Correctional Officers In Need of Correction: April 2010

[XLFD]

Being a correctional officer is a tough, often thankless job.  Good correctional officers rarely get the recognition of achievement that others who excel in their job, just the grief of having to deal with a bunch of dangerous felons who could seriously injure or kill them if given the opportunity.  For those who go through their career in a professional, accountable manner, we salute you.

 

Lately, we have been discussing the grievance of an inmate at the Oaks Correctional Facility up north.  I personally know a former CO from that facility who I believe is beyond reproach, he has even hinted at a 'bad situation' leading to his decision to leave there.  I have sent an even-handed letter to that facility about the prisoner's grievance and have received no response over the last month. 

 

Lately, we have had a new member join who is solidly behind the CO charged with ethical lapses by the inmate, who he has yet to attribute any rights to.  This member has claimed to be a CO himself, and he feels the inmate is lying, and the CO involved is an upstanding CO.  He may very well be right.  The certainty of this member in the innocence of the CO, had me asking why. 

 

I Googled "Correctional Officer arrested" in Google News and came up with many results.  Here are just a few that came up occuring in April of 2010. 

 

Walton correctional officer arrested for felony drug possession
April 13, 2010 7:31 PM
Daily News
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — A Walton County correctional officer was arrested for drug possession Monday.

Justin Ryan Tankersley, 23, a correctional officer at the Walton Correctional Institution, was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance after an officer found one Xanax pill and seven Valium pills in a Dodge truck, according to a report from the DeFuniak Springs Police Department.
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Corrections officer arrested for dealing drugs
By Vershal Hogan (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Wednesday, April 14, 2010

VIDALIA — A Concordia Parish correctional officer was arrested and charged Monday with arranging drug deals while at work.
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Ex-Ariz. corrections officer pleads guilty in drug case
by Jolie McCullough - Apr. 21, 2010 06:12 PM
The Arizona Republic .
A former Arizona corrections officer who was accused of trying to give cocaine to an inmate pleaded guilty in a Phoenix federal district court this week, officials said.
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Westminster police officer and corrections officer held in kidnap, rape of woman
Police say Det. Anthony Orban is being held in the alleged attack at gunpoint of a woman at Ontario Mills Mall. Jeff Thomas Jelinek, the corrections officer, is accused of being an accessory.
April 06, 2010|By Paloma Esquivel
An off-duty Westminster police detective was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a woman at Ontario Mills Mall and raping her at gunpoint, police said Monday.

A corrections officer from the Chino Institution for Men, who was also arrested in connection with the incident, has been booked on suspicion of carjacking and is being held as an accessory to the crime.
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Corrections Officer Arrested
Last Update: 4/13/10 10:07 am  
  In Rensselaer County a corrections officer is under arrest for allegedly threatening someone with a gun.

North Greenbush police arrested 53-year-old Anthony Holston, he's charged with assault and menacing. Police say he assaulted his victim, then allegedly pointed a loaded gun at them.
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Schenectady Corrections Officer Arrested
Posted on Tuesday, 13 of April , 2010 at 5:48 pm
SCHENECTADY—Yet another employee of the Schenectady County Sheriff’s Office is on the other side of the law.

Corrections officer Ross Lackey,27, has been arrested by Niskayuna police after a woman filed a complaint against him for allegedly striking her, putting her in a strangle hold and taking her cell phone to prevent her from calling for help.

Lackey has been charged with two counts of second degree harassment, a violation; and second degree unlawful imprisonment.
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N.J. corrections officer pleads guilty to providing cell phones to Latin Kings inmate
By Sue Epstein
April 12, 2010, 4:17PM

Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerA photo of the cornerstone of East Jersey State Prison in Woodbridge.WOODBRIDGE -- A corrections officer at East Jersey State Prison in Woodbridge pleaded guilty today in New Brunswick to supplying two cell phones to an inmate who is a member of the Latin Kings street gang.
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Federal Corrections Officer Charged After Polk Deputy's Car Sideswiped

Published: Monday, April 19, 2010 at 11:59 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, April 19, 2010 at 11:59 p.m.
A federal corrections officer was charged with DUI and leaving the scene of an accident after he sideswiped a Polk sheriff's deputy's patrol car on the side of Interstate 4 last week, the Sheriff's Office said Monday.
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Female Red Wing prison guard accused of sex crimes with two teen boys
Woman allegedly had relationships with two teen boys
By Frederick Melo
Updated: 04/20/2010 12:00:41 PM CDT
She signed her name Peaches and told him she wanted to be the mother of his baby.

It didn't seem to matter to Suzanne Walstrom that she was a 37-year-old correctional officer and the alleged object of her desire was a 17-year-old inmate at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Red Wing.
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Milwaukee County corrections officer held for potential sexual assault of a child
April 8, 6:04 PMMilwaukee City Buzz ExaminerTracey Esser

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this past Tuesday, a 34-year-old Milwaukee County corrections officer was arrested due to the suspicion of second-degree sexual assault of a child.
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Cops: Fed Jail Guard Was DWI in Wrong-way Parkway Crash

By Timothy Bolger on Apr 19th, 2010

A federal corrections officer from Wheatley Heights was arrested for drunken driving after he drove the wrong way on Wantagh State parkway and crashed head-on into another vehicle early Monday morning, New York State police said.
 

[XLFD]

They are not trolls, they're 15th level Paladins remember? More than a match for any troll : )

You have excellent points Sheila and Disarm, but it's hard to resist feeding the troll-- particularly when they appear to start going after the members whose opinions you respect-- not necessarily agree with all the time, but respect.

[AQUAMAN]

Dis, correct me if I'm wrong, did you not participate nor look in here for several days/weeks at a time recently? Therefore, how on god's green earth do you know what has transpired in debate? The majority here have only asked what Fink's record is with MDOC system and if per chance the inmate he was accused of assaulting thru his daughters was a truthism or not. It was polite and cogent debate for quite a while. Then Stan came into the picture, defending the co's to the wall, without any merit or proofs of Fink's innocense. For the most part, we all wanted to believe Fink was right, but the more questions we asked, the more Stan got upset and started to insult and inuendo us for being brainwashed prison movie fanatics. X even sent the warden at Oaks a FOIA request for info., and that has not been answered in several weeks, even with a form letter, so it smells of suspicion. The only aggressive attitudes have been from the members you supported now, way after the fact of the previous insults to masonco, me, x, and several others. It's a repeated abuse that has happened here and at LT. So please sir, investigate thoroughly first before you point fingers. We have a peaceful and inspiring forum that another third party is vengeful and jealous of, and it would not be tolerated for one second on the other party's forum. Here, we are trying to be tolerant and patient, sometimes that backfires on us, but we are better because of it, and learn as we go along.

[stanstayhi]

The only problem I had with either threads was this small group had the officer convicted before they knew any facts. When I started to post some of the facts that were on the net about the inmate's past I ended up being a bully for asking masonco to prove her claimed facts. I wanted to know where it said Oakes has the most attacks in the state, I wanted to know data to back up the claims of the inmate. Provide them I am a man I can admit gosh I was wrong! But I am not going to play that game of... " there is some bad officers out there" or do you think they are all good?. That question is like asking me if I think all the people of Ludington are 100% good right to the heart.


The last interesting fact the prison systems back in the 40's, 50's and even in the early 60's was tough, it was a place I sure would not want to have worked in, but to try to compare it to the prison system now? Come on we are all adults here, lets try thinking like one too, they are not even close. The civil rights movement changed a lot of that and the courts did too. Am I glad they changed? Dam right I am. I run into many of these inmates on the outside and I really do not care to worry about what will happen to my family. When I meet a former inmate on the outside I always treat him with respect... with a greating Hey how are you doing? Never had a problem on the outside.

[stanstayhi]

Aquaman

I am sorry you are wrong X never requested a F.O.I.A. from the Oakes warden , he does not want to take the time or money that is required. X told me to do it to prove I was right. I think it is pretty strange that you guys are so sure about the inmates story but you cannot even waste your time to prove your point. Here is X's own words, he expects a answer to his inquiry. Stop being lazy file the F.O.I.A.

"I cannot prove or disprove it Stan, that is why we have investigations, preferably by someone without a conflicy of interest. The statement, the questionable reputation of Oaks, and the refusal to answer inquiry has me concerned, very concerned, about this facility and Officer Fink."

"Now that my civil inquiry to Oaks has gone over a month without being heeded, I will indeed get out an FOIA request this weekend requesting any and all documents concerning any 2010 complaints lodged by inmate Mumaugh concerning Officer Fink. Thanks for being the burr under my saddle"


For the record you have attacked me several times in your post... examples?

" The gestapo types are being found out daily and fired one by one as progress in the DOC comes with time. Btw, if you lived here for 19 years and had to move to Ct. for work, why is that? Did you do something like Fink here and have to leave? Just curious, not to offend. Thanks."

And as I posted I left Ludington and served my country in military

[XLFD]

If you read that third to the last paragraph, Stan, I did say before last weekend that I would get an FOIA request out as a follow-up to my original inquiry. The FOIA request has been sent out, they still have time to reply or extend the time to reply.

I do not appreciate being called lazy and not able to spend the time and money to get to the bottom of this case, particularly when this is not the case.

[stanstayhi]

I did not start posting on this topic to upset anyone but to open people's eyes to the fact that maybe they should get both sides of the story before going off half cocked. I was accused of being a bully I was accused of being someone else even when I really do not know anyone here or on several other forums based from Ludington, believe me I have gone thru the other forums now to see what I missed and it has not been hard to sort out who was who on these forums. I just think it is sad several of them seem to think it is ok to use several different nicknames to try hiding themselfs. It is pretty easy to see who they are by the way they get angry.

I will make this statement for public record " I have not in the past attacked anyone from this forum"

[XLFD]

You had your warning previous, Stan; in your statement, you are less believable than the inmate MuMaugh, in my opinion. Goodbye, and enjoy posting in the other local forums. You have little to offer here. Be sure and come back in another guise, or have Barry be outraged for you.

[Barry]

It appears that there is no freedom of speech on this forum stan.If you disagree with XLFD or his small group your wrong, and told to leave.Isn't that what this group accused the administrater of another site of doing? I guess it's different when these guys do it.

[Dave]

There is more freedom of speech on this forum then most. Notice how many post Stan made through his time here... if he was being censored then he would not of had nearly 60 postings. Stan was always provocative in his postings and wouldn't hear of any disagreement. Regardless of if he was a current or former C/O or not, not being able to concede that any of them could possibly be bad shows that he had no interest in contributing to this site in a productive manner... his only goal here was to cause subterfuge. You'll notice that all but 5 of his post were on threads regarding C/O's... a clear sign that he was only here for one thing. With all that's going on in the world, he couldn't find anything else to talk about?

In regards to the administrator of the other site you mention, he made it crystal clear that if you didn't agree with him and his liberal views that you would be removed.... hardly freedom of speech now is it? CocoMSU's contributions here are a fine example of someone that although she doesn't always agree with what others say here, her contributions are excellent and she isn't afraid to say what's on her mind and put others in their place if needed. You'll notice that she is also a contributor at the other local sites as well. We would be happy to have more liberal minded folks here like Coco. Its been said a 1000 times before that everyone is welcome to come and contribute regardless of what side of the political aisle you might be on. This is a place to have fun and to enjoy debate... There was no debate with Stan, only his vision of perfect C/O's.

[Willy]

Dave
If Stan has an apposing viewpoint and wants to focus on one topic, then so be it. This forum, I assume, is not only for debate but for sharing information. Unless someone is getting personal, slandering or revealing another posters personal information, then I have no problems with the posts on this forum. If I disagree with other posters I can post a rebuttal. That's how it it supposed to work.

[Dave]

I half agree with you. I'm fine with people having opposing opinions on different topics, no problem there. When someone is antagnotistic pretty much from the get go, seems to only want to cause subterfuge then it would appear that person is only posting to stir up things. If there is no interest in said party to actually debate anything then they are not really contributing to the discussion. Not being able to concede that there are bad C/O's sends a clear signal that Stan wasn't interested in really participating in a debate on the subject. He was offered the opportunity to stay and actually take part in the conversation and he didn't appear interested in that and X decided that that being the case that Stan was interested in being a real part of the conversation and opted to let Stan post at other forums. The post you make RJE are exactly what we want here, you don't always agree but you post here and make your point, just like you did in the post i'm responding too... this is something Stan seemed to be incapable of.

[AQUAMAN]

Very well said Dave and RJE, you hit the preverbial nail on the head. It seems people that either have family in or are leo's of themselves, have this preponderance to jump to unconfirmed conclusions. Even the slightest question about the correctness and or legality of actions of a fellow officer, put them in a temper tantrum and agenda to defend the officer, right or wrong, to the hilt. If the members here were severe obvious leo bashers, willing accomplises to criminal activity and behavior, we would just say so. Anyone with half a brain can see that is far from the truth. Seeking real truth annoys many that believe leo's are always right, and can never make mistakes. If a co/leo gets hurt on his record, gets fired, reprimanded, or other civil actions are taken to correct their behavior, as a result of truth coming out, that is the price that they must pay. If in fact their innocence is proven here and elsewhere when such accusations come about, then they will be exonerated, and have all our applause. Not for being squeaky clean and infallible, but for doing their duties as the system and people direct them by law. Going thru life without scruples and an open mind to decide fact from fiction, is not a virtue, it's more like an insult on man's true nature to find truth and wisdom.