Week One: Sheriff's Welcome and The Tour

- The first hour took place in the training room within the adminstration building, not considered part of the jail. Just to get in there you had to go through security. A correctional officer told me to turn my cell phone off completely, walk through the metal detector and then scanned me with a wand. Not one person talked to another while we waited for close to half an hour for all the participants to show up. Only 21 out of 25 showed, most of which were young guys that were there looking for work. When Lt. Reddy introduced himself to us, he told us that a couple of their mothers called inquiring about employment opportunities and he had told them that the Citizens Academy was not designed as that kind of training program but that it cerainly wouldn't hurt to attend. I'm willing to bet after last night, most of them will have second thoughts about a career in a prison setting. They honestly didn't look very happy to be there in the first place but I'm guessing their mothers would rather see them employed there than interned.

- Lt. Reddy introduced us to the instructors for the 8 week series, Lt. Cody, Gail Brunault, Kevin French, Newt Murphy and Mr. Casola. He gave ua a general overview of the function of the facility. Inmates from Essex County which emcompasses 34 communities are housed there. There's pretrial inmates that can be identified by their orange jumpsuits and sentenced inmates wearing tan jumpsuits that are there anywhere from 30 days to 2 1/2 years. Any prisoner with a sentence of more than 2 1/2 years is sent to a state prison, but otherwise Middleton functions no differently than a state facility. On any given day there are anywhere from 900 to 1200 inmates. It was built in 1991 with a capacity for 500, and overcrowded on the day it opened. To solve the overcrowding, there are two inmates per cell that share one open toilet and some inmates live in suites with bunk beds. There are other inmates that are kitchen workers, from what I could understand and they wear white. Another group assigned to a separate building for "special management" wear dark brown or flourescent green. They are the gang members and we would not be touring that part of the jail. There is another facility in Lawrence that houses 340 men and then in Salisbury they have the "Women in Transition" program. We'll learn more about them during a subsequent class.

- There are ten buildings all connected with courtyards where canine units stand guard. Groups of inmates are transported through by correctional officers very carefully from building to building for different daily activities and never allowed to pass another group. The COs constantly radio ahead to the next building before moving a group. Any tours or groups of visitors are handled the same way. Around all the courtyards are the what must be 20' foot walls with rolls of barbed wire at the top. We had to have our hands stamped and checked both on our way in and out in case any of the prisoners managed to "swap" with one of us.

- One of the first places we saw was the chapel. We could see several inmates sitting in there, mostly in tan jump suits. They have chaplains from different denominations that come in. We walked through a large hall where a Narcotics Anonymous meeting was going on. There were probably about 50 or 60 in attendance. Although some inmates are court ordered to attend, others are encouraged. There is an opportunity to work off 6 1/2 days per month of one's sentence for good behavior which includes complying with suggestions to attend certain programs. We walked past a bunkroom that seemed to be mostly recent intakes, all in orange and then went into another building where there were two cell blocks. We walked upstairs to what was like an air traffic control tower, computer screens everywhere to monitor different sections of the building, glass on both sides so that you could look into both cell blocks. There were about 120 men in each, most of which were hanging out together either sitting at tables playing cards or in easy chairs watching TV with headphones. It was just like I remembered from my visit 15 years ago, only this time I zeroed in on the individual cells which were all along the perimeter of the block, a lower and upper level. One of the blocks housed almost all orange jumpsuits where the average age was 20. The other had a mix of orange and tan. Had they not been in jumpsuits, you would have thought you were looking at typical crowd of men in a local gym. There was nothing specific that made any of these people stand out more than any of us on the tour, other than the uniform. Lockdown is at 10PM and lights out at 10:45. Lockdown also happens if there is any incident of violence or refusal behavior of an inmate to comply with a correctional officer's request for redirection. This usually happens at least once per shift. The doors can be opened and closed electonically, with the mouse on the computer or with a key. Besides the officers that are up in the observation room, there is always at least one on duty down below, usually two.

- They also took us into the library where they invited us to sit down and listen to two of the longest serving inmates share their stories. One was named Willy I believe but I forget what the other's name was. They have each been in and out of there for 26 years. One was getting out next week, but the other had to serve another 2 1/2 years on top of the sentence he was serving because he just got convicted of a crime he committed under an alias. These are the two guys they use to conduct the "Scared Straight" program for high school kids. We got a milder version, a two on a scale of 1-10 from what they usually do. Even with that, they were quite the drama kings and certainly missed their calling in theatre. I was thinking today that a couple of guys like that, had they been directed differently when they were younger, free from the fear of the stereotypes of participating in drama in high school maybe would have made other choices than ending up where they did. Although there is are signs up all throughout the prison to stamp out racism, there was certainly no revererce for homosexuality. Both men talked openly about men having sex and used the word "fag" with a contempt that made me very uncomfortable for the rest of the group. But they've been locked up for 26 years. A lot has happened since then, on the outside. One of the two men talked about a young murderer that he took under his wing recently, a guy that wished he had just stayed home that night. One night....one bad move.

- The most interesting place was the infirmary. That's where they have the inmates that need to be protected from the others or even themselves. I saw one guy sitting up in a straight jacket in one room, and another who was suicidal just laying down. The chart outside his room said he had refused all three meals that day but I saw he ate one of his meals the day before. The next room had a guy laying down on his stomache, looking out at us with a crimson face as the CO tapped on his door and said "Wake up, drunkie!" Willy and his friend talked about the alchoholics that are incarcerated and how bad they are, losing control of their bowels and things like that. They are just as bad or worse than the drug addicts. The infirmary is also where anyone is taken care of for any health problem not requiring hospitalization. If anyone does go to the hospital, a CO rides in the ambulance with them.

- We also saw the intake area where each man must undress completely and all body cavities must be checked for weapons, drugs, etc. Fun. To think you have to go through that even if you are accused of a crime, not even convicted? Next week, we'll learn about the history of the old Salem and Lawrence Jails that were used for Essex County prior to the construction of Middleton. I used to drive by the Lawrence Jail frequently when I worked in the city and it looked a whole lot less inviting than Middleton. We'll also hear about the rehabilitation services. I'm looking forward to it.

Below: Letter of Acceptance to 2011 program and description of tour of Middleton fifteen years ago.




















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Letter of Acceptance

- Tonight I will be attending the first Essex County Sheriff's Department Citizens' Academy at the Middleton House of Correction. It's an eight week class to show people how they service thirty-four communities within the northeast portion of Massachusetts as a public law enforcement agency. I got my letter of acceptance last week from Sheriff Frank Cousins. They accepted the first twenty-five applicants that passed the CORI test. I attended the Newburyport Police Citizens Academy about fifteen years ago and really enjoyed it. My favorite session was the night they took us to Middleton and gave us a tour of the facility. I'll never forget it as long as I live.

- While waiting to go through security at the main entrance with our group there were a few other people waiting to get in to visit some of the inmates. I recognized one of the women as a parent of a former student I had, probably one of the most difficult kids I ever had to deal with in my teaching career of thirty one years. "Jesus" came to me as a second grader with quite a reputation already. He once knocked an old lady over and grabbed the newspaper out of her hand, just for chuckles. Some time during his reign of terror in second grade, his mother brought him in to Boston Childrens' Hospital for testing. He was diagnosed with psychosis and put on medication. And there was speculation that his own mother's drug use during pregnancy was likely to have contributed to his illness. It was one long school year but alway a good day when Jesus was absent. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd see him in his cell and if I'd even recognize him.

- They took us on a tour of the recreation room, a huge gymnasium with televisions in each corner, attached to the wall near the ceiling. There must have been over one hundred men standing around in orange jumpsuits. It took me by surprise since I somehow never imagined that degree of freedom being allowed in prison, but it made sense. Being holed up in a cell twenty four hours a day would drive anyone mad and certainly defeat the purpose of a "correctional facility."

- I don't remember the individual cells, aside from the solitary confinement area that was housing a child molester at the time for his own protection we were told. However, I clearly recall the special suite we walked through where men having prolonged periods of good behavior while incarcerated could live in exchange for the daily cleaning chores of their own quarters. Didn't I recognize the young man in the jumpsuit sweeping the floor as we walked through with our guide. He had an unmistakable droop to his face and he seemed to recognize me at the same time. In what I hoped wasn't a violation of his privacy, I think I even said his name when I greeted him happily, "Hi, Jesus!" Of course, my classmates in the program looked at me surprised. I was the most surprised of all though. If Jesus was assigned to a special suite becuase of good behavior, how bad were the other inmates?! And was Jesus really on the road to rehabilitation? I became so preoccupied with the thought that I don't think I absorbed another word that was said during the remainder of the tour.

- And now, after thirty one years of teaching in Lawrence and Triton, given the percent of the population that is supposedly incarcerated, I could have the makings of an entire graduating class in there. Who would I see during my next visit?

- One year I had four students in my second grade class whose dads were all in prison at the same time. The common crime seemed to be drug related; drug dealing, drug possession. I suspect it isn't much different now. We've really made a mess of our society with drug use. But does locking these people up really solve anything? If not, what is the alternative? Why should anyone be locked up unless they are a danger to others? And what punishment would actually serve as a deterrent for future crime, drug-related or not. With all that manpower behind bars, why are we not having our bridges and roads repaired with a little more speed and efficiency? I once dated a man who had spent a year in jail in Pennsylvania and had described his experience there as almost "country club-like." Where do you draw the line between providing an environment for punishment and keeping it humane as well?

- Also, I saw in today's Daily News editorial, that Sheriff Frank Cousins is joining three other Massachusetts sheriffs in a federal government program to identify those undocumented citizens charged with or convicted of a crime. During a recent week, 123 of the 1200 people incarcerated in Middleton were undocumented.
http://www.newburyportnews.com/opinion/x446637798/Our-View-Sheriff-has-right-approach-to-illegal-immigration

- I'm guessing these are topics that will be discussed during the citizens' academy and should provide some great food for thought.