* AFSCME has been making a huge deal out of just about every incident of prison violence in order to convince people that closing Tamms and other facilities is a very unwise decision.
But the Department of Corrections has released data that seems to show there isn’t much of a problem…
[Stacey Solano, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Corrections] said that the data that was supplied “clearly shows that there is no statistical correlation between staffing levels, (inmate) population or the closure and assault levels.”
Charts released by the Department of Corrections to the BND showed that inmate assaults on prison staff decreased at two of the state’s three maximum security lockups, the Pontiac and Stateville correctional centers. Pontiac dropped slightly from 108 such assaults in fiscal year 2011 to 98 in 2012 that ended July 1. And Stateville dropped from 95 to 57 during this same time.
At the maximum security Menard Correctional Center, the state’s largest prison, assaults increased over these same two years, rising from 21 to 36. The figures for Menard are lower overall because, since fiscal year 2008, the facility has spent most of the year on lockdown. In 2011, the prison was on lockdown for 235 days, compared to 13 for Pontiac and 75 for Stateville. No reason was given for the high number of lockdown days at Menard. […]
Overall, for the last three complete fiscal years, inmates assaults on prison employees throughout the entire prison system remained fairly steady. There were 420 in 2010, 502 in 2011 and 444 in 2012.
The only thing I’d say is that the number don’t include any incidents from July.
Also, if AFSMCE has a response I’ll be more than happy to publish it.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From AFSCME via e-mail…
Attached and below is data on staff and inmate assaults provided to the union by IDOC. We released this information at our July 19 hearing on prison safety at the Capitol and it was widely reported.
The chart…
More from the AFSCME e-mail…
We had requested FY 2012 data also but the administration claimed it was not available. Readers can decide for themselves if they believe the administration manipulated the subsequent release of that data. (Prison employees also believe these figures understate the human victims of violence behind bars, as the numbers refer to “incidents,” not individuals harmed. In other words, an attack in which an inmate harmed three employees is counted as one.)
In any case, the five-year trend of rising violence against employees and among inmates is clear.
What the administration’s new figures discount is the first-hand, real-life experience of prison employees on the front lines – the men and women who put on the uniform and walk through the prison gates every day. They say that conditions are increasingly volatile and chaotic due to overcrowding, lack of staff, reclassification and transfer of inmates, and other Quinn Administration policies. The testimony given at the July 19 state Capitol hearing showed that in a personal and palpable way. To discount and seek to undermine the credibility of those who serve is deeply disrespectful of the risks they face and the sacrifices they make simply by going to work each day.
With respect to lockdowns, our members have observed on an anecdotal basis the same decline the administration’s figures reflect. But those fewer lockdowns appear to be part of a systematic effort by the Quinn Administration to cut the utilization of such security measures—we believe in order to artificially drive down costs without regard to safety and operational needs. When a facility is locked down (or shaken down for contraband such as weapons), all operations take longer and more intensive staff time is required to conduct meals, count inmates, search cells etc. That leads to increased overtime costs for staff. It has been apparent to our members for some time that lockdowns and shakedowns are being curtailed not because they are not needed but because the Quinn Administration is cutting corners to reduce costs.
Finally, to the administration’s lack of credibility on corrections matters, see the following chart on overcrowding we also issued at the July 19 Capitol forum. These are the true overcrowding statistics as most recently reported to the General Assembly by IDOC – not the misleading “operation capacity” category the Quinn Administration invented to mask the chaotic conditions it has allowed to fester in state prisons where inmates are now housed in hallways, basements, gymnasiums and closets because there is nowhere else to put them.
Click the pic for a larger image…
*** UPDATE 2 *** The Quinn administration responds to AFSCME’s contention that “an attack in which an inmate harmed three employees is counted as one”…
Each assault is counted individually during an incident. So when prison employees indicate they believe the figures understate violence— and say an inmate who harms three employees is counted as one—that’s not true. It is counted as three.
- Consider this - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 10:22 am:
Perhaps the numbers are lower because the criteria for defining assaults has been changed. Again.
Twain said there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
- MrJM - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 10:34 am:
Stupid facts.
– MrJM
- wordslinger - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 10:56 am:
It’s a heck of a thing when an American union cooks the books to try and save a solitary confinement prison. Not exactly progressive.
- AFSCME retired - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 11:55 am:
Wordsling… And u base your conclusion on what?
- walk in my shoes - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 12:19 pm:
IDOC and IDJJ have changed the criteria for reporting assaults, fights and just about any form of discipline. The numbers are not decreasing, IDOC and IDJJ had no choice but to find a way to hide the increase in violence. I don’t put much into what IDOC or IDJJ spokespeople say. I work inside the prison and what is already a bad situation is getting alot worse with increased populations.
- bartelby - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 12:19 pm:
There is only one possible conclusion from the numbers: Tamms has caused a steady RISE in the number of assaults against staff and other prisoners. In addition, the recent DECLINE in assaults must be the result of the announcement that it would soon close.
Actually, all of this shows the fallacy of drawing conclusions from small data sets. Studies of supermax prisons NATIONALLY show they have no impact at all on aggregate levels of prison violence, and lead to slight increases in violent recidivism. (Men who have been held in supermax prisons are slightly more likely to commit acts of violence when they get out of a supermax than the same type of prisoners who have not been in a supermax.)
- Dan Bureaucrat - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 12:21 pm:
Wow. A few notes looking at their evidence:
1. First and foremost, we see rates of reported violence go up and down over the past few years and if you follow that chart, it now it is down. So, the proposed closure of Tamms has nothing to do with any of this?
2. By their own data, Pontiac is not overcrowded and it does have room for the very few prisoners (175) coming from Tamms. That’s pretty interesting.
3. They complain to the press about more lockdowns, but then when there are less, they say that the IDOC contrived the numbers. A discussion of the serious problems that come from excessive lockdowns–and the reasons they are needed–is warranted. But this isn’t that discussion.
- Leroy - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 12:21 pm:
Stop putting people in jail for using drugs for the first time. Send them to treatment facilities. The prison population will go down.
- AFSCME retired - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 12:45 pm:
Next on the liberal agenda???
I know. … Inmates are locked down 22 hours a day in all max prisons…let’s open the day rooms. Where inmates can be out of their cells for most
Of the day. This will create harmony and good will towards our fellow man… ” Studies show ” 2 inmates locked in a cell the size of a parking space will be more dangerous to society when released.
Then all of u other libs (on this forum) with absolutely no clue.. Will swoon and support this “progressive idea”.
- Dan Bureaucrat - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 1:01 pm:
walk in my shoes, I agree with you that the reporting of violence is inconsistent and questionable on both sides. But really? If the numbers suit you, they are true, and if they don’t, you say they are cooked?
Multiple factors go into these statistics including guard behavior. Assault charges can range from simply resisting handcuffs to pushing and shoving to the very serious attacks we think of when we think of an assault. Prisons vary greatly on what they charge based on the culture there.
The union and individual guards should not be making claims about what is causing what and the press shouldn’t report on it unless they check out the evidence. It is not even clear that any of these differences are statistically significant.
Here AFSCME says: “Conditions are increasingly volatile and chaotic due to overcrowding, lack of staff, reclassification and transfer of inmates, and other Quinn Administration policies.” Really? Any proof of that? Reclassification? And is Quinn doing things better because violence is on downward slope right now? AFSCME, you can’t have it both ways.
- TwoFeetThick - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 1:57 pm:
=== Then all of u other libs (on this forum) with absolutely no clue.. Will swoon and support this “progressive idea”.===
Wow, you sure is smart. Where’d you learn to do all that fancy writin’ n stuff? Mayhap you could learn us libs how.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 3:05 pm:
Look at the work comp data? BND probably has it already.
- state worker - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 3:23 pm:
These statistics certainly discredit AFSCME. Management isn’t always the greatest, but we can’t be listening to individual guards telling the public that violence is up when it isn’t.
It doesn’t garner much sympathy from me to see them running around claiming that all if the IDOC’s plans will fail and leaking documents. It’s almost like a threat.
The IDOC doesn’t want a huge prison population either and none of us got to choose this budget. With all AFSCME’s attacks on the IDOC, the legislature that amped up the prison population gets off scot free.
- sal-says - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 4:09 pm:
QUINN’S Department of Corrections said that: “…there is no statistical correlation between staffing levels, (inmate) population…and assault levels.”
That sort of strains any logic and thereby credibility, doesn’t it?
So neither low staff levels nor crowding has an effect?
Let’s pack ‘em to the rafters & have 1 guard per shift then. Yeah, yeah, that’s it.
- Anon - Friday, Aug 10, 12 @ 5:34 pm:
If the prison guards hadn’t filed all those phony workers’ compensation claims, maybe the state would have had enough money to keep the prisons open.