CCPOAIronwood.com - Internet Bulletin Board for Members of ISP Chapter CCPOA

If you aren’t reading the new column by Jeff Doyle A.K.A. Paco Villa (www.pacovilla.com) at AmericanChronicle.com, then you are missing a lot.

Jeff Doyle, a parole agent for the California Department of Corrections, is an active voice for correctional officers - and an even louder critic of Governor Schwarzenegger’s so-called “prison reforms.” His PacoVilla.com website is a sounding board for correctional officers state-wide, but it is his regular column at AmericanChronicle.com that is spreading the word about what really goes on within the system - something the average citizen won’t get from news sources such as the LA Times or the Sacramento Bee.

His latest contribution, aptly titled “Prison Reform? Beats Me!” is a MUST READ. His “no holds barred” attitude shows through in his column, giving validation to frustrations suffered by law enforcement officers from every beat around the globe… finally our voice is being heard.

From this article found at: www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=1267 - you can feel the frustrations in every word - and can appreciate what Doyle is doing on our behalf as he tells our story, likely for the first time, for the whole world to hear:

“Chances are, the non-correctional reader will be surprised to hear about the SVSP stabbings. Attacks on CO’s don’t make the news—largely due to the state’s refusal to issue press releases on such trivial matters. That’s why the stabbing of officers at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (sounds like a nice place, huh?) last month didn’t come to your attention either.

“And, now that the word is out, it’s open season on correctional peace officers. So, if you missed these past few attempted murders of “guards,” don’t worry: there will be plenty more assaults the public doesn’t hear, or care, about. But what happens when the problem spills out into the community?”

Continue Reading Here…

Check out the article for yourself and make sure you bookmark Doyle’s author page to sign up for new submission updates.

Have you walked around the administration building lately? What have you seen or heard? I have walked up and down the hallways of the administration building, trying to deal with administration fairly. I know why CDC is going the way it is going, if all the other prisons are operating as badly as Ironwood. Is there a big wheel on the wall? That gets a spun everyday to see who is acting in what capacity. One day we will have RPO as the warden or will it be FH or EF or RM. Who knows who it will be today or tomorrow just spin that wheel, the wheel of turmoil.

This must be why we have so many bright ideas how Ironwood should be operating. How is it when CDC comes out with a procedure, Ironwood thinks it doesn’t apply to them. Let’s have the officers go out to the yards and follow what CDC has set in place, then administration goes and says that’s not the way we want it done. Once again lets spin the wheel of turmoil.

I have grown tired of administration walking all over BU6 staff. Remember when a dog is sleeping on the front porch, don’t disturb it, it may bite, Well I’m awake now.

PS You had your chance of staying off the porch

CCPOA members voted in to contribute an additional $33 per month for the next 17 months to raise additional funding for political spending. It was announced by CCPOA on Wednesday, July 6th that the final vote count had been tallied that ended on June 20th. CCPOA members had voted 6,222 to 4,774 or 57%, in favor of the fund-raising contributions.

The assessment is estimated to raise an additional $18 million dollars for the union to spend towards campaigning for November’s Special Election as well as for balloting in the 2006 primary and general elections. The November election is very important to CCPOA and its members, as it will include a measure - which is opposed by CCPOA and other California unions, such as teachers, nurses, firefighters and other law enforcement. This measure would require that public employee unions obtain their members’ annual written consent before spending dues money on politics.

CCPOA VP Lance Corcoran told the press in a statement this week that CCPOA will also be using the additional funds to oppose Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s agenda that the union believes is against the interests of state workers.

More information on CCPOA initiatives, actions and current events can be found on the main union website at www.ccpoa.org.

Making good on the promise he repeatedly made in the past, U.S. District Judge Henderson said last week that despite multiple warnings “extreme measures” were in order to fix the failed prison health care system. He ordered the $1.1 billion program into receivership in an attempt to fix the system that reportedly “kills one inmate each week through medical incompetence or neglect.” A written order outlining details of the receivership and a list of possible receivers will be discussed in the coming days.

Representatives on both sides of the case are calling Henderson’s decision historic, as it is the first time a government operation the size of California’s prison medical care system would be placed under a federal receiver. The CDC healthcare network servers more than 163,000 inmates, employs over 6,000 workers and has a $1.1 billion budget each year.

Through the action of the receivership, power effectively will shift to the receiver regarding inmate care, including how many nurses should work a shift, when a patient receives outside treatments at a community hospital - effectively all decisions. The receiver will report directly to Judge Henderson, and will be empowered to order repairs to the failed system that have been delayed by Civil Service rules, collective bargaining agreements and other typical red tape.

Estimates were unavailable as attorneys were not yet able to speculate as to how long the receivership might last or what it could cost. Henderson has been quoted as saying it would at minimum be a “multi-year effort.” It is agreed that costs will not be cheap, but experts are hoping that there will be better management overall of healthcare spending.

Governor Schwartzenegger’s administration says it plans to cooperate with a receiver. A spokeswoman for the Governor told the press, “We look forward to working with the receiver to create a sustainable healthcare system.” Senator Gloria Romero, who resides as chairwoman of an oversight committee on corrections said, “This is the right thing to do. The only thing to do.” Corrections officials did not oppose appointing a receiver, although legal briefs in response called the recommendation a “highly intrusive remedy” that should be used as a last resort.

This ruling comes as a response to the deplorable healthcare conditions that have been an on-going problem within California’s prisons. Experts were appointed recently by Judge Henderson to investigate conditions, and those experts provided the court with examples of filthy conditions, ill-trained and neglectful doctors and a long list of preventable deaths.

The judge was asked to appoint an interim receiver until the “right one” could be found, however state officials oppose an interim receiver and have said that the “right one” could be hired within a few months. Judge Henderson answered that he may consider a temporary solution because “lives are at stake.”

Are you a tobacco user? Then this is not news to you. As of Friday, all tobacco products banned by the Governor at all state institutions. This ban includes all correctional officers, free staff and inmates - so if everyone seems a little edgy in the coming 120-degree weeks out here at Ironwood, you’ll understand. Everyone has been forced to go “cold turkey” - ready or not! You may recall the roots of this ban as Schwarzenegger signed it into action from his “smoking tent” on Capitol grounds. But the true irony of his hypocritical ban isn’t so much that he puffed on a cigar while signing the ruling, but that the intent of smoke-free institutions is to improve inmate health and reduce taxpayer expenses. How healthy is it to instantly rule that everyone must go cold turkey at the same time? Can you say nicotine fit induced riot? Let’s just hope that the free counseling that the state has provided for quitters has a higher success rate on the inside than it typically does on the outside.