The warden and eight other supervisors of a prison where two officers were held hostage by inmates have been reassigned after a panel concluded that conditions were so bad and security so lax that a crisis was inevitable.
A panel appointed by the governor to review what led up to the longest prison hostage standoff in U.S. history concluded Thursday that problems at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis had continued unchecked for years, reports the Arizona Republic.
“It is going to be a monumental task to turn this situation around,” said Herb Guenther, a co-chairman of the panel. “Our employee morale is in the tank. The esprit de corps has vanished.”
The nine-member panel said a culture of complacency and unprofessionalism contributed to the ability of two inmates to take control of a watchtower in the prison’s Morey Unit on Jan. 18.
Among the problems that panelists cited: low officer pay, deficient training, inmate overcrowding, inadequate staffing, vague security procedures and poor communication.
Link: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0305prisons05.html