afternoon in southeastern Tucson for the C.O. on her way to
work at the AZ State Prison Complex on Wilmot road.

Looking up, the off-duty C.O. found herself face-to-face with a man clad in bright
orange with the letters "ADC" boldly stenciled on his shirt and down his pant leg.

They made eye contact, nodded at each other and she got in her vehicle and drove off.
Doing what many C.O.'s would have, seeing an orangeman in public on a weekend, she
called the main prison complex and reported what she'd seen. In response, various
law-enforcement agencies were immediately contacted to be on the look-out for an
orangeman in a white Isuzu flat-bed truck and the entire Tucson prison complex was
locked down.

Hours earlier...

"Get ready. You're going with me to pick up the fund-raiser stuff," the C.O. 3 told
Tony as we stood in front of Housing Unit 1 on Manzanita Unit. "The deputy warden
approve it? He answered your e-mail? Should I put my boots on?" Tony excitedly
barraged him with questions. "Yes. Get ready," the plain-clothed senior C.O.
answered, heading toward the administration building.

Thirty minutes or so later, Tony and the C.O. 3 were in a state vehicle, waiting in the
sally port for the Manzanita unit main control C.O. to open the gate. After
communicating with the C.O. about who was with him and where they were going, the C.O.
3 drove out of the sally port.

Once at their first destination, Tony loaded single-serving pies and 2 liter bottles of
A&W rootbeer from Walmart grocery store.

At their second destination, Tony loaded 157 large one-topping pizzas from Hungry
Howies.

It was for the charity fundraiser on Manzanita unit for the month of January '09, which
raised more than 2 grand for the Crisis Nursery, Inc. in Tucson.

While transporting the pies, pizzas and soda back to Manzanita unit, they had to stop
three times to secure the products, which had a tendency to move when turning corners.
The second time the product began to move, they pulled into a parking lot about five
miles from the unit.

Getting out of the white Isuzu truck, the C.O. 3 secured the product on the flat-bed on
the driver's sie, while Tony did the same on his side. As Tony was finishing up his
side, he turned and found himself just feet away from a uniformed female C.O. Nodding
at each other, the C.O. got in her vehicle and drove away.

Thirty minutes or so later, they pulled into the sally port. Communicating with the
C.O. in Manzanita unit's main control again, the CO3 got the shift supervisor's
permission to keep Tony to unload the product from the truck into the programs building
where they'd been passing out the fundraiser food for months now. The entire prison
complex was locked down for an emergency prisoner count.

Tony and the C.O. 3 were at the programs building unloading the truck. An Assistant
Deputy Warden, who just happened to be in the area, was idly conversing with them as
they did their work. As Tony and the C.O. 3 described their travels to the A.D.W.,
Tony noticed a look of astonishment and sudden enlightenment come over her face. The
lone orangeman which caused the complex lock down, emergency count and local law
enforcement agencies' alert was Tony!

Hours later, Tony had been questioned by an ADOC criminal investigator as did the C.O.
3 and possibly other ADC staff. I don't know what the C.I.U. detective said to
everybody but Tony came back clearly upset and fearful that this incident will
adversely affect his release in August, his new job at the state park and most
importantly he will be used by ADOC as a scapegoat.

Tony did absolutely nothing wrong. For some reason, the Tucson Prison Complex Main
Control had no clue that the C.O.3 and Tony had left Manzanita unit, despite the former
Manzanita unit Deputy Warden's prior authorization, new Deputy Warden's approval,
C.O.4's approval and unit level security staffs' knowledge that they'd left, including
the shift supervisor. In my opinion both the C.O.3 and Tony's charity work on January
31 2009 should be commended.

Errors may have occurred that day, but they definitely, 100%, were not Tony's. He's
very well behaved, minimum security, Phase 3, disciplinary free, soon to be released
orangeman who has an "unsupervised" job at a state park. He'd NEVER do ANYTHING that
may jeopardize him going home in August to be with his girls.

Personally, I don't trust the ADOC's upper echelon or C.I.U. to not use the orangeman
as a scapegoat but I may be jaded. What do you think? Anybody interested in
contacting Tony privately about this can e-mail me so his contact information can be
provided.

Shannon Clark
of
shannoninprison.blogspot.com & myspace.com/clarkbarred

Arizona's Budget Woes

January 24, 2009

The state of Arizona has a $1.6 billion deficit this year and as much as a $3 billion deficit in 2009-10.

Of the budget cuts proposed, the ADOC will take the sixth deepest cut at $22 million! This may seem like a pittance compared to the $175 million from universities, $160 million from AHCCCS, $110 million from DES, $103 million from Dpt. of Education and Dpt. of Health Services' $39 million, but in ADOC's already critical state, this proposed gouge will prove cataclysmic.

There are budget saving proposals. One such proposal is a "Home Arrest Program". Approximately 1,180 prisoners will meet the eligibility requirements of ADOC's approximately 39,200 population. I've never read the actual proposal, and want to, but the state's budget chairmen released details of it and other options January 20th. I am certain I qualify and will be eligible if this proposal is accepted. I'm a minimum security with good behavior inside prison doing 11 1/4 years for burglary. No history of violent crimes or gang membership.

This proposal, in my opinion, simply won't do enough. It's too little a saving. It's speculated to save $0 for the fiscal year 2009 and $22 million for FY 2010. So, by 2010 it'll have only saved what was cut in FY 2009 and costed ADOC presumably millions in 2009 to execute.

Instead of passing laws like House Bill 2004 banning tobacco products in AZ prisons, which will dissuade current and potential corrections employees from working for the already short-staffed ADOC and cause animosity and tension for prisoners, why not create laws that save money, create money and better lives. Try these proposals out.

Arizona Sentencing Reform. Superior Courts are sentencing people to lengthy prison sentences, based on set sentencing guidelines which don't allow lesser sentences depending on a case's circumstances and the judge's own discretion. 11 1/4 years for a residential burglary where the victim got the property back, suffered no physical or financial injury and didn't want me to go to prison is excessive, yet legal.

In addition, AZ "Truth in Sentencing" laws, a person must complete 85% of his/her prison term IN prison. That's about 4 days a month Early Release Credits for good behavior. Many other states are at between 50% & 65%.

Sentencing and good time credits can be changed to reduce the prison population, in turn reducing costs of imprisonments. Wasting money on keeping people in prison when they don't need to be is irresponsible.

Work Furlough Programs. ADOC should have a work furlough program for prisoners meeting specific criteria. It'll prepare prisoners to rejoin the work force, get away from idly warehousing inmates and get money flowing back to the taxpayers (prison room & board) and into the economy.

Administrative Cuts. ADOC's uppoer-most hierarchy in Cental Office should be downsized and have pay cuts. Example: ADOC has a committee of administrators/medical doctors that's job is to determine which of the thousands of prisoners get hepatitis C treatment, how and when. Very few get it, so why is this expensive committee being paid. To rubber stamp "Denied" and to be named as "Defendant" in numerous prisoner lawsuits, which are on the rise? Central Office is full of high paid individuals whose jobs are ridiculous, redundant and/or pointless. That money could go to unit level health care providers and correctional officers, which are lacking and in need of raises.

Something significant needs to change. What do you think?