Foundations

Custody staff comprises the largest segment of correction land.  Typically, when one is asked to identify a job done in corrections, usually the first answer offered is the corrections officer.  Of course, while very crucial, it takes much more than custody staff to run a modern prison.  There are clerical staff, supervisors, administrative staff, food service workers, and health care staff.  Yet, a significant group is often overlooked.  They are the programmers. 

Are programmers forgotten in the scheme of things?  Perhaps this is so. Yet, the impact of those who run our prisons’ and jails’ classrooms, libraries, athletic facilities, and vocational education centers should not be underestimated. Read more…

joebouchard Assessing the organization

By: Kenneth Demmo

Reflecting back on a career in Corrections:  I have grown up quite a bit and had my share of self-induced hard times and great times throughout the years.  One issue has been on my mind for some time now and I have come to realize or had an epiphany to a hidden dark secret of Corrections.  Most of us never see it coming or realize that it affects us yet it has a profound affect on our lives both here at work and home.  I am referring to the Hard-Hearted conditioning that we as Correctional staff experience.  Read more…

joebouchard Guest Author

When a major contraband item is found, there is one less bargaining tool or weapon taken out of the loop.  But, that is just one benefit of the process.   There is a conceptual dimension. We don’t usually look at the other gains that effective control of illicit barter produces. 

They are not as obvious as removing a dangerous item from the playing field.  They can be grouped into five categories.  They are benefits to security, staff unity, prisoner rehabilitation, services, and to the taxpayer.  Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control

Many of us have observed division that originated from ineffective or malicious mentors.  It is a topic about which I have been curious for some time.  I believe that it a large and overlooked source of staff division in our vocation.

A few years ago, I presented “We don’t have to like each other. We just have to work together.” in Nashville at IACTP’s 21^st Annual Trainers’ Conference.  That long-titled program is essentially about recognizing and repairing staff division.  Read more…

joebouchard Assessing the organization, Staff relations

I ask that you overlook a little vanity and pride on my part.  After all, I am human, a work in progress.  Today I reached a significant writing milestone.  “Can words change the world?” was featured on Foundations and is my 500^th published article. 

Beyond giving myself a vigorous pat on the back and basking in self-admiration (one might read this as sardonic self-deprecation), I have learned a few things about the tastes of readers in this ten year literary journey.  Some of us prefer the abstract. Some of us gravitate towards the tangible.

On the extreme ends of the conceptual/concrete continuum, there are devoted champions to the causes of the idealand the real. 

Conceptual————————————————-x————————————————–Concrete

Those who consider themselves as true conceptualist love the abstract to the extreme.  To them, there is nothing like a lofty concept to render the proper intellectual kick.  On the other hand, those who firmly adhere to concrete statements are pragmatists who would say “Show me.  Don’t tell me”. Give them facts, figures and good practices. (As for the rest of us, we tend to fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, forming a beautifully symetrical bell shaped curve.)

That sort of intellectual diversity is what makes it very interesting.  If not for dissenting opinions and varied styles, our professional literature would be a long, featureless stretch on a road that exists in a simple utilitarian manner. In other words, the journey would be a dull point A to point B proposition.

So, can the written word change the world?  Yes, that is possible.  But the change is just a  potential spark in the form of words.  In order to bring the concept into real application, the written word needs its constant complement – the action of key individuals or movements. And wherever you plot yourself on the concept/concrete continuum, it is always wise to remember that not all changes are immediate, positive, monumental, or memorable.

joebouchard Dear Reader

“Action speaks louder than words!”

This is a common phrase that more or less elevates the deed over the spoken word or written thought.  However, while it is true that action is the end product of an idea, the idea process should not be discounted. 

The words in and of themselves are neither good nor bad.  The intention of author through words is not necessarily more powerful than the execution of the ideas by the reader.  So while actions speak louder than words, those words are the persistent persuader, whispering into many receptive ears. Read more…

joebouchard Assessing the organization

Think of the applied power and knowledge of the human race! When focused and in concert, we can do almost anything.  The Hoover Dam is a prime example of cooperation and problem solving.  Quite literally, it is a concrete manifestation of power.  Without it, the Southwest would be completely parched and less settled than it is now. And before any building action commenced on this modern marvel, it existed only in the form of a concept. Read more…

joebouchard Assessing the organization

What my colleague found  was like a concoction of an amoral, drug-dealing candy maker.  It was truly ingenious in  a simple sort of way.  At first, I could not believe it. Yet, my friend, who works as a property officer in another facility, assurred me that there were heroin candies made to look exactly like a major brand of goodies.  My sardonic thought was , “Plain” peanut, or narcotic?”

I am fortunate in that there is never a shortage of contraband stories.  Just when you think you have heard them all, another comes down the pike and smacks you in the brain.  There is nothing like a shattering of one’s security to heighten one’s alertness. Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control

As children, many of us believed that our problems would be gone when we reached the magical milestone of adulthood.  Of course, we discovered that this ideal was not the real.  In addition, we found that there was just an exchange of sets of problems.  Challenges in different phases of life do not go away; Often, they differ from prior phases. 

Are the problems of a newbie in corrections the same as veteran staff?  The easy answer is “no.  Does that mean that seasoned correctional staff have all of the answers?  Is there, just as in the difference from childhood and adulthood, a difference in the sets of challenges? 

I believe that seasoned staff who are honest with themselves and their colleagues have earned the right to say, “I know a few things from my experience inside”.  Read more…

joebouchard Self Scrutiny, Training

About six years ago, I was contacted by a Deputy Warden who works in the same agency as I work.  She asked me if I had any resources on bully control.  As I am a librarian by trade, I did my best to meet her information needs.  And I believe that those resources assisted in crafting an excellent training session.

That fueled some curiosity in me about the topic.  Prior, I thought about bullies as existing in adult form. Certainly, the bully mentality is not outgrown and left on the playground.  Professionals just happen to use more sophisticated versions of the behavior.  And the issue of offenders who use intimidation came to mind, as well.  Read more…

joebouchard Assessing the organization, Self Scrutiny, Staff relations