Corrections Officers, It's time to step up to the plate!

Two short stories.

Donald’s wife gives me a call. He’s been in prison 42 years, he’s 76 years of age, and he’s been a model prisoner. A quiet, gentle black man, Donald never got tickets, never challenged authority, and was liked by peers and staff alike. He finally got an opportunity for parole…he was granted a Public Hearing before the Michigan Parole Board. We attended, and spoke up in his support. That was some months ago.

The reason for the call from Donald’s wife: He was granted a parole! Good news! God be praised!

Then came the negative part of the story. Following the Public Hearing the prisoner is housed in a holding area until a van can arrive, pick him up, and take him back to the facility where he resides. While in that holding area, a few nasty Corrections Officers choose to harass him, telling him he’s never going to get out. “You’ll die in here.”

Donald could hardly talk when he related that story to his wife that night…he broke down weeping.

Story Number Two.

Lisa is a 55 year old white woman, living in Michigan’s only prison for women in Ypsilanti. Her words:

My two daughters came to visit this past weekend. The officer threatened one of them, saying that she could not wear altered clothing and told her she had to do a strip search to prove it, and if she was lying she'd never visit again. She took her, along with her 4-year-old daughter and her 7-year-old son into the visitors’ bathroom and made my daughter strip in front of the kids, all of whom were crying.  Then, at the end, when they were leaving, the officer pointed at my younger daughter and her little boy, asking who she was to my older daughter. She responded, "My sister and nephew."  The officer said, " Mmm, she likes her some black men…got her a black baby," about my 5-year-old grandson. My grandchildren never want to come see me again "where the bad people work."

I have to admit, many years ago when I got started in this business, I had a problem with all corrections officers. But, I’ve changed my mind! I have met many fine officers, men and women who do their very best under trying circumstances, who manage to stay kind and fair, and who gain the respect of prisoners and visitors. It’s not an easy job under the best of circumstances.

However, this stuff is unacceptable. We can go on blaming the Warden, the MDOC and all the people at the top, but I’m thinking that it's time to start lower than that. I’m calling on all decent officers, and I’m calling on the Michigan Corrections Organization---the union that represents some 6,500 corrections workers---to take a stand.

The Union’s web site says the organization is “leading a nationwide campaign to raise the professional profile of corrections officers.”

It’s time to deal with your own...time to intensify that campaign! Stories like this don’t smell very good.