A Storm Is Brewing

One of the worst situations in prison is a full blown riot. I did not experience the riot at The Southern Michigan Prison in Jackson in 1981 but I had worked with colleagues who had. They had informed me that there was a big riff between the prison administration and the corrections officers, and that over a period of time it had gotten very bad. The officers felt the administration was being too lenient on prisoners and the administration felt the officers were being too hard. The officers started calling off and were not coming to work in protest of the prison administration policies. To balance the 1981 budget the Governor began giving state workers unpaid days off. (I had experienced quite a few of those in my 25 year career in MDOC) The combination of the CO’s calling off, and the States mandated unpaid off days, made for a skeleton crew on a Memorial Day Holiday weekend. The CO’s not feeling safe behind the walls of Americas largest walled prison, decided to lock it down, against the the prison administrations orders not to. The prison administrators would later call that decision “A Mutiny.”

The officers concerned for their comrades safety didn’t care what the administrators called it or what discipline would be issued. They locked the prison down. To do so on a Holiday weekend would rile the inmates and it did. Their visits would be cancelled, the yard would be closed, and they would not leave their cells. When an officer went to close one of the cell blocks he was stabbed by one of the inmates and his keys were taken. This action began the riot as the inmate began opening all the cells in that block. The prisoners emerged with clubs and home made knives, called shanks. They began assaulting other inmates, those deemed snitches, and anyone who tried to stop them. I have seen the cruelty of what men can do to men in this setting, and I would not have wanted to be at work that day. Once the riot began at the Southern Complex in Jackson, riots began in Ionia, and Marquette’s State prisons. With the help of the State police and the Corrections Officers, the complexes were brought under control. It took five days. The officers were blamed and fired.

Unfortunately, history has a way of repeating itself. In 2023 the MDOC is again rife with vacancies and can not fill the openings. They are once again short staffed. Officers now are mandated to work overtime, some 16 hours a day. It leads to more vacancies as staff leave to find other jobs. It would help if the state would give the same benefits to the Corrections Staff working inside the prisons that they give State Police Officers. I believe this would help in the recruitment and retention of good, qualified, Corrections Staff. I believe the prisons are much more dangerous than they were in the 1980’s. The technology is ever evolving, and as hard as it is to keep it away from inmates, they always find a way of obtaining it. Burner phones keep them in contact with gang members. Smart phones are used to search out addresses, harass witnesses, staff, and solicit murder. The shortages in staff make it all the more easier for inmates to get this technology, and use it. I believe the MDOC needs to make some major changes in Corrections staff benefits, as they are currently leaving to find other employment. Employment that isn’t quite this dangerous. The continued vacancies and prison violence should be a wanted change agent for a current apathetic administration. Let’s not repeat the past. TO BE CONTINUED…

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