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.The UT LBJ School's Michele Deitch expressed concern over the use of chemical agents like pepper spray on inmates “where they won’t comply with an order,” but “There’s no particular indication that there’s an immediate danger of any kind.”
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.
As a followup, it'd be interesting to know how many of those use-of-force and pepper spray incidents involved mentally ill inmates, an issue that arose in California prisons last fall. The Trib's Brandi Grissom reported last fall that use-of-force rates were highest at TDCJ's psychiatric facilities and units housing large numbers of mentally ill inmates. One also wonders how many disciplinary actions against employees resulted from these thousands of force incidents, or if TDCJ considered them all justified.
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18 comments:
Maybe the guards need more training? Or maybe the inmates are out of control!!
I have family and friends that work at the Allred Unit and they can't wait to retire. Advocates have their eyes on prison reform, particularly the use of force and solitary confinement...and they could not be more clueless. You couldn't pay me to work in a Texas prison.
I am waiting for the study that suggests prisoners have underdeveloped frontal lobes and shouldn't be held responsible for their behavior.
Here is another article dealing with abuse inside our Texas prison systems.
http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2014/apr/02/prison_stabbing/
lol...who in their right mind today would go in there entry level?
https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/21365_displayArticle.aspx
Texas Lawmakers “Surprised” Over Hiring of Non-Citizen Prison Guards on Work Visas
Mmm, yes, of course, it's the violent inmates provoking guards. Always. A friend on death row (solitary confinement)recently wrote about another prisoner nearby being gassed and beaten for refusing his meal tray (he was supposed to be given a diet tray, and was given a standard one instead)and demanding his diet food.
There are a myriad of problems that provide these results. Entry-level officers whose previous employment was McDonalds burger flipper is only PART of the issue. The other issue is that there are violent and dangerous people locked up in these prisons. There are no easy answers because the problems are more complex than what is presented.
This is just a single data point, 7:24, nobody claimed the world's most complex problems can all be solved in a single blog post
+2
I watched a crime & was sent to TDCJ after guilty plea between 1992-1998. Assigned to Tulia, Ferguson, Telford, Allred, Robertson, Neal then last 10 months on parole. No arrests etc now for 15 years. Recently learned my fam stealing millions from me they hid from me and theyre doing tax evasion. Past 10 years informimg FBI & IRS-CID of their fraud etc & awaiting filing civil on them @ Federal Court to recover what theyre stealing. My fam even declared me as dead and tried to erase my name from documents showing ima heir. I know what TDCJ is like. What Correctional Officers must contend with. Air conditioners should be made available for Officers, not the offenders. Ad Seg should stay in place. Officer salaries should be raised. Unfortunately, some families of offenders dont realize prison isnt a daycare. Its full of inmates who manipulate, extort, scheme, engage in felony behavior, have thug mentality, are sociopathic, violent and take delight in assaulting one another and staff. Ive been out for 15 years now and ive noticed TDCJ is going downhill some. If the legislature and huntsville would classify all of TDCJ as close custody this would reduce staff assaults and by implementing 3 johnny sacks per day would save money and eliminate movement. I think Officers would be able to be safer @ work and would gain control over the inmates today alot more. Offenders are not people you meet in society. 99% of the offenders exhibit animalistic characteristics. If the US Congress would pass a law forbidding offenders from reproducing or a 1 child policy or also force many to renounce their citizenship i feel this will stop prison overcrowding. Officer Nagle and Officer Canfield as well as Mrs Osbourne lost their lives since no inmates tried to prevent such. Instead inmates followed a sick code or took delight. Unless you have done time please refrain from trying to enact laws to make life easier for inmates. If offenders are given ac @ expense of $55 million or so, they will see this as a mechanism to further exploi the system. Next would be wanting McDonalds etc... Prisoners need to have it as hard as possible. They should not be cuddled or comforted. I hope TDCJ is able to figure out ways to raise salaries for Officers and to better contain the wild animals they house who couldnt follow rules in society. GTR 637784.
A point to consider is how much of the reduction in the prison population was from the non-violent (as in prison behavior, as opposed to committing offense) population. If the ones being released are the ones who behave themselves, then the remaining inmates will have a higher percentage of violent inmates among them, which could drive up the number of major use of force incidents.
I'm thinking that the situation resembles the TYC/TJJD transition when violence rates shot up partly because the non/less-violent juveniles were being sent home, but I'd like to see data to show one way or another if this is a valid idea.
Anon 7.47 said "Offenders are not people you meet in society." I couldn't disagree more! Offenders have come from society, and in most cases will be returning to society. You seem to be saying that all 150,000 current TDCJ inmates should be restricted further, fed less, given less means to improve their education and social skills and then maybe be let out directly from that environment to try and find a job and a home (I assume, in someone else's neighbourhood). That attitude just keeps TDCJ in the spiral of needing a steady flow of inmates, and does nothing to address the range of issues that other states and countries appear to be tackling with some success.
You want offenders to renounce their citizenship? Including yourself, I assume. Where would these people then be permitted to live?
You want offenders to be prohibited from having more than one child? What about the offenders who end up in prison AFTER producing more than one child? Given that TDCJ only just permits an occasional hug, kiss and touching of hands (below the wrists, mind you), offenders producing children is already limited.
I read your post (almost the exact same words) over on another TDCJ staff website recently. I'm sure they would be happy to know they had an ex-inmate in their midst. Prison is hard - you of all people should know that. Increasing the vindictive and brutal environments you advocate would set the system back decades and would not make it any less likely that the prison population would decrease. It is not a deterrant, doesn't work as such, and frankly if having the death penalty doesn't stop people killing other people (or not killing them, in the Law of Parties cases) then nothing else if going to deter them either.
James ~ sensible comments! If only the BPP looked properly at an inmate's behaviour while in prison and not just at the crime, TDCJ might need even fewer prisons than it does now.
Dang it S.W., you went off and acknowledged (spanked him pretty good I might add)) 7:47's bipolar rant which will lead to one of his personalities responding.
Since we all know that his goofy ass will return, I'll take time to slap the rest of the crap out of his mouth so everyone else can ignore him and concentrate on the GFB blog post at hand.
Yo, ding dong, your four sided comment makes you look as stupid as you sound. No wonder you ended up being on so many Units. With Ferguson being a Gladiator Unit, you are lucky to be alive. The staff most definitely had enough of your constant 1000 word stories and the convicts were about to lose their minds up in here, up in here.
Millions! No AC for convicts! Are you 100% certain you did time in Texas? Enter the theme from Twilight Zone and fade to black....
I particularly liked his idea of just feeding Johnnies XD I wouldn't feel safe with that rule enacted.
There are so many variables to increased use of force incidents. One factor to be considered is the continued hardening of the prison population.
That would be "quite" not quote.
And...hopefully the rest of my grammar/ spelling errors show that I posted from my phone.
Frontal lobe? What the what? I seem to recall my husband -who is quote the stoic- telling me through tears about a man who was shot to death on the rec yard. In the chest, for attempting to escape. He was just standing there one minute. The next he was dead. Those frontal lobes are no match for anecdotal evidence.
P.S..: I think the term you're looking for is "amygdalae". I also think that correct citation of evidence based studies can be your friend if you let it. Hope your family had a swell Easter working in TDCJ. 90 more days an our decade of hell is over. Too bad you can't seem to say the same for your family who work for them. :(
No way you were ever an inmate. You just made that up. --A Real Ex-Convict
When you treat people like animals and run a defacto concentration camp, this is the result.
How much violence is there against guards in Norweigan prisons? They don't treat the inmates like animals thus they don't act like animals.
Many convicts in Norway for petty crimes also do not spend the entire time in prison, they are allowed to keep their regular jobs so as to not cause hardship and just report there on weekends. Having your weekends taken away to do prison labor is not a 'country club' and is still punishment. The lifers inside the prisons there can still go to Oslo university and get degrees remotely, they can still work, and they can still have conjugals with their wives which makes all the difference.
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