Transcript Sociology of Corrections Presentation (UNM) March 01, 2012

Instructor Development Teachings – Know your audience and allow them to get to know you.
• Audience – Leaders from a variety of disciplines and jurisdictions,
• FOLKS INSPIRED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
• As the Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Department of Corrections, I stand today as
a fellow who has spent over 32 years of my life locking folks up and prosecuting them. I
certainly now find that to not be so easy!

My personal sense of purpose and regard to be here today?

For me my career is now about God’s blessings (my obligation to pay them forward) and
certainly NOT the result of a position or appointment.
• Cajun Gumbo Anecdote (Destined for the oil refineries of SWLA)
•No gimmicks: (I believe in what we will talk about today with all my
heart!)
 As
I’ve transitioned from locking the up to
the role of overseer, here’s what I know:
 This
next phase of my public safety career,
there will be no shortages of challenges.
 At
this point, leadership is more key to my
role as Secretary of Corrections than
technical competence.
 For
all of us in leadership roles (regardless
of profession, company or industry), the
abundance of challenges will not be the
issue.
It will be truly how we choose to respond to them.
•Maitre
de - This is certainly be my case as I
have transitioned my role from maître de to
overseer but I now believe that if I play my
cards right now, not only will I truly respect my
prior service, but I will also seize an opportunity
to impact the safety and security of our
neighborhoods in a more meaningful way.
My definition of WISDOM:
• The education and experience that has is
provided us must now be at some translated
into some meaningful behavior if it is to be
useful.
•
•I
was appointed to take what I have learned and
manage the future. But to do so, I must
appreciate the past and. present equally. In our
brief time together, let’s look at a snapshot of
the NMCD.
• The past; the conditions and challenges of
present AND; the future.
•
The NMCD history is most
notable for the February 02,
1980 riot that has been
characterized by few heroes,
plenty of villains and many
victims. Such is a description
of the most violent and tragic
in American history.
•
It is without parallel in the
penal history of the USA for
its brutality, destruction, and
disorganization among rioters.
• On that cold February 2nd
night, at approximately
0140, the riot began when
prisoners overpowered
four guards, grabbed their
keys and broke into the
long corridor connecting
eight prison buildings .
• Within 22 minutes,
inmates had control of the
entire prison and held 12
guards hostage.
•
In the 36 hours it took to regain control
of the institution:
• 36 inmates were killed by other
inmates (12 were first tortured and
mutilated).
• The exact number injured during
the riots remains unknown but is
estimated that as many as 200 were
beaten and raped. We know that at
least 90 inmates were treated at
local hospitals for conditions
ranging from overdoses to physical
injuries.
• 7 of the 12 corrections officers who
were taken hostage were beaten,
stabbed, and/or sodomized,
though none were murdered.
• No inmates or hostages were killed
during the retaking of the prison.
•
Previously characterized by
Senator Jeff Bingaman (AG
that issued the report on the
riot) as “an inmate rebellion
without a plan”.
•
In many ways, the riot could
be considered a reflection of
the leadership of the
“overseers” because it
occurred without leadership
and without well planned
goals.
•
Certainly, the lack of leadership at the “Old
Main” and the NMCD as a whole could
never excuse the butchery of the riot.
• Nor could the mismanaged informant
system justify or explain the
indiscriminate mutilation of the dead.
• The murderers and torturers of the riot
certainly brought their own darkness and
evils to the penitentiary those 36 fateful
hours.
•
On the other hand, if we were to sum up the
pre-riot conditions that led to the riot, we
would center our discussion on a lack of
balance between activities aimed to assure
compliance of rules and order (security and
social control) and legitimate activities
aimed at reinforcing pro-social behavior
(programming and social support).
Social Control
Social Support
•
Management practices myopically
centered on coercion alone can (at
much expense) keep order but
produce inmates who are not ready
to become productive citizens.
 The
conditions cited became a
perfect storm that bred anger and
rage among inmates creating the
opportunity for anger and rage to
be openly expressed in the riot.
 In essence, the overseers took their
eye off the ball!
 (NMCD leadership, Governor,
Legislature)
•
Presently, the NMCD is
responsible of the safety and
security of:
• 6500 to 7000 Inmates held in
10 prisons statewide .
• 6 public facilities and 5
private facilities
•
At any given time, we are
supervising roughly 18 to 19K
offenders on parole or
probation in our
neighborhoods.
• 42 PPD offices statewide
•
Roughly 2500 employees and
on about a 290 million dollar
budget.

The September call from the
Governor.




Mission Statement
My observations.
My greatest surprises
What I quickly learned:

Succession Planning
 USMC J.O.B. Inspections
•
Organization rigidly dependent
upon centralized decision
making and processes.
God…Governor, you both got me into this.
I’m trusting you both to see me through it!

The September call from the
Governor.




Mission Statement
My observations.
My greatest surprises
What I quickly learned:

Succession Planning
 USMC J.O.B. Inspections
•
Organization rigidly dependent
upon centralized decision
making and processes.
God…Governor, you both got me into this.
I’m trusting you both to see me through it!
Of all inmates in the custody of the NMCD at this moment…
How many will be released?
Of all inmates that will be released…
How many are currently predicted to reoffend and return to prison?
•
Corrections as a culture
•
Staff are underpaid.
•
High vacancy rates.
•
Staff retention, skills training, and succession
planning requires improvement.
•
Aging physical infrastructure.
•
The increased public demand on more
punitive sanctions tends to hinder the
development of creative programming
solutions for reducing recidivism.
•
Unrealistic expectations that the public safety
community can solve the problems alone.
Specifically, once an offender is sentenced,
corrections is expected to redress the long
standing shortcomings of our systems of
education, economy, and social inequities.
•
Public confidence in the criminal
justice system is fragile and a general
intolerance for any failure exists.
•
Incarceration is an expensive
undertaking and we confront
strained economic conditions.
•
The community has a right to better
understand the corrections
profession and leaders in the field
have been less inclined to involve
themselves in an active role in the
development of public policy.
•
There is a growing demand for
government to become more effective
and efficient...to be more open to
scrutiny and accountable.
•
Leadership, Leadership, Leadership
• Everything rises and falls on it.
• Our outcomes are simply the result of what we
create or what we accept.
•
Centering what we do on shared core
values and an understanding of our
mission that truly guides organizational
behavior.
•
A firm adoption of the notion that
offenders are responsible for their
behavior and have a potential to be so.
•
Effective corrections practices and
programs involving greater community
collaboration...folks just like many of
you.
•
Carefully recruited, properly
trained, and well informed
staff are essential.
•
•
CHANGE IS NECESSARY
AND INEVITABLE. The
future success is ultimately
about a corrections
community that is fully
engaged and capable of
responding the necessary
change required to shape the
future.
• The very essence of my role
is therefore to clearly
establish and articulate a
vision.
• You can’t blow an
uncertain trumpet.
• The role of strategic
planning is creating a future.
Building awareness and trust for what
we do.
•
•
Assertive Public Affairs Program (the
GOOD and the BAD)
Code of Ethics and other policy that are
relevant, necessary, and purposeful.
•
The Academy – Succession Planning
(USMC JOB Inspections), Recruiting and
Retention
•
Recidivism Reduction Strategies
•
•
From the standpoint of my
background, when I speak of
recidivism reduction strategies, I mean
PUBLIC SAFETY….solutions for the
safety and security of the
neighborhoods our families live in.
The Future? No more “watermelon thumping”!
•
The most valuable lesson of the
haunted cell blocks that now
stand in memory of February 2,
1980?
•
•
•
Human nature is indomitable!
The evils manifested in those 36
hours should never be allowed to
completely disappear.
Our history must be respected by
our willingness to pursue
systemic progress, a better
understanding of man, and our
responsibility to purposefully lead
them.

The GAR Instrument

Contraband Control



Predator –v- Prey Lockups
Reorganization of
Records and
Classification Unit
Good Time Awards
Policy Changes
1.Getting Ready (Prison Phase)
2.Going Home (Transition Phase)
3.Staying Home (Supervision Phase)
An American Visit to a Japanese Auto
Factory
Verse
s
Lost in the Jemez
Without a point of origin,
even the best map is
useless!
Your smart phone GPS.
Isn’t this the case with so
many of our lives?
Most of us, when it comes
to figure out where we
are headed in life, never
stop to ask the question
of WHY in our lives.

What
What
How
How
Why
Why
Every organization on the face
of the planet, each of
yours…each profession…our
own careers…even our personal
lives function on 3 levels:

Why we do what we do;

How we do it, and;

What we do.

We believe that it’s this simple
idea that best inspires change
and excellence for the future of
NMCD.
•
What
What
How
How
Why
Why
Every single person and/or
organization on the planet
knows WHAT they do.
• Some know HOW they do it.
• But very, very few people or
organizations truly know
WHY they do what they do!

For me, it was NOT an
intellectual or academic
pursuit.

My original sense of
WHY :
 The white recliner.



6 years later it was a
darker time in my life,
following my Father’s
death when I had fallen
out of love with my
work as a young cop.

Since that time, I have
been blessed for many
years to work with
many of you, and many
like you.- men and
women who love their
work.

I am convinced this is
the case that each of
you and those like you
feel that you are where
you belong.

You feel that you are
doing what you are
called to do. You feel
purpose.

You understand and
respect your WHY!
The problem was not
the quality of my work.
I just didn’t feel it
anymore.
The “calling” verses
reality.






The creation of OMS to ensure the accuracy of inmate releases.
Inmate programming has been thoroughly reviewed to ensure good time credits
are earned appropriately (the Carlos Fierro case uncovered issues and provided us
an opportunity to improve).
There are positive changes to enhance the reentry efforts for inmates releasing
back to the community. This creates safer communities and potentially no more
victims.
The Department is now using only evidence-based programming for inmates that
increases the opportunities for offenders to live productive, healthy lives as
contributing and crime free members of the community.
Continued commitment and effort to serve and enhance services to crime victims
by supporting and recognizing the importance of victim notification and the
victim’s statutory right to notification (VINE).
Restorative justice efforts, specifically, victim-offender dialogue at NMCD.

Currently there is a pilot project for victim-offender dialogue which will expand the services
provided by Victim Services (The Checklely case will open the doors for the future
development of victim-offender dialogue at NMCD).
•
•
Gregg Marcantel
Secretary of Corrections
New Mexico Corrections Department
P.O. Box 27116
Santa Fe, NM 87502-0116
•
505.827.8884
Thank each and every
one of you for pursing
your own callings or
purposes.
God has truly blessed
you and I pray will
continue to do so in
every way as you enter
your own careers.
Semper fidelis.....be
safe!