95% What If...Dealing with Prison Inmates

By Lee M. Ozley

This engagingly written and charmingly illustrated book takes the reader through the history of this effort with all its ups and downs in becoming a remarkably successful endeavor. The thrust of this effort is based upon the belief that
90% or more of inmates are good people who just
made mistakes and screwed up their lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483665726

Lee M. Ozley

The author, a seasoned coach and advisor with more than 40 years experience in over 180 organizations in North America and Europe, shares his perspective of a truly remarkable program at a 1,250 male inmate penitentiary in South Carolina where he has been volunteering for about two years. The thrust of this effort is based upon the belief that 90% or more of inmates are good people who just made mistakes and screwed up their lives. Treating inmates with respect and as a person of value, when their demonstrated behaviors merit, has created a truly rehabilitative program that is changing lives and preparing these inmates to be productive and good members of society. This engagingly written and charmingly illustrated book takes the reader through the history of this effort with all its’ ups and downs in becoming a remarkably successful endeavor. Lee has written a clear description of the remarkable program at Allendale, which should be a model for every penal institution in the country. Allendale is successful because here there is a strong and courageous warden who had the wisdom to significantly involve the inmates in managing their futures. He is indeed a visionary. Judge Joe Spruill, Virginia State Circuit Court, semi-retired Lee has written a very good and accurate description of what we are achieving. Over 100,000 thousand inmate program hours have been conducted since the initiation of the character initiatives last year. Violence has reduced, the overall effect this initiative has positively changed the vast majority of the inmate population and lives are being changed for the good. The days of just warehousing inmates have gone. If we expect a better person to be released back into the communities we must change his character while imprisoned. We are using peer-to-peer programming that works. John Pate, Warden, Allendale Correctional Institution

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Copyright © 2013 by Lee M. Ozley. 138728-OZLE

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013912336

ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4836-6570-2

Hardcover 978-1-4836-6571-9

Ebook 978-1-4836-6572-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 09/11/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

CHAPTER 2

Where Do We Go From Here?

CHAPTER 3

Character Housing Units (Chu)

– The Foundation

CHAPTER 4

Education, Learning And Skill Development

CHAPTER 5

If I were king (or queen) I’d…..

CHAPTER 6

We Have Been Very Blessed

CHAPTER 7

Behavior Assessment

CHAPTER 8

What Those Intimately Involved Are Saying

CHAPTER 9

Dealing With Success

CHAPTER 10

Up’s And Down’s Along The Way

CHAPTER 11

What Do I Need To Do If I Want To

Help Bring About Change In A Prison?

CHAPTER 12

Personal Thoughts

APPENDIX 1

Distribution Of ACI Inmate Offenses

APPENDIX 2

CHU Program Roles/Responsibilitites

APPENDIX 3

CHU Criteria

APPENDIX 4

CHU Application

APPENDIX 5

Communications Effectiveness Worksheet

APPENDIX 6

Behavior Assessment Items

APPENDIX 7

Behavior Assessment Survey

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

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From my exposure to a number of prisons, my in depth experience with 1,250 male inmate prison and 45+ years of experience as a coach and advisor to organizations, it is clear to me that the stereotypes that guide people involved in the development and administration of our prison systems may be deterrents to efforts to rehabilitate inmates.

These stereotypes suggest that inmates are bad and/or seriously flawed human beings who must be punished for their wrongdoing. In the process of punishing these stereotypical miscreants’, our society gains the further advantage of getting these people ‘off the streets’ and removing them from being of any further harm or endanger citizens.

The dominant stereotypes suggest that those in power positions in prisons see their role as controlling these ‘lesser human beings’ and ensuring that prisoners know that those in charge of their lives see them as inferior human beings.

Housing conditions usually place 2 to 3 inmates in a cell with their time rigidly regulated, e.g. meals at precisely appointed times, rigidly enforced time limits, mandatory head counts are conducted eight times/day, etc. These same restrictions apply to all other aspects of a prisoner’s life – shower, sleep time, recreational time, assigned tasks or work, visitation hours, etc.

The security staff is, necessarily, strict in their treatment of prisoners. The social interactions, if any, between inmates and staff are limited in frequency and attendant conversations are very one-way and cryptic.

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When those in charge act according to the stereotype that inmates are inferior human beings, the opinions of inmates on various matters are not elicited. In these situations, if an inmate is brazen enough to offer his/her opinion, the prison staff member who hears his/her remarks lets her/him know very quickly that prisoners are to ‘be seen and not heard’ and should focus their efforts on following the rules to the letter and doing as they are told.

Unfortunately, too many of our prisons leadership spend the bulk of their time, effort and resources in ‘locking up’ convicted felons. They devote significantly less time, effort and resources in providing effective rehabilitation to transform inmates into people who can function and be successful in our society.

What percentage of your prisoners are simply bad and/or evil people and what percentage of your prisoners are good people who made a mistake? what would be the percentage of ‘bad’ people – 90%???

The policies and practices of many prisons are very appropriate for the presumption that the vast majority of prisoners are bad people who have to be removed from our society and any interaction with the rest of society who are, quite obviously, good people.

I first visited the Allendale Correctional Institution (ACI) in Fairfax, South Carolina in the Spring of 2012. ACI is a 1, 250 male inmate level 2 prison, composed of four general population housing units and a 186 bed Special Management Unit (SMU). Maximum bed space is 1,344 with 145 cells triple bunked.

South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) definition of prison categories:

Level 1-A facilities are community-based pre-release/work centers that house minimum-security non-violent inmates who are within 36 months of release. Level 1-B institutions are minimum-security facilities that house inmates with relatively short sentences or time to serve.

Level 2 facilities are medium-security institutions. Housing is primarily double bunk, cell type with some institutions having double-bunk cubicles. With single fenced perimeters and electronic surveillance, level 2 institutions provide a higher level of security than level 1 facilities.

Level 3 facilities are high-security institutions designed primarily to house violent offenders with longer sentences, and inmates who exhibit behavioral problems. Housing consists of single and double cells, and all perimeters are double-fenced with extensive electronic surveillance. Inmates at level 3 facilities are closely supervised and their activities and movement within the institution are highly restricted.

The average sentence length for inmates at ACI is 12.12 years. 70% of the inmates were convicted of violent crimes and 30% for non-violent. (See appendix 1 for listing of offenses for which ACI inmates were convicted.)

The inmate population is 63.8% African American, 33.9% White, and 2.3% other races with an average age of 37.5 years.

The parole system in South Carolina results with very few (less than 2%) inmates eligible for parole actually being paroled.

After a tour of the facility, I met with the Warden and senior officials for a briefing. They gave me an excellent update