Unit 32 Strikes Again. . .
The infamous Unit 32 of the Mississippi State Penitentiary has claimed it's third murder since June. This time, Ernest Lee Hargon, who murdered three of his own relatives in 2004 was killed in a stabbing incident by Jesse Wilson.
According to Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps, Jesse Wilson "forced his way out of a locked cell" to attack Hargon.
How does one force their way out of a locked cell in a maximum security facility where inmates are allowed only one hour per day outsides their cells? Can you say "keys please?"
The facility has been under increased scrutiny after the ACLU filed a lawsuit of behalf of some inmates citing "inhumane" conditions. And under further scrutiny for possible connections between corrections officers and the street gang known as the Gangster Disciples.
In a effort to stem the violence, Epps is going to throw more money at the problem in the form of raises for corrections officers and administrators.
Brilliant!!
Let's give pay raises to the people who are possibly complicit in the murder of three inmates.
If these people were doing their job correctly, we wouldn't be mopping up the innards of these convicts on a weekly basis or discovering loaded guns inside a "maximum security" facility.
From The Clarion-Ledger:
Epps said several changes have been made to improve security in Unit 32.
The Department of Finance and Administration has approved moving $1.8 million from its discretionary fund to pay to install full metal doors on prison cells, replacing the open-bar doors currently on many cells in Unit 32, he said. Security has been tightened at the gate and entry building, two key areas where weapons, drugs and cell phones are smuggled in.
ACLU lawyer Margaret Winter said she doubts the doors to cells will be solid steel "based on our intensive and ongoing negotiations with MDOC."
"We're pretty sure that the commissioner has reached the same conclusion that we have - that only a small fraction of the 1,000 men in Unit 32 are violent predators, and locking down all 1,000 behind solid steel doors just isn't the fix for the horrendous gang problem in Unit 32," Winter said.
Officials also have added an X-ray machine and a drug-detection machine to the metal detector staff must pass through before entering the facility. Officials also are moving 50 additional security cameras into the unit, Epps said.
Inmates in Unit 32 are kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day, but Epps said some are now being allowed longer periods outside their cells, a reform on the ACLU's checklist.
State House Corrections Committee Chairman Bennett Malone, D-Carthage, said he fully supports Epps' plans.
But Malone also said he wants the Legislature in the upcoming session to look at whether a maximum security unit should be built off the grounds of the penitentiary.
"We will have a comprehensive evaluation of Unit 32," he said of the 17-year-old unit.
House Corrections Committee Vice Chairman John Mayo, D-Clarksdale, recently toured Unit 32, calling it one of the most dismal places anyone would want to visit.
The problem Mayo sees is that inmates in Unit 32 are locked down 23 hours a day, which gives them "time to figure out ways to stab someone," he said.
Building a new facility off campus will solve nothing. New doors, whether steel bars or solid steel won't stop the violence. More hours of free time per day? Forget about it. This "dismal" place is just as it should be. A terrible place, a little shop of horrors, a simple, but effective deterrent for future criminals. This ain't Disneyland folks, it's prison.
No amount of money will change the dynamics of a place like this. Only competent and effective leadership can help stem the flow of violence.
