Thursday, April 3, 2014

Force Against Texas Inmates on The Rise

by Terri Langford, The Texas Tribune





April 3, 2014
 
Correctional officers are using “major” force against inmates more often, and experts point to staff turnover, inexperience and the brutal heat of Texas summers as the most likely factors.
 
Despite a decrease in the prison population from 2005 to 2013, the number of “major use of force" incidents grew some 17 percent, according to statistics kept by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
 
While TDCJ officials say the fluctuations are random and can’t be tied to any one factor, other experts say the increase in reported use of force is a symptom of an inexperienced officer corps and an often overheated environment.
 
The number of “major use of force" incidents rose to 7,151 in 2013 from 6,071 incidents in 2005, according to TDCJ statistics. Jason Clark, a TDCJ spokesman said there was a change in the way the incidents were reported in 2012, which could account for some of the increased incident reporting. But he could not say how much that would have changed the numbers.
 
Lance Lowry, president of the Texas correctional employees union, said that most of the time force is used in confrontational situations where inmates refuse to cooperate with orders.
 
With many veteran correctional officers retiring, the state prison system is relying more on rookie staff members, including some who may lack the skills to “de-escalate” a confrontation before deciding to use some sort of force, Lowry said.
 
In the fall of 2013, TDCJ had more than 3,000 corrections officer vacancies throughout its 109 prison units, according to agency data, even after the closure last year of two privately run facilities.
 
“De-escalation skills are developed by staff through many years of experience,” Lowry said.
 
The use of force statistics, are part of TDJC’s monthly Emergency Action Center reports, which track a variety of incidents, such as suicides, accidental inmate deaths and escapes, that occur within the prison system.
 
Lowry said the fact that many “major use of force” incidents occurred in larger units was not surprising because those units have more serious offenders. For instance, in September at the Stiles Unit in Beaumont, there were 41 incidents, and at the McConnell Unit in Beeville, there were 43 incidents. Those units are among the largest in the state, each housing about 2,900 inmates.
 
Worthy of note, Lowry said, is that use of force incidents increased dramatically in summer months. Heat is a factor, he said, because Texas prisons are not air conditioned and confrontations escalate more quickly. In the Connally Unit in South Texas, for example, the number of incidents rose to 36 in August from 22 in February.
 
Michele Deitch, a senior lecturer at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, noted another trend she called troubling in the use of chemical agents, like pepper spray, against inmates.
 
While the overall number of times that the agents were employed between February 2013 and the same month this year was down, the reasons given do not indicate that life-threatening situations provoked their use.
 
Last February, correctional officers used chemical agents 61 times on inmates because they refused to follow “strip and handcuff procedures.” Agents were used another 32 times because inmates were blocking a meal tray slot or covering a cell door.
 
“They’re all where they won’t comply with an order,” Deitch said. “There’s no particular indication that there’s an immediate danger of any kind.” 


Disclosure: At the time of publication, the University of Texas at Austin was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. (You can also review the full list of Tribune donors and sponsors below $1,000.) 


This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2014/04/03/force-against-texas-inmates-rise/

Also see TDCJ's:  EAC Summary February 2014

35 comments:

  1. Screw you inmate loving bitches

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  2. Y'all are not the ones getting shit and piss thrown on you and shanks stuck in you y'all are sitting on your couches in the a.c.saying how bad we mistreat the criminals that are out there raping and killing are children and molesting six month olds and raping and killing women y'all think they are so mistreated then you come do the job until then sit on your couch and when we ask for your two sense then you can give it and all you college professors get out from behind your desk and bring your ass in the penitentiary and see what we deal with everyday and then you can make your assumptions I just hate people that have no clue what the fuck they are talking about.

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    1. You speak the truth, nobody can understand unless you are one of US

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  3. The Tribune article is correct about there being a large increase in inexperienced officers, but that professor quoted in the article really needs to come work in a prison first before she opens her mouth. TDCJ needs to get the pay up to keep and develop experienced officers. Sometimes these new electricians working in gray wire these guys up and we have to deal with them after the fact, which leads to an increase in use of force. A great example of this is ANON 4:20 PM. I would hate to work on a cellblock after they wired it up it with that attitude.

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  4. Y'all are blaming the officers. How about the new offenders that have no respect for authority. They have to do more of their time than offenders before. They know they have to do 50 percent of there time. Some officers are working 16 hours a day do to no staff.

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    1. I think you hit a valid point that officers are working 16 hours a day, due to no staff. These conditions make officers quit the agency and as a result the agency now lacks experienced staff. With less experienced staff, inmates feel they are the ones running things. The agency need to bring the pay up to keep people. No one is blaming the individual officer, but most inmates know not to play around with a veteran officer.

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  5. I have been stabed speard knocked down and coverd in shit and you think i use to much force f%(# you . You come do my job . You come ware a vest on three row for 12 hours when it is 103 out side and 130 inside. You do what i do then say somthing untill then f off

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    1. Get an education. Learn to speak your mind without the use of profanity & in complete sentences. Get another job.

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  6. You sound just as bad as the hoe ass inmates. Quit or stfu

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  7. Sure is a lot of me me me there chief. You're not the first person to experience the job of a TDC boss. If you don't like your job find a better one. Be the best CO you can be and show pride in what you do while you're doing it. You sound just as bad as one of the close custody inmates yelling from behind the cell door. Don't be a cell warrior boss. Do something to make your job better or quit.

    (10 years on close custody before I made my decision to find a better career. )

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  8. These "Offenders" Are Coming In Younger & Younger With No Respect For Themselves Or Anyone Else. Even The Older "Convicts" Can Barely Keep Them In Check With No Fear Of Losing Their Job Or Prosecution That Co Have. These Kids Just Don't Car...They Try To Do Whatever They Want. So Yes It Is Causing More Uses Of Force. I Believe That You Can Do Your Job & Be Professional While Doing It But When It Comes Time You Have To Put Them Back In Line.

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  9. TDCJ now only recognizes and type of force as major there is no longer minor force so I would bet if you took the minor uses in 2005 and added it together it would be less the force used in 2013

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  10. I have been working for TDCJ only 14 years not a long time, if you would give us better pay then you could posssibly keep SEASONED officers around longer and another thing that Professor needs to come look for herself at the condition the offender that we are getting some are repeat habitual offenders been here 3 to 4 times do they care NO!!! SO who has to deal with them US not her, not their parent, not society. I pray everyday I go home the way I came to work, everybody can't say that as we memorialize every year. Don't ever take for granted the Prison Life it will make a believer out of you. Join us you will thinks different when you leave just do a walk through spend a couple hours I PROMISE you will think different TDCJ EMPLOYEES YOU ARE THE BEST

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    1. I don't think it is just pay. The benefits have been eroded. The supervisors (shift n administration) don't respect the officers in the pods. And the people making decisions don't test their theories on themselves before forcing them on the staff.

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    2. I disagree I am a supervisor and not only do I remember where I came from I respect my Co's and the job they do on a daily basis. I show my appreciation constantly and stay in the trenches with them.

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  11. This article is slanted to ensure that it appears those who are locked up are victims. Truth is that while there are some bad apples that wear grey the majority of them just want to do their jobs and go home to their families. Working inside a prison is unlike any job you will ever have. Officers are assaulted on a daily basis and yes uses of force do occur because of it. We don't use chemical just in emergency types of situations, but those situations that we could keep someone from getting hurt such as when an offender os refusing to comply with orders or blocking their food tray slot. People should do more investigation before they publish articles, so that they would have a more accurate picture of life inside of a prison.

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  12. There are incidents when an offender will put his arm through a food tray slot and have his cell mate give him something. Sometimes they already have something waiting by the door. It may be a shank, a shiv, a cup of urine, you don't ever know what's going to come out of the food tray slot after that arm does. Until you know what it feels like to have done your job to the best of your ability and have an offender throw urine or feces on you you don't know what you're talking about. Or when there is a use of force because an offender stabs a boss, and you're stuck in you're position because it's already been broken down so another boss can respond. It doesn't matter how long you've known that person that got stabbed, or if they have a family waiting on them. Someone that relies on you to go home has been stabbed and you have no idea what condition they're in. Could be you're best friend, you're brother, we're all family in grey anyways. You tend to be close when you have to rely on other officers the way we do. Don't put us down when you haven't been inside our shoes.

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  13. Until you work in an environment like us tdcj correctional officers do.....quit acting like we set out to abuse inmate. We stand up for ourselves when we get spit our chunked on and make our community save by keeping them in the fence. We deal with allot and society will never know. Please quit speaking against us if you have never worked our job. Watch gangland sometime and let me know if you want to deal with these guys behind the fence. Let me know when you're ready for academy next month. You would not last. For all my family in Gray.....keep up the good work and don't ever forget the mission statement we vowed on graduation day. Good bless y'all!

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  14. Yep, where almost to the point of taking the inmates hand and saying"" ohhhh, what can I do to make your stay more enjoyable while your here .? "".

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  16. If more force was used then the more the 6 chances given before suiting up,, the inmates around watching would think twice before doing that crap . Like oh I don't know maybe (Wow! The correction officers are not fooling round here maybe I shouldn't do that. ) but instead you guys keep Asking and asking over and over for them to give up or give it back or I will tell wardens, ect... and the other inmates watch this and have learned nothing will ever happened and knows cases mean nothing.. and this will keep going on until Co's of units can do their jobs the right way.
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  17. I have worked for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for 8 years and the last two were as a Correctional Officer. I worked in Administration for five and one half years. So I had a little advantage of knowing what laid behind the prison walls but still want prepared till I walked through the assigned prison doors.
    We go without any protection other than OC spray and the hopes that fellow officers will hear your call for help as you walk down 21 cells on each of the 3 rows to be sure no inmate is trying to kill themselves or hurt each other while in their cells or just making sure they are alive and not lying there sleeping. This walk is done every 30 minutes and not on just one wing but two and the other times you are rolling doors to let inmates in and out of cells every hour to allow "dayroom" time or recreation time. We as Correctional Officers are willing to do this day in and day out to be sure the PUBLIC is safe and remains safe from the inmates. NO other Department does this much mentally stressful work to provide safety to the PUBLIC. I believe that NO ONE has a right to comment on the prison and what happens UNLESS you yourself have actually worked there for at least two years. This day and age people believe that inmates need the same rights as being outside and free. Hence the word FREE, inmates are in prisons because of their WRONG DOING. They are there with limited freedom because of THEIR own actions. We Correctional Officers must provide safety and work with limited resources to help ourselves. Inmates have rules and regulations and policies and procedures to follow. One must also know that fits break out due to other images and not officers so yes force IS necessary and that is the case majority of the time. Again, IF you have NOT worked as a Correctional Officer for at least two years, you have no real say about the system because you haven't experienced anything first hand.
    Thank you. Many blessings to all in this world.

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  18. I've worked TDCJ over 15 years and have seen / experienced many UOF. About 70 % of the time the situation was not provoked by the officers. About 30 % of the time, an officer provoked the situation by being an electrician, but the offender was usually in the wrong by reacting with violence. Most EXPERIENCED officers prevent UOF from ever occurring by just doing their job and being professional, firm, fair, and consistent.

    The article is correct when it talks about officers lacking experience. When I started there was no pepper spray to back your mouth up. That Professor needs to shut up, because pepper spray has saved lives. An increasing UOF is not the answer, that will only get staff hurt. We need to keep the good ones and run off these electricians who think its their job to punish every offender, their time away from their families, friends, home, loss of privacy, restricted movement, and lack of intimacy is their punish. Protect yourself, enforce the rules, but never place your hands on an inmate just to prove a point. I've seen too many people go to the feds for that and the state will never pay me enough to do some time in the Feds.

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  19. Love the fact that they say "major" use of force....because in 2007 or so, the minor force was eliminated and when the UOF plan was updated in 2012, it's the only type available to report...of course "major" UOF is up...

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    1. TDCJ phased minor use of force out because supervisors were not reporting the UOF as minor due to it being the same amount of paperwork and the risk of disciplinary for under reporting. The change in status has little to due with the increase in numbers. Serious staff assaults are also on the rise, so I can see were UOF would also increase. The change is a good point, but I doubt it is the reason the numbers are up.

      I think the article is correct is blaming lack of experience as one of the reasons for the increase.

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  20. Units doing 16 hrs a day should go to four/ twelves. People can come in on a day off for o.t on volunteer basis. We are working five days 12 hrs and forty five minutes now. You even call h card to help, so if there is a real emerency such as riot, escape there are no extra to come help you have all staff on posts. 4/12 can be a good thing.

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  21. Im glad i quit this offender friendly ass agency. Employees get paid like shit while the officials sit on their asses and get 7 figure raises. It wont be long before this agency will be dried up abd sold to private prisons

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  22. What are they gonna think now with offender aggression going up. These inmates are fixing to blow up. More youngsters coming in og's dying off they helped to keep the youngsters at bay. Oh and lets not forget the language barriers brought on by outside contracted employees.

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  23. The extreme heat yea right I work in high security. And they sit in ac all damn day. If you are not a guard then you don't know what fuck is going on back there. You think your babies are perfect please. What about the officer they just assaulted. Or the hot water with baby oil in it just boiled off a co face. You think it Is easy. Come on down and work a wing

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  24. your all so whiney

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  25. Two I have been head butted in the face and had hot coffee thrown snd having it hitting my face ,, so you tree hugging ass kissing die hard liberals do us all a big favor,,,, dont bother getting up in the morning





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  26. It's clear that this is a perfect example of what Texas politics and media has done to the public, it has caused a rift between the all of us. Everyone here is on a notion that you are right and everyone else is wrong? Has anyone ever considered that the inmates, the officers, and even the public are wrong and right? I've been incarcerated before, and I've been victim to terrible things from both ends, but I've also met good people from both ends. To tell you the truth, most of the time it is the youngest ones (the immature ones) who transfer from TYC who are the most disrespectful ones, trying to be top dog and make a name, because all through his life he has always heard stories of how dangerous prison can be (the same goes to the rookie officers). Has anyone ever stopped to question the people who own these privately owned prisons? I've actually seen more prisons shut down for health and sanitary violations than anything else. How much money is really going into the much needed maintenance of the building? How many officers are actually being paid fairly for their services? How much money is going into making sure the inmates are not eating moldy bread, or drinking expired milk? One Prison, recently is going under investigation for reporting two deaths in one week! Yes, there are murderers, robbers, and rapist, but most of those people are kept in isolation when necessary. However, I have seen people, in jail, be treated absolutely unfairly, I have seen deliberate negligence from the officers, and I have seen defiant retaliation from inmates. Inmates are more harm to each other than they are to the officers in most cases because of the over crowding and the poor attitude of their situation, besides nobody wants to catch a charge for assault on an officer, that would be stupid! The fact of the matter is, everyone is getting screwed over and they are taking it out on each other, but Mr. Warden-King-Prison-owner is reaping all of the benefits and could care less on what the officers and prisoners do to each other as long as he keeps his pocket full.

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  27. Now, I'm not saying that all of the prisons are like this, but has any officers ever tried paying attention to what the inmates had to say? Has any officers tried asking "please" sometimes, and maybe even giving a warning before taking physical action? Have any of you inmates considered trying to educate yourself, considering you still have the choice to do so? Have you ever considered Unionizing and writing letters to people in office? Have any of you citizens considered that each inmate is someone else's son or daughter? Have you ever stopped to think whether or not it is right or fair for someone to register as a sex offender, for life, just because he/she was dating someone, in high school, who was 4 or 5 years younger then them (Ex: 14 or 15 yo dating an 18 or 19 yo). What am I suppose to do when my daughter is 12 or 13 and she's wanting to date a 14, 15, 16, or even 17 year old?! Obviously, I'll threaten the boy and keep my eye on him, but I'm not going to ruin his life, that's some one's son! if that is my daughters choice then I'll respect that, but I will do everything I can to make sure she makes the right choice by her heart. The point that I am trying to make here is that the prison system in Texas was designed in a way that was perceived to work for that time, but things are changing and perhaps it's time for some reevaluation and some un-corrupted change to the way things are done in Texas, because, and sorry to break the news, it's not working anymore, at least not to the public's benefit. Prison's are run like businesses, if there are no clients then there is no business, and no business means no jobs. In light of this, you have to actually ask yourself, with prison population declining why is the crime rate (or should I say, the arrest rates) inclining? Truth be told, there is a lot of pressure on law enforcement officers to keep their jobs, and if they want to keep their jobs and help their other cop buddies keep their's they need more "clients", even if the crime is petty (you calculate the rest). Again, it's not all like this, but a lot of it is, sad to say. Police brutality, arrest rates, unemployment, poverty, corruption, etc.... how is it that Brazil, with the ONE (and only) working class president, has managed to accomplish something that the U.S. (especially Texas) should have been able to accomplish years ago?! It's not that we can't, it's that our government refuses and it's trying to convince us to feel the same way. This is not about pointing out who's right and who's wrong; this is about us realizing that we can't keep sitting on our butts arguing with one another about who's side to pick. We can't rely on everything we hear or see, and we definitely can't rely on our government to tell the truth. This isn't the wild west anymore, people are educating themselves, we are learning to deal with our own problems individually, and people are even building their own communities all around Texas. I may not be the biggest Texas fan, but even I know this state has an amazing potential to be an economic leader in the U.S. without relying on law enforcement and Oil companies as a crutch. I apologize about the rant, but I want us to inform one another instead of being at each others throats so that we can learn to deal with these problems in an educated and calm way. If there are any question's, feel free to find me. Thank you for reading.

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    1. Josue, correctional experts (the officers) are light years ahead of you on knowing and solving these issues.

      Yes we are unionized. Yes we do vote. Yes we have lobbiest. Yes we realize there are issues going on in the prison and know why.


      Texas over the last decade cut mental health funding and released thousands of institutionalize persons onto the street with no treatment. Many of these individuals have made there way into the prison system and OUR politicians know this!!!!

      The prison system should have received the money they cut back from mental health providers to PROPERLY train and recruit educated persons on how to manage this special needs groups.

      Many of these special needs persons need expensive medications the prison system does not have enough specialized staff to monitor. The politicians know this too.

      Right now there are several bills to improve mental health funding, training, and advanced forms of crisis intervention (this is more than just saying the word "please" to a guy who is off his medication and thinks you are a demon).

      The Cool Hand Luke days of corrections have ended. If you want somebody to blame. Blame yourself and not the hard working officers who are victimized everyday, realize the people in Austin don't care. These politicians don't get recommended from the Eagle Forum, Empowered Texans, or Americans for Prosperity by doing the right thing to increase resources to properly run the prison system.

      People like yourself need to get involved and back the correctional officers who are asking for better training and more resources, including pay to recruit a better applicant pool.

      You can call your State Senator right now and ask them to support HB 1855 which would require better training on mental health crisis intervention and also ask them to bring the officer's pay up to levels where the agency can attract quality applicants. At this current time TDCJ is over 3,600 positions vacant!!!!! They can't even staff these facilities using outsourced labor.

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  28. they hire hood-rats and welfare slobs who don't use any force they show up part time sit down in the day rooms with the offenders and bitch about having to get up to count.We need more complete back ground checks I'm getting tired of having to hear about officers in uniform getting caught shoplifting.going to discos,fighting in Whataburger with other officers, half out of uniform guards flipping people off on the road,arguing with cops and civilians and when they get busted there is always something in their past that should have barred them from being hired in the first place.

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