Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 04/Aug 05:07

The hidden side of prisons

DEBBIE JACOB AS THIS country heaps all the scorn it can muster on prisons, I think about how to define us as a people. In the animal kingdom, we would be the ostriches, with our heads stuck in the sand; among fish, we would be the bottom feeders. This nation has constantly turned its back on prisons’ problems, always under-funding the programmes and infrastructure prisons need. Generally, prisons’ problems are ignored, until something happens like the current state of emergency (SoE). Then critics rise to righteous indignation, the ostriches take their heads from the sand. The usual passive-aggressive responses never deal with the root of our complex prison issues. First-hand experience from my nearly 20-year relationship with prisons gives me the unique perspective of being a civilian who has worked in academic and skill-based programmes in all ten prisons. I know prison officers and inmates who have risen above prisons’ deplorable conditions to become positive, effective leaders, and I’ve worked with officers who oppose programmes and make everything difficult. I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly in our prisons, and I can say unequivocally prison officers are a product of this culture. The trouble prisons face is not unique to the institution. Any apathy, corruption, laziness or low morale we accuse prison officers of having can be found in any government institution. But here, in prisons, among officers of every rank, the danger inherent in the job shapes behaviour. Officers are visible in a dark house of horrors. Still, I have witnessed some astounding leadership unmatched elsewhere. I have worked under Commissioners Sterling Stewart, Gerard Wilson, Dane Clarke (who had short spurts as acting commissioner) and the current acting commissioner Carlos Corraspe. They have been leaders beyond measure because they dealt with prisons as a whole, seeking solutions for the redeemable and control over the incorrigible. The best commissioners seek a balance in situations where it is easier to take a side. Prisons stir up extreme emotions. For me, this always played out in the battle between officers who are for academic and skill-based programmes and those who subscribe to the lock-them-up-and-throw-the-key-away philosophy. Prison leadership shouldn’t be about taking sides; it should be about balance. It’s always hard to stay on track. While working for Stewart in YTC, programmes thrived. He was also a strict disciplinarian. When he became commissioner, Stewart told me, “We’re coming out of the Dark Ages.” Then came the Port of Spain Prison breakout in 2015. With prison problems, you can never look at the moment they become visible to the public. You always have to look back at former commissioners who failed to deal with escalating problems from the worst inmates or who sat in the commissioner’s chair for self-aggrandisement. Pushback in prisons comes when good leaders try to right the wrongs of their predecessors. The spotlight cast on volatile prison culture in its worst moments is not a reflection of when the issue of control began. There appears to be no external mechanism in place to deal with bad or ineffective commissioners, and that is worrisome. The burden of cleaning up prisons’ mess always falls on conscientious prison commissioners who must deal with the past as much as the present when they enter office. And what does everyone mean when they talk about “corrupt” prison officers? Yes, they exist as they do in any institution, but you try going to a job where past leaders have created a culture of chaos or wrongdoing and see if you don’t go into self-survival mode. What would you do if you had to face the possibility of being assassinated for doing your job? This is not an excuse for corruption. It’s merely an explanation of it. Let’s not make prisons a convenient scapegoat for the culture of corruption we neglect until it reaches a crisis. There’s enough blame to go around for the state of prisons that ended up in a state of emergency. Place some blame on our failing judicial system that has many men festering in prison up to 14 years only to have their cases thrown out of court because of questionable arrests and poor police investigations. The police have no room to talk about corruption. They need to clean up their own house. The issues we face in our prisons are complex, far-reaching and non-ending. They call for honesty, workable solutions, external support, not knee-jerk reactions. In the meantime, I stand with prisons and the dedicated prison officers and commissioners I know. The post The hidden side of prisons appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.