It's sad that it's come to this
The Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, like many other Alabama prisons, has very serious problems. It's dangerously overcrowded, operating at more than 160 percent of its capacity. It's severely understaffed, with correctional officers forced to work up to 32 hours of overtime apiece each week. Its sewage system is overloaded and its employees are overstressed.
The prison's warden, Stephen Bullard, wrote to state Department of Corrections Commissioner Donal Campbell last week to tell him the troubles were nearing the breaking point. In a March 1 memo, Bullard wrote, "I am concerned that it is going to take a lawsuit, riot, death, or serious injury for anyone to take this crisis seriously. ... It is also my opinion that should an employee be injured or even sue for harassment on unfair ... employment practices, the department would have no legal standing to defend these charges."
They're strong words, and you'd have hoped Campbell would have taken them to heart, or at least have expressed a little sympathy for his underlings' plight. Instead, he placed Bullard on mandatory leave for 10 business days.
Campbell is in the difficult position of overseeing the prison system in a state with a history of underfunding its correctional system. Things were so bad in 2002 that a federal judge ruled that a women's prison in Wetumpka was an "unconstitutionally unsafe" "ticking time bomb," prompting Alabama to send prisoners out of state to comply with his order. The state also has added a second parole board to try to clear the prison rolls, but the number of inmates has remained relatively static.
The situation must be distressing for Campbell, but his frustration never should have led to him behaving that way toward a warden who used internal channels to complain in good faith about the burdens he faces on a daily basis.
The U.S. Supreme Court soon will rule in Garcetti v. Ceballos, in which the justices will decide if public employees can be subject to retaliatory demotions or firings for work-related speech on "issues of public concern." For the sake of both the First Amendment and good government, I hope the justices will bar such retaliation. If state officials keep shooting messengers, I fear they may never get the message.
The prison's warden, Stephen Bullard, wrote to state Department of Corrections Commissioner Donal Campbell last week to tell him the troubles were nearing the breaking point. In a March 1 memo, Bullard wrote, "I am concerned that it is going to take a lawsuit, riot, death, or serious injury for anyone to take this crisis seriously. ... It is also my opinion that should an employee be injured or even sue for harassment on unfair ... employment practices, the department would have no legal standing to defend these charges."
They're strong words, and you'd have hoped Campbell would have taken them to heart, or at least have expressed a little sympathy for his underlings' plight. Instead, he placed Bullard on mandatory leave for 10 business days.
Campbell is in the difficult position of overseeing the prison system in a state with a history of underfunding its correctional system. Things were so bad in 2002 that a federal judge ruled that a women's prison in Wetumpka was an "unconstitutionally unsafe" "ticking time bomb," prompting Alabama to send prisoners out of state to comply with his order. The state also has added a second parole board to try to clear the prison rolls, but the number of inmates has remained relatively static.
The situation must be distressing for Campbell, but his frustration never should have led to him behaving that way toward a warden who used internal channels to complain in good faith about the burdens he faces on a daily basis.
The U.S. Supreme Court soon will rule in Garcetti v. Ceballos, in which the justices will decide if public employees can be subject to retaliatory demotions or firings for work-related speech on "issues of public concern." For the sake of both the First Amendment and good government, I hope the justices will bar such retaliation. If state officials keep shooting messengers, I fear they may never get the message.
posted by Alabamian at 3:40 PM
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