The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

In all, the Department of Corrections fired 33 guards and other employees in 2005. The infractions ranged from mistreating inmates and jeopardizing prison safety to incompetence and absenteeism, according to records obtained by The Star-Ledger under the Open Public Records Act.

The 274 pages of records reveal actions by guards that often put inmates and employees in peril.

Guards assaulted prisoners, allowed inmates to attack one another and even released them from custody without proper authorization, records show. They put a gang member in a holding pen with members of a rival gang, left the keys to the weapons room hanging on a door knob and failed to account for a machete and other work tools after inmates returned from work duty.

They also failed to aid inmates in distress, according to the documents. One guard failed to report an inmate had been brutalized. Another denied an inmate medical attention. A third never notified superiors an inmate lay dead in his cell.

None of the employees was named in the documents because, state officials said, in many cases those disciplined were challenging the action taken against them.

The Star-Ledger requested the records in response to the increased scrutiny the department has faced since a New Year's Day 2005 inmate uprising at Bayside State Prison left 28 corrections officers injured.

During legislative hearings on the melee, then-Corrections Commissioner Devon Brown said the prison's supervisors failed to follow procedures that called for the doors of a dormitory to be closed at all times. That, he said, allowed four inmates to get the jump on corrections officers and attack them with objects that included a clothes iron and combination locks.

The state's prison system is at maximum capacity, with 27,000 inmates being housed in 15 facilities, and another 2,000 or more kept in county jails until a cell is available.

A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

Corrections spokesman Matthew Schuman said the disciplinary actions taken against employees is evidence the department "meticulously polices itself" and takes seriously accusations of wrongdoing against the inmates it oversees.

"We don't think that the numbers, considering the size -- we're talking about nearly 10,000 employees -- and the stress level under which they work, are anything to be ashamed of," Schuman said. "At the same time, we don't try to sweep these kinds of incidents under the carpet, and we deal with them swiftly and effectively."

Corrections union leaders and prisoner advocates, however, say the incidents show the state must do more to provide training and improve prison conditions.

Union officials and correctional experts say prisons are a volatile environment where guards must remain vigilant at all times and rely heavily on the cooperation of the inmates, who outnumber them more than 4-to-1. In such a setting, they said, the most innocent mistake can become a major safety hazard.

"It's not like you're working on a computer terminal or a car engine," said Tom Moran, president of the New Jersey Law Enforcement Supervisors Association Lodge 185. "You're working with society's worst, and they work you just like they did on the outside. It's a very stressful job."

MOST CASES ARE MINOR

Moran and other union officials point out that a very small percentage of the department's employees faced major disciplinary actions last year.

Overall, the department filed 1,023 disciplinary actions against 778 employees last year, which officials say was in line with previous years. About 300 of the disciplinary actions were for what officials consider serious infractions. The state prison system has about 9,800 employees, 6,900 of whom are uniformed officers.

Most disciplinary cases involved absenteeism; nine employees were fired for consistently failing to report for work.

Inmate advocate Bonnie Kerness, associate director of the Newark-based American Friends Service Committee's Prison Watch program, questioned whether the disciplinary actions show the department is truly policing prisoner abuse by guards.

"Out of all of these incidents, maybe 10 have to do with abuse of prisoners," said Kerness, who reviewed the disciplinary actions at The Star-Ledger's request. "But we hear so often from prisoners about abuse that it feels like it's not being represented here."

In many cases, Corrections employees were disciplined in 2005 for harming colleagues. The internal documents recount instances in which employees physically and verbally assaulted colleagues or superiors, locked them in rooms alone with inmates and hazed recruits at the training academy after the trainees stole soda.

SEX AND RACIAL HARASSMENT

Internal affairs investigators also documented at least 18 cases of sexual or racial harassment against employees that resulted in suspensions. In a few cases, the harassment spanned more than two years.

One employee was suspended for 30 days after he showed a female sergeant a "penis-shaped lollipop made of white chocolate" and then grabbed her breast, Corrections officials noted in the records.

Another was suspended for 10 days after he apologized to a female colleague for "reassigning her to the furniture shop and offered to buy her lunch and take her to the hotel for a little sex," officials wrote. A third got a five-day suspension for sending two social workers a computerized presentation containing suggestive photos of two dozen males.

Brown, the former commissioner, said abuse of fellow employees also is a byproduct of the prison system.

"This is an environment where hostility can erupt at any time between inmates, and it requires a hypervigilance among correctional employees where it becomes very stressful," said Brown, who is now running the Washington, D.C., corrections department. "I don't think the public really appreciates the gravity of it all and the toll it takes on Corrections employees."

In addition, employees were suspended or fired for being drunk on duty, testing positive for cocaine and sleeping on the job. More than a dozen employees were disciplined for being arrested by outside authorities on criminal charges ranging from domestic violence and aggravated assault to theft and arson.

One Corrections officer, Kevin Benn, was suspended indefinitely after the FBI arrested him and four other self-proclaimed white supremacists in November for illegally trafficking assault weapons and explosives. His name was disclosed by the FBI at the time of his arrest.

MORE TRAINING URGED

Prison advocates and Corrections union officials agree that the state has been slow to provide enough training for Corrections officers, who earn $41,833 to $64,004, not counting overtime.

Officers undergo a 14-week, in-residence course at the Corrections Staff Training Academy in Sea Girt. Once in a correctional facility, however, they only receive firearms training to ensure they pass the department's weapon qualifications.

Moran and other union officials said Corrections can reduce infractions by providing additional training to teach employees better ways of dealing with inmates and the stresses of the job.

While commissioner, Brown enacted several stress management training programs for Corrections officers, using a federal grant that lasted for two years. However, while some programs are available to officers, they are no longer mandated, Corrections officials said.

Gov. Jon Corzine, who is conducting a nationwide search to replace Brown, told the state Police Benevolent Association last week that he has asked for a complete review of the department's procedures and policies. He said the state should better control gangs in prison and suggested that guards' shifts should overlap so they can inform incoming employees about dangers on the cellblock.

"We're going to get at some of these issues in Corrections," the governor said. "We will look at lots of particular policies."

Rick Hepp covers criminal justice. He may be reached at rhepp@starledger.com or (609) 989-0398.

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