Inmate program at Governor's Residence 'off course'

[iwasthere]

i thought this was part of gov strickland's prison program to retrain these men into a useful profession when they are released from prison?

[irishbobcat]

Inmate program at Governor's Residence 'off course'
But state findings downplayed by Strickland
Tuesday,  May 4, 2010 2:54 AM
By Alan Johnson

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

ohio inspector general's office
Loose tobacco and cigarettes, illegal in state prisons, were found stashed in the residence.
Inmate incidents
Twenty-four security and contraband incidents were reported at the Governor's Residence from March 2007 to March 2010. Highlights:


◦March 11, 2010: Investigators from the inspector's general's office find a baggie of tobacco in a drop-ceiling of a basement bathroom.
◦March 9, 2010: A serrated knife with a 6-inch blade is missing from the kitchen.
◦Jan. 28, 2010: State troopers find 13 baggies of tobacco in the basement bathroom.
◦Jan. 13, 2010: The head groundskeeper finds 30 pouches of tobacco in the basement bathroom.
◦Jan. 12, 2010: Inmates Reginald North and Charles Eck are removed from the program for smuggling tobacco into a state prison from the residence.
◦Aug. 13, 2009: Residence officials find that $88 worth of stamps are missing; some of the stamps are found with inmate William Taylor, who is removed from the program.
◦May 18, 2009: An empty vodka bottle is found near the residence compost bins.
◦May 14, 2009: Joseph Turley is removed from the program after officials find cigarette rolling machines and tobacco.
◦April 4, 2009: Inmate Eck is removed from the program, then reinstated at the request of the Stricklands, after he is found wearing a pair of steel-toed boots given to him by residence housekeepers.
◦March 3, 2009: Two inmates are dismissed from the program after they are found smoking in the tool shed.
◦Sept. 10, 2008: Inmate George Niehouse is removed from the program after a razor blade is found in his shoe.
◦April 22, 2008: Two empty bottles of wine and one of rum are found in the basement, prompting a new policy to lock up, count and mark bottles containing alcohol.
◦March 13, 2007: Inmate Joseph Recher is removed from the program after he is found in possession of a utility knife.
Source: Inspector general's report

Ted and Frances Strickland made it clear from the beginning: They did not want their home "run like a prison."

But when your home is the Governor's Residence in Bexley, and many of the people staffing it are state inmates, relaxing the rules - even with the laudable goal of rehabilitation - apparently has risks.

As a result, the official residence of Ohio's governor in recent years "functioned as a 'mule station' for the conveyance of tobacco and other contraband into a state prison," according to an investigation released last week by Inspector General Thomas P. Charles.

The inmate work program, used by governors going back to Michael DiSalle, (1959-1963), "veered off course" after Strickland took office in 2007, the inspector general found. Inmate oversight was "cavalier," largely because of "a failure to integrate the prison security requirements."

Strickland, a former prison psychologist who worked on Death Row, said changes are being made in response to the report. But he downplays problems with a program he strongly supports and thinks should continue.

"Anyone who has worked with inmates would be absolutely naive to think that they don't, at times, disappoint you, at least some of them," Strickland told The Dispatch.

In the past three years, honor inmates working at the residence committed 24 contraband infractions, resulting in the dismissal of 11 inmates from the program.

The Stricklands sometimes intervened on behalf of inmates, at one point getting one, Charles Eck, reinstated after he had been dismissed by prison officials. Eck was later found to be one of the organizers of tobacco smuggling from the residence into prison.

Ohio prisons have had a no-smoking policy since March 1, 2009. The ban, which includes chewing tobacco and snuff, created a lucrative contraband market in which one cigarette sells for $10, a pack of cigarettes goes for $200 and a can of loose tobacco fetches $300.

At the residence, inmates were frequently unsupervised, even outside the fences, and had access to "knives, axes, chain saws and a wide variety of other hand tools," Charles' report said. A razor blade and a utility knife were among items confiscated from inmates returning to the Pickaway Correctional Institution in Orient, where the program is based.

Empty wine and liquor bottles were found in the residence's basement and compost pile, four beers were discovered stashed in the garden, and one inmate was found with some of the $88 worth of stamps stolen from the residence. Loose tobacco was found hidden in the ceiling of a basement bathroom on three occasions.

In early 2008, the Strickland administration requested and was granted five variances from Department of Rehabilitation and Correction prisoner rules. Instead of prison uniforms, inmates are allowed to wear polo shirts and steel-toed boots, and for special occasions, white long-sleeved shirts and black vests, slacks and dress shoes. The variances also removed requirements that inmates be visually checked every 30 minutes and that prison personnel conduct on-site inspections of the residence work site.

As early as February 2008, an incident report from Pickaway prison personnel expressed concern about "the daily supervision of offenders" at the residence and "the inability to provide/enforce proper security measures in case of an emergency."

Strickland told The Dispatch that it was not unusual for inmates working in the kitchen or garden to have access to knives or even a chain saw, and that many are expected to transition soon to jobs in restaurants or other work.

"I don't know that I was too trusting," he said. "I think there were inmate interns that broke the rules and did not conduct themselves appropriately. But that is no reason, in my judgment, to consider terminating the program."

Strickland also downplayed details in the report about the residence serving as a "mule station" to store and smuggle tobacco or other contraband into prison.

"It's an infraction, but tobacco is not an illegal substance," Strickland said. "The inmates should not have done it, but here again, I think the terms you use can indicate a certain kind of environment which is not necessarily a true reflection of the environment" at the residence.

Prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said several changes in the program were enacted before the release of Charles' report: more-rigid screening policies, improved search procedures and tighter restrictions on "boundary" areas where inmates can go.