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| New Policies and Procedures for the Monroe County Correctional Facility |
| By David Pierce, Pocono Record Writer, pocono record |
| Published: 06/01/2010 |
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Monroe County Correctional Facility policies are again being put to the test with a corrections officer's arrest for allegedly delivering drugs to inmates, another guard's suspension for possibly having sex with an inmate and allegations another inmate was raped by an employee. All this unfolded since a 2006-07 scandal in which six guards and a kitchen worker were criminally charged with either having sex with inmates and/or supplying them with contraband. A national consultant's 2007 report, prepared by the Moss Group, called for communicating to employees and inmates a "zero tolerance" for sexual misconduct and breaking a "code of silence" that makes both groups reluctant to report violations. Monroe County Commissioner Theresa Merli, president of the prison board that oversees the jail, said in-house communication has improved significantly. "People are having some trust in the processes regardless of what the issues are," she said. Carl DeSimone, a corrections officer and shop steward for the workers' union, says sexual misconduct issues have been incorporated into the five-week training program for new corrections officers and in ongoing reviews. "We get constant training on sexual harassment and what constitutes sexual harassment, and in every department to report every incident," DeSimone said. "They're not afraid to report something because the present administration picks up on it right away." The vast majority of corrections officers want to do the right thing and want violations by other workers swiftly addressed, he said. The prison has greatly expanded video and audio surveillance since the Moss report. A district attorney detective is assigned regularly to the jail to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct, something that didn't happen until after a Monroe County investigative grand jury recommended it. The Moss report called for more formal and consistent policies regarding sexual misconduct, additional supervisory positions, better training and greater consistency in how rules are applied to inmates. New policies and procedures are in place. Yet there have been times the Snydersville jail's top three administrative posts have been vacant for weeks, even months at a time. Since the Moss report was issued, six people have served as warden, at least on an interim basis. Donna Asure, a former county commissioner with no prior prison experience, assumed the top job little more than six months ago with no second or third in command. Those two vacancies were just filled last month. Read More. |
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