ISCC GUARDS PARTY ON TAXPAYER DIME WHILE ON DUTY AND LOCK DOWN PRISONERS (EXCEPT OF COURSE THE "SPECIAL PRISONERS") CLAIMING STAFF SHORTAGES
On Sunday, 5/7/23 Unit F at the ISCC went "dark", a term used by administrators when prisoners are supposed to be locked in their cells due to a shortage of officers to staff a specific area within the prison. Were the units locked down because not enough guards reported to work? No. Were the guards that did report to work "vertically challenged " (short staffed joke... )? Again, no. Did an emergency arise which caused the lockdown? Nope... (though there was inmates on inmate violence in one of the F Block areas that morning, but only AFTER the dark period was announced).
The Sunday lockdown at the ISCC is expected to be repeated several times over the week of May 7 - 13 for staff shortages during the time guards are celebrating their annual "Officer Appreciation Week" with barbecues, pizza parties and other activities while on duty - all paid for by the taxpayers. These festivities literally remove guards from their posts to allow them to go eat, drink and make merry with each other in other areas of the prison, actually CAUSING the posts to be short staffed, thus going dark. This is in addition to the dark periods where staffing levels are a problem not intentionally created.
Despite the dark periods, some "special" prisoners however are still allowed to be out of their cells while the majority are locked in due to there not being enough guards in the area. Either there are enough guards in the unit whereby all prisoners can have dayroom access, or there aren't, and NO PRISONERS should be out. Indeed, it only takes 1 unsecured prisoner to create a problem that requires the response of several guards, and as they say, "Security is never Convenient".
Inmate janitors (those who are supposed to be cleaning the dayrooms, showers and emptying trash), in addition to being paid for their work have for years been allowed to be out of their cells during count. Originally this was to allow the janitors a convenient means to clean the housing areas during times the areas were unoccupied, but it morphed into allowing janitors special privileges such as being able to use the telephone, kiosks, microwaves, watch television, take showers or other activities while everyone else was locked down as a "reward" for their services (that's what getting paid is for). This despite the fact that (at least in some areas) the cleanliness of the units/tiers is severely lacking, sometimes to the point of being constitutionally unsanitary.
In addition to janitors, dog handlers and unit barbers are now also allowed to be out of their cells while most everyone else is locked down, despite there being no legitimate purpose for them being out. Further, the cell partners of janitors and barbers are allowed to be out, as are "friends" of janitors and barbers. Finally, others who aren't workers at all are allowed to leave their cells doors open and walk around the dayroom during counts and dark periods when all prisoners should be locked in.
For example, during the Sunday Officer Appreciation festivities lockdown, F block prisoners were locked in their cells at 10:30 am under dark status. It wasn't until 3:20 pm that a guard closed and locked the cell door of an inmate on F3 who continuously walked the tier during the dark period, has no job, and who was in the cell alone while his cell partner was at work... in the kitchen. The same guards failed to close the same inmate's door on Monday during that dark period though they performed (or were supposed to perform) hourly security checks.
It will be interesting to determine where the money for the guards to have their week-long festivities came from, and even more interesting to discover how many staff work hours were spent preparing, coordinating and attending these festivities, and to put a dollar number on what it cost the taxpayer. What cannot be calculated however is the level of respect lost, and the cost in violations of ethics and trust where administrators and line staff continue to allow diverse treatment of prisoners under their charge without legitimate or penological interest.
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