Prison management needs a science
THE penalty of death by electric chair or injection was abolished by Congress years ago. What Congress cannot stop is death at the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prison carried out by one of the convicted killers. Last week a murder convict sentenced to death a fellow inmate using a Magnum .357 revolver in what prison officials called a gang war. Clint Eastwood called the handgun used as the world’s greatest gun in one of his Dirty Harry flicks.
14 handguns There was a rush of prison cell inspection and our prison officials reported a yield of 14 handguns and one grenade. We don’t know if more sidearms or long arms are still hidden if a thorough search is extended for a few days more.
‘Power struggle’
According to prison officials there’s a power struggle for the control of one gang. If such a gang was known to prison officials it was easy for them to learn through the grapevine if gang members were collecting sidearms and grenade for a showdown over the gang’s leadership.
The number of guns and ammo seized from the prisoners’ cell or dorm can tell the full story: 1) smuggling arms and contraband into the prison compound was not subjected to strict inspection, 2) prison officials and employees enjoy friendly relationship bordering on simple laxity, 3) some prison officials and employees keep receiving various favors from the inmates, and 4) prison rules were not strictly applied and followed.
Expensive arms Assorted weapons described and confiscated by prison officials can be listed as new and expensive such as: Magnum, Glock, Taurus, Raven, Browning, Colt, Walther, etc. Contraband and other arms cannot be kept by prisoners without the tolerance or outright connivance of security guards/officers.
Science called penology Most of our prison officials and employees gain promotion through long service. There is a course called penology which is about the study of the reformation and rehabilitation of criminals and of the management of prisons.
If Congress can find extra funds or savings, let’s help our young prison employees to study the science of penology here or abroad. Management of prisons is not about locking convicts behind bars or whipping them with leather if they violate prison rules. It’s also about preparing them for a better life after serving their sentence. Convicts are humans just like any one of us. They can be reformed, partially, or completely, when we apply penology in the process
of rehabilitating them.
Crowded prison
If we view prisoners as plain convicts deserving of proper punishment, our prison system will always be crowded with unwanted prisoners. There’s overcrowding in all our prison facilities like keeping 7,000 prisoners in a prison building that can admit only 5,000. Without applying penology overpopulation in our prison cannot be stopped. Building annexes near our prison walls is like providing a temporary shelter for comfort.
Management is needed
If prison management in its highest concept is fully studied and applied, prisoners will be prevented from organizing various gangs within the prison walls. Collection of arms and explosives by gang members will stop.
The easiest to keep behind a prison wall is a box of prohibited drugs. Veteran analysts suspect that guns are needed to protect the convicts’ profitable business – trade in dangerous drugs. But all the monkey business within the prison walls has only one cause – clear absence of management as taught in penology.
Have we ever trained our prison guards and employees before giving them the responsibility of dealing with various problems in the prison system? This calls for an honest answer! (Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com)