I remember the American Jail Board of Directors resolution on November 14, 1992 that affirmed the nine principles and dynamics of direct supervision. That Board had some disciples: Bryan Hill, Bill Harper, Gerry Billy, Dave Parrish, just to name a few. When you turn 70 years old some memories fade until the next morning.

I can’t forget Dave McRoberts, Randy Clark, Bill Kaufman, Don Bird, Jim Haret, and many not listed. Collectively, we cemented what Art Wallenstein, Mike Barkhurst, Ray Nelson, and Larry Ard taught. Nationally, jail centers hosted training on how to manage a housing unit, how to communicate with inmates (IPC) and how to build what they labeled a “new generation jail.” To me, at that time, a new generation was witnessing the births of my children, now in their late thirties.

What I Have Witnessed

In our journey in providing training and litigation support for practitioners, I see the best and the worst in many jails. Many pretend that they are direct supervision. I’m worried about risk management. I’m troubled about people’s understanding of direct supervision. I look to the sky and ask where did all the training go? I read about those persons that train who never worked a day on the housing units.

I’ve walked through open housing units with inmates locked down 20 hours a day. I’ve witnessed the top tier and bottom tier splits due to lack of officers. I’ve seen officers patrolling several units in what I was told is hybrid because people do not want to stay in our profession any more. These efforts aren’t direct supervision. I’ve audited direct supervision jails where “gladiator games” resulted in indictment and criminal prosecution. I’ve chosen not to defend direct supervision jails where infants were birthed in intake holding areas. I most recently heard a jail suicide word labeled as a “self-strangulation.” It gets better when inmates using contraband phones produce rap videos from a housing unit, and when an inmate is discovered bound and gagged dead on his bed. I must be getting really old.

Do these anomalies mean direct supervision is dead? For this old jail guy, the smell and taste test cobbles the gold in the stream bed. You know what I’m talking about- clean green-mile floors, absence of tagging, no lines and signs in housing units, clean personal hygiene areas. Go visit Cherokee County.

We Are at an Incarceration Crossroads

The red head from Tucson is now bald, and many others now retired. Some have already gone to a happier destination. America is at an “incarceration crossroads.” Many agencies operate jails three plus decades old either half full or half empty. Others discuss expansion, new construction, Medicated Assisted Treatment Programs, and more mental health initiatives—visit Davidson County in Tennessee.

Excuses are a sign of weakness. Is the diminished practice a symptom of a bigger problem? Most sheriffs I know are former police or patrol officers. Most spent a majority of their careers chasing bad guys to keep the community safe. Will practicing direct supervision buffer litigation? My retort is that it’s a better way to manage your inmates and solve many Postmedia problems that can give rise to litigation.

For those that like to read, go back and discover the N.I.C. Jail Center Audits of Podular Direct Supervision Jails3. I hear it all the time—inmates are different. Inmates are inmates are inmates. In many places they are dual diagnosed opiate addicted felons. In other places they are recycled through public bail programs. If you look at data, suicide still remains the number one cause of inmate deaths. However, mortality is more significant from heart disease, liver disease, and cancers. The number of inmates dying from alcohol or drug intoxication has more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2018!4 My message to all is, if you do not do your job, you as a deputy or officer can be at risk of harm.