Commentary: No human dignity in 'The Box'

Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Brian Fischer explains that when it comes to the use of solitary confinement in New York's prisons, "The key element is, and always will be, safety for staff and inmates alike." But after an intensive yearlong study of New York's use of solitary confinement, the New York Civil ... (more)

[reformed]

It's just sad how people of authority abuse it and think that it's OK or cool to do so.

[ARE YA SERIOUS]

reformed wrote:

It's just sad how people of authority abuse it and think that it's OK or cool to do so.

Hum,, you are the idea person to go to the Upstate facility, select your inmate or client or offender or what ever you want to call them.. Take them to your home, feed em , welcome them and keep them with out any Authority ABUSE. After a few weeks come back on this forum and tell us how great these people are when authority does not abuse them. How cool that would be...

[lykanos13619]

There is a great way to avoid the "Box"

Don't break the law.. Don't go to jail... Don't go to prison. Pretty simple idea to me!

Maybe they should all be shipped to a foreign country and stay in their prisons for a few days... The "box" would feel like heaven to them then!

[reformed]

Right, did you guys even read the paper? It said that when put into solitary confinement that these guys come out in worse shape/mentality then when they went in and that the guards are left to deal with the fallout. Hmmm, sounds like a fair trade to me. You're so worried about the guards but yet aren't acknowledging the fact that this is detrimental to their jobs. Not to mention that if they are released straight from solitary that they are then inflicted upon society worse than they were before! So explain to me again why you folks think this is appropriate, cause I guarantee if YOU were the C.O dealing with these inmates YOU would want things changed so you weren't dealing with more violent, angry and crazy offenders! Hell, even the guards these guys interviewed said things need to change. Learn to read for gods sake!

[David Mozart]

You may be right. The only type of incarceration that would deter them from behaving in a way that would make them come back is hard, physical, labor.
.

And if anyone thinks the way that the NYS prison system maintains their prisons is tough, try to speak with someone who has done time not only in NYS but south of the Mason-Dixon line. States like Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee,Texas,Arizona, etc.
Go to Sheriff Joe's web site and see how he runs things down there in Maricopa county ,AZ. They have one of the lowest repeat offender percentages in the country.

[Prison facts]

Not a problem...eliminate SHU and make more programming for them...it all adds up to more jobs for the jail...and not to worry....the inm...err, I mean, offenders....will come back over and over again and create still more jobs for anyone that wants one.

[old sparky]

breaking the law is bread into these rodents their cries of harsh punishment is nothing more than a con. pysical labor would be nice to see but in the end you will wish we had just sent them to the chair.

[you are nuts]

Prison facts wrote:

Not a problem...eliminate SHU and make more programming for them...it all adds up to more jobs for the jail...and not to worry....the inm...err, I mean, offenders....will come back over and over again and create still more jobs for anyone that wants one.

OMG! Do you have any idea what you're talking about? We're talking about men who are one step away from a lobotomy for God's sake. These people didn't start out in Upstate. They earned their way in by being serious problems in places like Clinton Correctional or Auburn or Sing Sing. They're animals with absolutely NO social skills of morals of any sort. They'd cut your throat for the dollar in your pocket. They're not fit to be called humans. Trust me. I've worked there since the place opened in 1999. Most of these guys are so burned out on crack or heroine of opiates that they have to remember to breath. There's no training them for anything. The deserve every bit of locktime they get. Not one minute less. But yet, we have to let them out when their sentence is done. Which one of you would like to board a bus with one of these guys who just got out and is headed home? Come on. They're been dropped off in leg irons because they caused problems for the guys taking them to the bus. Talk about animals?? But we have to let them go. Civil rights people say we do. They deserve to rot in jail - most of them anyway. At least the ones in the max joint Upstate.
Don't tell me they can be trained to do anything. They don't have the brains left for that and there's no money in it for them. Honest work doesn't pay these guys. They all want to be big time hoods and that's all they know.
I think every single person who thinks these guys don't deserve this kind of treatment should spend a night at the jail and stay right in a cell with one of them to see what it's like. You think these guys are redeemable? Think again. Accept the fact that NOT everyone can be saved. There simply IS this type of people out there and the public needs to be protected from them. End of story.

[myself]

The NYSDOCS sucks.... The inmates that go to SHU are treated like sh:-) t. The inmate is SUPPOSED to get three meals a day.. they are lucky to get three in a week. The officers falsify the daily report sheets on the inmates. The officer CLAIMS the inmate is refusing food, showers, rec., etc. When grievances are sent to the inmate greivance office and looked into, the answer is always....the inmate refused. So the grievance doesn't get to the Albany level. I've personally seen inmates come out of SHU about 30 - 50 lbs. Lighter. I worked in the grievance office, so I know this first-hand. So there is an abuse of power by the officer to inmates. Albany came to the orison, investigating, and people in shut were threatened, as were many inmates in population. I also know that some inmates thrive on trouble, but, must all inmates pay for that.....

[justcause]

myself wrote:

The NYSDOCS sucks.... The inmates that go to SHU are treated like sh:-) t. The inmate is SUPPOSED to get three meals a day.. they are lucky to get three in a week. The officers falsify the daily report sheets on the inmates. The officer CLAIMS the inmate is refusing food, showers, rec., etc. When grievances are sent to the inmate greivance office and looked into, the answer is always....the inmate refused. So the grievance doesn't get to the Albany level. I've personally seen inmates come out of SHU about 30 - 50 lbs. Lighter. I worked in the grievance office, so I know this first-hand. So there is an abuse of power by the officer to inmates. Albany came to the orison, investigating, and people in shut were threatened, as were many inmates in population. I also know that some inmates thrive on trouble, but, must all inmates pay for that.....

The only way that those inmates do not get three meals a day or free healthcare is that they themselves do not want it. From my understanding there are cameras and audio everywhere in that facility So if these inmates are treated like you say then it should be on tape and they should have audio recordings on your claims.

[wut]

myself wrote:

The NYSDOCS sucks.... The inmates that go to SHU are treated like sh:-) t. The inmate is SUPPOSED to get three meals a day.. they are lucky to get three in a week. The officers falsify the daily report sheets on the inmates. The officer CLAIMS the inmate is refusing food, showers, rec., etc. When grievances are sent to the inmate greivance office and looked into, the answer is always....the inmate refused. So the grievance doesn't get to the Albany level. I've personally seen inmates come out of SHU about 30 - 50 lbs. Lighter. I worked in the grievance office, so I know this first-hand. So there is an abuse of power by the officer to inmates. Albany came to the orison, investigating, and people in shut were threatened, as were many inmates in population. I also know that some inmates thrive on trouble, but, must all inmates pay for that.....

yeah...and as bad as it supposedly is there - 85% will return after they are released, so keep kissing inmate ass.

[r u on parole]

myself wrote:

The NYSDOCS sucks.... The inmates that go to SHU are treated like sh:-) t. The inmate is SUPPOSED to get three meals a day.. they are lucky to get three in a week. The officers falsify the daily report sheets on the inmates. The officer CLAIMS the inmate is refusing food, showers, rec., etc. When grievances are sent to the inmate greivance office and looked into, the answer is always....the inmate refused. So the grievance doesn't get to the Albany level. I've personally seen inmates come out of SHU about 30 - 50 lbs. Lighter. I worked in the grievance office, so I know this first-hand. So there is an abuse of power by the officer to inmates. Albany came to the orison, investigating, and people in shut were threatened, as were many inmates in population. I also know that some inmates thrive on trouble, but, must all inmates pay for that.....

You have GOT to be kidding. I worked there for the first 9 years they were open or until I retired and headed here. Sorry. You are so wrong it hurts me to even read your post. You're either a former "resident" of a family member of one. Either way you don't know a hell of a lot about what you're talking about. That place bent over backwards to take care of the inmates (or offenders as they're now suppose to be called) and there's cameras all over the place. Nothing goes unrecorded. These animals refuse food all the time. There's nothing anyone can do to make them eat. The prison kiss their asses too when it comes to "special diets" for the jews or rastefereons (spl?), or other assorted requirements. Frankly, these guys don't deserve bread and water. You really think the state wants to waste food? Are you nuts? They have to prepare a certain number of meals whether they get eaten or not. If some schmock of an inmates refuses. screw 'em. Let 'em starve. They're not worth worrying about in that place.
You bleeding heart civil liberty people get me. Spend a night with anyone of your choice and when you come out dropping turds the size of a cow, we'll discuss it. Or the next time your sweet, grey haired old grandmother gets rolled for her $300 social security check from some junky, you can talk to me about it. The state needed a place like this for a very long time. It's well run and well controlled. You should thank God they're in there instead of on the street. Or you could take the test and work there and see first hand what it's like to get a face full of human excrement one day.
Nuff said!