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Social Issues

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Week 3 Assignment
Deutsch, Tina M
Walden University

Steve Rigg and Richard Caruso were involved with making a significant impact within the prison system by becoming whistle blowers and crossing the “thin green line”. They witnessed brutality at the hands of their peers. Corrections officers were exploiting racial tensions to stage fights between rival gang inmates by placing them in the same small recreational area.

The officers were using this tactic as a sport and calling it “gladiator days”, calling the fights like sports announcers. Once they had their fill of excitement, they would needlessly utilize the tower officers to shoot wooden blocks into the crowd to stop the fights. After each shooting, they would then make up or falsify reports of shootings to justify their actions. Other officers would step in to assist in the altering of the report to ensure there was no evidence of wrong doing. All the behavior mentioned are illegal and harmful actions being committed by officers who are expected to fulfill the mission of the California Department of Corrections and its three core values of integrity, justice and accountability(Dryburgh,2009).

Rigg and Caruso made several attempts to correct the situation prior to becoming whistle blowers. Because there was confusion with when to engage in using weapons to stop fights, they set up classes to try to clarify the definition of “bodily harm” so that there could be more consistency and understanding of what imminent bodily harm meant and when to use excessive force. In addition, they also attempted to prevent the practice known as stacking or putting known enemies together. Each of these attempts failed. The Warden insisted the classes cease and the stacking continued to occur one their shifts ended.

They also took other possible courses of action calling a meeting with the Warden and the Department of corrections to clarify the shooting policy and make them aware of the abuse so that the Warden would be forced into making or addressing the situation. Instead both the agency and Warden ignored these cries for help. When reviewing all of the steps they took to handle this situation in house before making the decision to become whistleblowers, I cannot think of another effective alternative other than requesting the Department of Corrections for training on diversity and inclusion or ethical training to bring in enforcements that the behavior that is being brought up is unacceptable and disciplinary consequences as well as legal actions could occur if the behavior is continued.In reality, they could have also gone to the media and made the situation public but I don’t find that this alternative would have been a better solution to their choices.

On the moral rules level, it is against the culture of the guards to “rat on your own” but sometimes it is a necessary step when adhering to the ethical principles you are guided by in the business. They were truly demonstrating their desire to live by the values of the Corrections Department. Although their peers felt they were disloyal to them, they were loyal to the overall mission of the department (Dryburgh,2009).

A consequence of their actions not being timely enough was the loss of life. In addition, they also had to work under stressful situations for long periods of time because they continued to watch this behavior happening around them. Once they decided to take action, they did find ways to try to make a positive impact by making individual changes to their work environment.

A large reason as to why they chose to be whistle blowers is because they were well educated and trained government workers. They are a part of the new era of knowledgeable employees who were advanced in their field of firearms and their ethical use (Dryburgh,2009). They also made several attempts to handle these issues “in house” but failed to seek out a resolution. They also had a greater awareness of their responsibilities to the public, their employer and inmates (Dryburgh,2009).

I don’t believe that the guards stopped all corruption within the justice system as seen in the media today; however they did made a positive impact on public policy. Prior to the two guards becoming whistleblowers, there had been eight Corcoran office involved shootings involving inmates. There is now more attention on prisoner abuse, policy changes within the department occurred and legislation changed adopting new policies regarding prisoner shootings. This is considered a win-win for the two who chose to struggle through this challenge. For them it was a tough road of segregation from their peers, working in undesirable situations, getting death threats and feeling overwhelmed but in the end, they got what they worked so hard for – basic human rights of inmates not enduring cruel and unusual punishment.

References:

Dryburgh, M. M. (2009). Personal and Policy Implications of Whistle-Blowing: The Case of Corcoran State Prison. Public Integrity, 11(2), 155-170.

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