When they opened up all of those new units, back then, the older farms flushed the toilet. They sent every violent knucklehead they didn’t want to the new units. All of your “A” Status, your spitters, your chunkers, your fighters, etc., were sent to the new units. On top of that you had a lot of brand new bosses, recently hired, that had zero experience.
Additionally, most of the new units were in small towns, where everyone knows everyone. It doesn’t take very long for word to spread in a small town. Before you know it, people that were considering applying for a job hear from their neighbors, how out of control the place is. They hear about the disorganization, the chaos and the assaults. They decide not to apply for a job at that new prison down the road.
Finally, you had brand new supervisors, that had no experience as a supervisor. They used to tell us, if you want to promote, all you have to do is move. They were right. I saw people get promoted to sergeant that never stood a chance on the unit they were assigned to, because people knew how they were. They boarded on a new unit and made it the first try. A year later another unit would open and the guy would be a lieutenant. Next year it was captain at another new unit.
It’s a sad, but familiar song, that’s sung all across the state. Polunsky is no exception. Telford is another fine example. You can add Stiles and countless others to the list. Those units didn’t stand a chance from the get go. They were set up for failure.
If there’s a way to fix these units, it’s going to take someone a lot smarter than me to do it. I don’t have a clue. The entire agency is so out of control, I don’t know what to do. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. It’s like the little boy putting his finger in the hole in the dam. Then another hole pops up. Before you know it, he’s out of fingers.
The administration is a problem, but so is every other part of the agency. You see bosses getting in to arguments, at work, over petty things. You see people with 20 years in the system and no sick time. You see people getting away with things that would have resulted in termination, 35 years ago. People are at the end of their ropes. They’re burning the candle at both ends. They are either looking for another job, or they are counting the days, until they can retire.
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