The second half of 2005 revealed many challenges inherent in the many facets of corrections – issues in inmate medical treatment, legal rights, re-entry and drug addiction were all addressed. Meanwhile, corrections officers reached out to help brothers and sisters in corrections who faced natural disasters in the south.

Among the issues of 2005, legal battles were prevalent. While a new Chief Justice, John Roberts, was sworn into the Supreme Court, inmates to raise legal problems, focusing on everything from religious to disability rights. Corrections officials also took time in 2005 to focus on new programs and treatments for inmates.

Officials and officers faced problems with chronic overcrowding as corrections facilities were faced higher numbers of offenders. Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger grappled with the issue of a man on death row pleading for clemency while society and corrections looked on. Specifically, the second half of 2005 w\\focused on issues such as:

Health Issues
Re-Entry
Hiring, Recruitment and Job Safety
Inmate Rights and Court Cases
Corrections Officers Reaching Out

With many changes, advancements made, and challenges faced, The Corrections Connection continues with Part 2 of its look back at a year of lessons learned, progress made, and the corrections family reaching out.

Health Issues

This year, in Texas, newly released offenders were welcomed to their freedom with a warm cup of coffee - and a session of HIV/AIDS awareness training. At a storefront a block away from the inmate release center in Huntsville, offenders – who were just HIV tested – learned about the disease and how to remain healthy. This session is the last step in Project Wall Talk, a new disease awareness program for inmates, that hopes to change offenders' perceptions about the disease.

Project Wall Talk, a program of Houston's AIDS Foundation, started off as a peer-to-peer education project that centered on reducing prisoner cases of HIV and AIDS. But after the in-prison program began, inmates started asking for more information - and PWT peer educators expanded their programs to include Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), Hepatitis, Tuberculosis and Staphylococcus as well as other diseases.  According to PWT officials, the need for this program was great based on the number of inmates at risk for contracting HIV. In 2002, Bureau of Justice statistics showed the inmate population was over three times more at risk for HIV/AIDS infection than the general population. According to PWT organizers, inmates have responded positively to the information and cannot wait to share it with others.

Additionally, juvenile offenders were treated differently with juvenile corrections facilities addressing the issue of traumatic stress to help offenders learn how to cope with their emotions in a positive way, rather than resorting to negative behavior. One of those facilities is Connecticut's New Haven Juvenile Detention Center. Treating the traumatic stress of juveniles can often change behavior patterns, reduce violent tendencies, and develop coping strategies. The Trauma Adaptive Recovery Group Education and Therapy (TARGET) program was developed by the University of Connecticut, and piloted at the New Haven Juvenile Detention Center. Due to the success of the program, officials are implementing TARGET in many other juvenile facilities, both public and private, across the state. The results are obvious daily in facilities that are using the TARGET program.

Officials and practitioners in corrections also focused on mortality reviews in 2005. Like many professions, doctors and nurses require peer feedback to improve how they handle patient illnesses or to receive confirmation that they have done a good job. But in correctional health care, conducting peer reviews can be complicated, especially around inmate deaths. Experts believe that these reviews should be in-depth and include the timeline from when an inmate was booked into a facility to the date of death. But the specifics of how and who conducts them can vary from state to state. Reviews of inmate deaths are an important part of continuous quality improvement and are essential to detecting whether there are variances in medical treatment, if there are patterns of variances and to taking corrective action when there are problems discovered -- either systemic or individual.

Re-Entry

Another big topic in 2005 was the issue of re-entry and that topic became even more important while facilities housed record numbers of offenders. While some facilities made sure that inmates had access to programs that aided their re-entry into society, other facilities created courses that helped inmates line up jobs before they were released. Like a fish out of water, offenders coming back to the community from prison have difficulty even with their basic survival. The recent focus nationally on improving re-entry services for offenders is starting to help and transitional jobs programs plays a substantial role in improving offenders' chances for success.

This year, the National Transitional Jobs Network launched a project to help selected cities across the country improve or launch transitional jobs programs with the idea of assisting ex-offenders and other hard-to-employ individuals to reintegrate fully in the community. NTJB partnered in the project with the National League of Cities, the Center for Employment. Several mayors and city council members from across the country have identified a growing need to support former offenders and their families in the community - particularly with employment pathways. Some communities need assistance in creating transitional jobs programs and this project provides them that much-needed guidance.

Counties and communities also pitched in to help offenders re-enter society.  People came together in 2005 to improve ex-offenders' ability to succeed in the community after release. Officials worked with the Department of Justice came up with the idea for a re-entry court. They developed a program allows for the early release of non-violent and violent offenders that meet certain criteria who would simultaneously be supervised as they returned to the community by electronic monitoring. Then the program provides them assistance in the community to get them on their feet.

The participating offenders gain a certain number of early release days based on the type of crime they were incarcerated for. The offenders serve the remainder of their sentences in the community on electronic monitoring and report to a re-entry judge, attend programming stipulated in their program plan and work with a variety of community corrections re-entry staff.

Participation in the program is optional, but program administrators are encouraging offenders to become involved because of the improvements they have seen. Recidivism statistics for offenders prior to the re-entry court showed that 45 percent of those released, returned within the first year - most for committing new crimes. That statistic rose to 66 percent after three years. Now, of those participating in the re-entry court, only 25 percent recidivate within a year and for those who do re-offend, they are doing so by committing less-serious offenses.

But officers and officials also had to recognize the potential barriers of re-entry. This year, officials also acknowledged that when collateral sanctions are applied indiscriminately and block an ex-offender's ability to re-enter society as a law-abiding citizen, then the grounds for these restrictions come into question. Disqualifications for ex-offenders vary from state to state and range from the loss of voting rights to ineligibility for pubic housing. These restrictions, according to some, which many offenders don't even know about until after they are released, not only impact the ex-offender's ability to get back on their feet, but also their ability to take care of their children. Because of the unfairness of many of these sanctions, several efforts have emerged to increase the dialogue about these disqualifications and how to implement change so that true re-entry and reduced recidivism can be achieved.

Hiring, Recruitment, and Safety

Corrections also faced a challenge in 2005: hiring and retaining excellent officers, practitioners, and officials in the corrections field. The issue was especially pertinent in corrections health care. Too few nurses entering the healthcare profession know what corrections has to offer them in terms of clinical experience, according to one Colorado facility's Health Administrator.  Many nurses never even consider working in a correctional facility when they are looking for employment because correctional facilities house so many different types of people, healthcare professionals working in those settings gain experience treating a variety of physical conditions and many mental health problems, too. But, still, hospitals are where most nurses who are fresh out of school look to work. 

There is a shortage of qualified nurses across the country and even hospitals feel the effects of that. But, prisons and jails face an even greater challenge in recruiting nurses because colleges typically do not expose students to correctional healthcare or send them to facilities to gain clinical experience because people aren't familiar with the corrections world. They are likely to have formed an impression of what it's like to work in a prison or jail setting from what they hear in the media.

In order to address the issue of hiring and recruitment for officers, many officials spent 2005 refocusing their efforts on finding the best people for the job – and keeping them. Many corrections agencies across the country grapple with these questions - and for good reason. As the job market loosens, employees are gravitating towards higher paying jobs elsewhere.

To turn this trend around, administrators need to better understand the problems and their staff, provide better incentives and ensure that they are interacting with employees in ways that meet their needs. With almost one-third of the officer positions at Coffeewood Correctional Center in Virginia vacant and a sense that there was a reason behind the rate of attrition, the Virginia Department of Corrections took a bold step - it asked employees to tell them what was wrong.

Warden Jeff Dillman, who was installed to improve the facility's culture in 2004, decided to adopt a model of improving that culture and involving employees in the process. Dillman and others from the Virginia DOC will be explaining the process at this year's American Correctional Association Congress of Correction. Pay was first on the group's list. Based on this feedback, the facility administration did an analysis both internally and externally of salaries, comparing salaries to those on the outside, including other law enforcement positions and the private sector, as well as how salaries increase on the inside. According to Dillman, the salaries were not increasing at a competitive rate at the facility. A new salary scale was created for Coffeewood in which salaries would increase on a 45-degree scale.

Inmate Rights

2005 was also a year that ushered in changes to inmate rights – and with the swearing in of Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court faced a possible change of direction when it came to those rights. Many have begun to analyze what Chief Justice John Roberts' confirmation to the Supreme Court and the recommendation of Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor might mean for the outcome of future corrections-related cases.

With several prisoner issue cases already on the high court's docket, some worried there could be some changes in how the court rules depending on who ultimately takes the seat of retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. In other cases, such as those dealing with disability rights or religious freedom, analysts believe that the court will likely remain consistent no matter who is confirmed to O'Connor's seat.

This year's case involving inmates assigned to Ohio's supermax prison, the Ohio State Penitentiary, was decided unanimously in favor of a new policy that provided prisoners with sufficient due process rights before their transfer to the prison. What is more of a concern for some is the replacement of Justice O'Connor, who in many ways shifted her thinking over the years on some prisoner-related issues during her tenure on the court.

The Supreme Court also faced prisoner disability cases in 2005, one in particular that dealt with the accessibility of different areas of corrections facilities. Georgia inmate Tony Goodman has been seeking relief in a disability rights case involving the State of Georgia and the Georgia prison system. Goodman, who is wheelchair-bound, claimed that his rights were violated on multiple occasions when he was forced to sit in his own feces, was forced to live in a cell where he could not turn his wheelchair around and when officials ignored his medical needs.

Using the Americans with Disabilities Act as the basis for his claim, Goodman initially filed his lawsuit in 1999 claiming declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief. And, although the facts of the case have been accepted and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ultimately ruled in Goodman's favor for injunctive relief, the question of whether state and prison officials can be sued for monetary damages under the ADA remains.

While the ADA applies to prisons, the Goodman case and other recent disability cases, sought to clarify under what circumstances states and state officials must pay for violating the law. In Goodman's case, he asked for $600,000 from each of the defendants.
To persuade the Supreme Court, attorneys for Goodman spoke about the record of discrimination against inmates and legal precedent in general, while the State of Georgia's attorneys discussed state protections under the 11th Amendment.

The last few months of 2005 focused heavily on Stanley “Tookie” Williams, a founder of the notorious Crips gang. Williams, who was sentenced to death after killing four people, appealed his sentence a number of times. In early December, the California Supreme Court refused to halt his execution. The fate of Williams rested solely on California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant the death row inmate clemency. While the media covered the issue extensively, celebrities came pouring out of the woodwork to protest William's execution, citing that he was rehabilitated. Williams had, in fact, publicly denounced the Crips gang and written a number of children's books that denounced gang life and violence. However, Schwarzenegger denied clemency for Williams, creating a media frenzy that once again focused on the death penalty and its place in 2005.

Missouri made corrections headlines this year when an inmate requested transportation for an abortion procedure – and the state appealed the case to the Supreme Court. Although Missouri legislation for years has forbidden any tax payer funds from paying for abortions in any way, Missouri corrections officials were ordered by a federal court to transport a female inmate to an abortion facility. Now, Missouri lawmakers are lobbying to permanently ban the transportation of female inmates to abortion clinics. After the case of Missouri inmate Jane Doe went through a number of courts and appeals processes, the case finally reached the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case, letting the ruling of the lower court stand. By electing not to hear the case, the court effectively ruled on behalf of Jane Doe and allowed the transportation to take place.

2005 also brought about a lengthy legal battle for Texas offender Keith Roderick Johnson, an inmate who claimed he was sexually abused for months while corrections officers ignored his repeated pleas for help. But a Texas jury rejected Johnson's claims in Johnson v. Johnson, with the majority of the jurors citing that his testimony was inconsistent. And, although Johnson did not prevail, his attorneys and others are gratified that his case brought attention to the issue of prisoner rape. Johnson, who was serving a sentence for a 2000 burglary, filed suit against six corrections officers and the prison warden, all of whom worked at the Allred Unit during 18 months of the alleged sexual assault. According to Johnson, prison officials not only ignored his pleas for a transfer to a safer unit, but also mocked him because he was a homosexual.

But according to local news reports, jurors questioned Johnson's physical evidence, and believed the state's claims that Johnson was still using cocaine. Following the return of the verdict, the defendants stated that Texas officers have always “carefully and thoroughly” applied corrections policies in regard to sexual abuse within state prisons.
According to Mike Viesca, Director of Communications for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas prison system has a zero-tolerance policy regarding prison rape, and that if an inmate reports a sexual assault it is standard procedure that they are interviewed and medically examined.

Corrections Officers Reaching Out

Following the worst natural disaster in American history, corrections officers and officials showed their hearts during 2005. While many of their brothers and sisters in corrections faced Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath, corrections officers from all over America reached out to help. Meanwhile, officials in New Orleans grappled with inmates displaced after the storm. And while many people reached out to help those suffering in New Orleans, the area is still recovering, even months after the storm has passed.

Shoeless, soaked, tired and hungry, displaced inmates from Louisiana's hurricane-ravaged counties arrived at correctional facilities across the state following Hurricane Katrina. And the institutions that received them were ready and waiting. Some facilities receiving prisoners – such as Washington Correctional Institute (WCI) – operated via emergency generators and had no functioning phone lines, but were still able to provide for the incoming offenders and shelter staff and their families who had lost everything. And in the decimated New Orleans and Jefferson Parish areas, correctional, probation and parole staff have evacuated thousands of offenders and helped bring private citizens to safety.

The challenges that WCI faced also prompted wardens to be creative in the face of crisis.
When a generator threatened to fail, he found one from Angola State Penitentiary as a back up. When he needed a water tank moved to his facility, but lacked transportation, he found a tractor trailer driver disconnecting at a local service station. He offered diesel fuel in exchange for transporting the tank, and got it moved. Inmate work crews have been sent out to help with the clean-up, although they had to remove downed trees to get to the facility entrance first, and the facility even held its annual Labor Day cookout for staff and their families. One continued focus for WCI's Warden Miller and his staff in the aftermath of Katrina is helping offenders locate their families. Many have not heard from loved ones since the storm, he said.  At Angola State Penitentiary, officials received about 1,700 inmates -- including 500 female offenders they were not expecting – both prior and following the storm.

Corrections staff from Kentucky, New York City, Michigan and corrections agencies such as NAAWS and AWEC, all reached out to help their brothers and sisters in corrections. Also, corrections staff from Norfolk County Sheriff's Office in Massachusetts organized various fundraisers to raise funds and collecting bins full of clothing, canned goods and toiletries to donate.

WCI's retired Warden James D. Miller says that the reactions by corrections staff to the disaster – from Louisiana, Massachusetts and across the nation – disproved the negative stereotypes of corrections officers.