Lack of Training COs Creates Safety Risks at Ellis Unit

Things on the Ellis Unit are still at the total Cluster Fuck level thanks to the Administration which seems to do that which log-jams movement of Inmates and the flow of that movement necessary to a well-run unit.

It has come painfully to my attention that safety of Inmates is far from central to this administration’s focus. There is a training academy for New Boots attached to this Unit where they are trained and then they are attached here in an OJT status. It used to be a standard that only a CO 5 would be allowed to conduct OJT training for these cadets. NOW, it only needs be a CO 3 to qualify as an OJT trainer.

On its face this seems acceptable, yet, when one ascertains that a graduating Cadet from the training academy is typically awarded the status of CO 3, it becomes clear that this is typical of Texas’ treatment of its inmates, both physically as well as through the parole system. What may appear to be acceptable, or even positive developments is actually intentional watering-down of long-established policies–such as rehabilitation programs–meant to help inmates reintegrate society.

The point I’m leading to is that now the training of cadets has regressed to the point of the “blind training the ignorant” giving no notice of the liabilities that come with donning the prison officer’s uniforms.

To further break this breach of the Mission Statement of the TDCJ Agency’s Conventionalized System of Rules & Policies: these ignorant trainees [OJTs] are being shown hands-on training on this red-brick prison by a newly graduated CO 3, blind to most of the safety necessities. As an example: concerning the door-rolls; these blind CO 3s are showing the ignorant OJTs that it is permissible to stand at the picket–110 FEET from the furthest cell door–and bellow down the run to “stand clear” in notice that the doors are opening. A majority of these OJTs’ voices cannot carry the required 110 feet to the last cell door to give adequately safe notification leaving many of the cell occupants ignorant of the imminent hazard. The doors are, more times than not, slammed open against their stops. I n m a t e B e w a r e!!! The same process in performed when it is time to close (slam) the doors.

Contrast this to the tacitly understood Unit Policy of the Floor boss walking the run and giving civil notifications akin to “Prepare for door-rolling” as (s)he scrutinizes each door’s safety; once at the end of the run, this CO is to call back to the Picket Officer to open the doors; this Picket Officer then “parrots” this order; hence, all Inmates are duly notified and safety is honored.

I have made issue of this deliberately indifferent disregard and watering-down of the Conventionalized System of Rules & Policies because the tip of my left thumb was ripped off, along with the nail, because no notice was duly issued and the doors were closed silently… until the inveterate SLAM!!! I had to wait for the door to re-open to retrieve the 1/2 inch of my thumb-tip.

Obviously, I am not impressed with this trend toward the disregard of Inmate safety. I must repeat here, that which I continue to proclaim to those around me, “We MUST start pulling together and submit grievances en masse on issues akin to this one in order for the Agency to take notice and correct these back-sliding measures and tactics implemented at the unit level which are ever so slowly but surely watering down the duties and attachability of liabilities required in keeping COs within compliance with the Conventionalized System of Rules and Policies.

Ever since the Feds relinquished control over the TDCJ Agency to Texas Gov’t, Texas has slowly removed every safety program bit-by-bit while touting how well they are doing in keeping prisoners in prison–huh!–protecting the state’s population from the dangerous elements which they have trapped in an environment that is not-to-be-published to the citizenry of Texas. Why this? Because, with all of the successful rehabilitation programs removed, the primary thing TDCJ is producing is hate-filled animals who will negatively express themselves once confronted with the free world. This is in direct contradiction with the Mission Statement(s) of both the TDCJ Agency and the ID units themselves.

After all, the TDCJ Agency is a traded stock on the U.$. Stock Exchange in New York. Just think of what the stock holders will do if/when an “Agency-wide Sit-Down” happens? How quickly will Slave/Inmate demands be met? Texas Inmates hold more power than most of them realize…