Is the National Guard a Viable Solution for Michigan's Corrections Officer Shortage?

Last week, just a few days before the attempted assassination of Trump, the Michigan Corrections Officer's union made a remarkable request of Governor Whitmer. They requested that she authorize the National Guard to come into prison to work as corrections officers. 

After several years of crisis level staff shortages, and a terribly ineffective drive to hire more officers, the officer shortage remains the same or worse. This long-term shortage has stretched the staff thin, necessitating ridiculous amounts of mandated overtime. 

I honestly don't know how anyone still works here. They can't possibly have any personal life. Every day, it seems, I see dozens of officers working double shifts, and that's at a prison where the shortage isn't as bad as at other prisons. 

When I heard of the request for National Guard troops, I recognized it as a double bind for the governor, whose name has been near the top of the list for potential Democratic contenders for President (or Vice President) of the United States. If she approved the request, it would confirm that she could not resolve a crisis in her state. If she denied the request, it would look like she doesn't care to resolve the crisis. 

Very shortly after the request, Governor Whitmer denied the request. It's status quo as it has been for the last three plus years. Of course, the officers are angry and frustrated about the shortage. But they are also upset that their pensions were taken several years back. 

If Whitmer had approved the request for National Guard troops, I don't think that would have been a good thing, in the short term, for Michigan prisoners. In the long term, it might have led to tangible reforms, including, perhaps, time cuts or the passage of a good time bill. But in the short term, it would have likely led to increased lock downs and loss of privileges.

Instead, we're likely to experience more of the same, including recreation time cancelations and lock downs. 

It would not surprise me to see a continued exodus of officers from the MDOC. This demand on their time, and the Governor's refusal to make any moves to lesson the strain, cannot be sustained much longer. What is it going to take to see some tangible changes that will lesson the strain on resources? I don't know, but the likely outcomes concern me, and they should concern every Michigan citizen. 

Violent Political Rhetoric Exists in Prison, Too

 Wow. What a week. I thought I knew what I'd be writing about this week, but the recent assassination attempt on Trump has overshadowed everything that seemed so important. 

The level of vitriol in our country is disturbing, and it has been for a long time. The political divide, too, has widened to a distance that I haven't seen in my lifetime. It's highly discomforting that so many Americans think of other Americans as the enemy. 

In prison we're forced to live with people who are very different from ourselves, but that doesn't mean we always get along. Most of the time, we manage to live together by avoiding deep conversations about things that divide us. Oh, we have our opinions. I hear them from time to time. But rather than let what we disagree on cause us to hate each other, we more often focus on what we have in common. 

This afternoon, though, I overheard a conversation about yesterday's events. Another prisoner asked me a question, and I responded. I shared my opinion of former President Trump, followed by the statement, "Regardless, though. I don't support using assassinations to resolve political differences." 

I thought my opinion would be pretty widely agreeable, but I was wrong. The two who had been in conversation apparently disagreed. One turned to the other and said, "Well, everyone is entitled to his own opinion." 

I didn't feel threatened by their different opinions. Perhaps a bit disturbed by the implications of their statement, but not threatened. I was outright disturbed by another man who jumped into the conversation, though. He vehemently expressed his wish that the attempt on Trump's life had been successful. 

Although I strongly disagree with this man's value system, politics aside, I don't hate him or even fear him. I certainly have no desire to see him suffer the fate he wished on Trump. Instead, I feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for him and everyone else who lives with such hatred and fear of people he disagrees with. 

I wish I had hope that this fateful and tragic event in American history would lead to real change. I wish I could say I believed people would stop hating each other and try to start understanding each other. I wish I had hope that Americans would start talking through their differences instead of finding echo chambers to support their own beliefs. Sadly, I have no such hopes. 

Yet, rather than succumb to the status quo of hate and fear, I dig deep for patience, try to listen to others with compassion, and use questions to help others challenge their own beliefs. It's unlikely to change the world, but it's better than joining the mass of Americans who seem determined to march their way into another civil war.

How to Solve a Prison Crisis -- Make it Someone Else's Problem

Earlier this week, while watching a local news channel, I saw an interesting story. The Michigan Corrections Officer's Union has asked Michigan's Governor Whitmer for 1,700 National Guardsmen to help out as temporary officers in the Michigan Department of Corrections.

The staffing shortage has been an ongoing problem for several years. Despite a large public relations budget spent on television advertisements, the quit rate and retirement rate combined has left the department perpetually nearly 2,000 officers short.

Calling in the National Guard is nothing more than a stopgap measure, meant to relieve the overwhelming pressure of mandated overtime for Michigan's corrections officers. This emergency measure won't solve the staffing shortage at all. It only shines a light on where the buck stops--with Michigan's Governor. 

Despite calling herself a progressive, and demonstrating that title in many other ways, Whitmer has done nothing to resolve the overcrowding and understaffing problem in the prison system. Whitmer used her Lieutenant Governor's prison and criminal justice reform advocacy positions to get elected. And then she has completely ignored those positions during her tenure as governor. 

The Corrections Officer's Union is likely a predominantly conservative organization, so I don't think it's a coincidence at all that they are just now asking for the National Guard. The staffing problem has persisted for the last four years, at least. However, now that Governor Whitmer's name is frequently popping up as a potential replacement for President Biden on the Democratic ticket, it's a good time to put her in a double bind. She's damned if she does, and damned if she doesn't send in the National Guard. 

Whitmer's failure to do anything other than spend money on laughable employment ads has demonstrated a lack of leadership. The National Guard's purpose is not to be prison guards, so if she approves the request, she's showing (still) that she can't solve a crisis. If she refuses the request, she's left with two options: do nothing (which she's been doing), or reduce the prison population to relieve the pressure on the prison guards. 

As a former prosecutor, it's unlikely that Whitmer will reduce the prison population. I wish I had more hope that she would do something, but I don't. So, that leaves her with the option she's chosen all along. Do nothing, and hope the national population doesn't notice. After all, she can claim she's pro-reform since she chose a Lt. Governor who is a prison/criminal justice reform advocate. 

Meanwhile, corrections officers are tired of being forced to work 16 hour shifts and give up any semblance of life. The added stress makes them less effective in their jobs and increases the chances of abuses, leaving the department vulnerable to costly lawsuits. It also increases the risks of unrest in prison as yard times and other important activities are cancelled due to "staffing shortages." 

It'll be interesting to see what the governor chooses to do. I can't say I have much hope that it'll lead to any real reforms. Neither the governor nor the Michigan legislature has shown any real backbone to enact reforms, no matter how logical they are, regardless of the crises their inaction has caused. 

Set up to Fail, but Still Responsible for One's Choices

So many of the outcomes in our lives are the results of choices. It's a common human condition, I suppose, for us to choose badly, and then to have to live with the consequences of those choices. For those of us in prison, we're living with the consequences of our choices prior to prison. Yet, we're also living, even now, with the outcomes of our choices in prison. 

Yes, things beyond our control happen in our lives, and often those things influence the choices we make. But it's the space between what happens to us and our responses to those things that really matters. That's where our choices lie. 

I believe that we are responsible for our choices, even those choices where the circumstances outside of our control almost pushed us into the poor choices we made. Socialization matters, in other words, but it does not remove our responsibility. That's a difficult thing to articulate without sounding like one is minimizing responsibility.

I know a man, I'll call him "T," who is in prison for the second time (at least). When he was around four years old, he witnessed his mother stab two people to death. She then turned the knife on him and tried to stab him to death, but he survived. His mother is serving multiple life sentences in prison. These circumstances were completely out of his control, yet they affected him and shaped him into the person he is today. 

T's first prison sentence was for stabbing someone (who lived). It's not surprising, given what happened to him. But he is still responsible for the crime he committed. His experiences did not determine his choices, but they certainly influenced them. 

T's father is also serving several decades behind bars, so he was raised without his father and without a sane mother. He also has autism, which led him to be socially and intellectually stunted. He's now a perfect target for gangs to use him for their dirty work. Recently, he ended up in segregation (the hole) exactly for that reason. Still, he made choices and now lives with the consequences. 

We cannot excuse T's behavior due to the experiences of his life. He is still responsible for his choices. But neither should we dismiss the experiences that shaped him into who he is today. His entire life begs for compassion. If he is to change his choices, and thus his life, in a positive direction, he has to address his childhood trauma. 

While the Michigan Department of Corrections has psychologists and social workers, their case loads are overwhelming. Some are fantastic (from what I hear), while others aren't so great. Furthermore, their "help" is a documented part of each prisoner's official file. There's no patient confidentiality, so many prisoners with past traumas choose to not get the help they need. 

I recently heard a statistic, that somewhere around 40% of prisoners have a documented mental health problem. With statistics like this, and with childhood traumas like T's, it's no wonder that so many prisoners return to prison again and again. No cognitive behavioral therapy classes are going to solve the underlying problem when it is a matter of untreated childhood trauma and mental health diagnoses. 

Prisoners are complex people, like anyone else, so solving the "crime problem" is going to require complex solutions. Longer and harsher sentences aren't going to solve the problem, and neither is excusing bad behavior because of one's past. Partisan solutions only deepen the problem. The solution lies, instead, somewhere in the combination of compassion and accountability.