The DOC Eagle, Sept. 2002

THE DOC EAGLE "Soaring to Greater Heights of Excellence"

Volume 1, Issue 3 September, 2002

PUPPIES TO PRISON
Six adorable Labrador Retriever puppies arrived at Metro State Prison in Atlanta on Tuesday, August 20th to begin their transition from nine week old puppies to guide dogs for the visually impaired. These carefully selected puppies will wear a jacket or scarf to identify the very special role in life for which they are training. The puppies will be paired with a specially trained, volunteer inmate to begin the 16-month program. Under the direction of an obedience instructor, the inmates will teach the dogs manners and basic obedience and will provide the daily care and love they need for healthy development. Upon completion of the program, the inmate trainers will receive certificates from the Middle Georgia Technical College and assistance upon release in finding employment in the field.

Jim Wetherington Commissioner

Commissioner Wetherington presents several "Puppy Trainers" with their dogs during recent Guide Dog Arrival Ceremony at Metro State Prison

Highlights Inside this Issue:

The I.M.P.A.C.T. (Inmates Providing Animal Care and Training) program is an alliance between the Georgia Department of Corrections and the non-profit Southeastern Guide Dog Inc., of Palmetto, Florida. In addition to donating the puppies, SEGDI will provide an obedience instructor, food supplies, veterinary services and the vocational program for volunteer inmates. In return, the Department of Corrections will provide SEDGI well-trained guide dogs ready for advanced training, and ultimately, guide dogs for individuals who are visually impaired. (Continued on Page 3)

In Memory of 2 Officer James
Henderson

A Time to Sa- 3 lute Corrections Employees

Georgia: Now 4 6th Largest Prison System

Probation's New 5 Electronic Connectivity

Board of

7

Corrections

Above: "Chief's Kennel" where the puppies

GDC Perform- 8 ance Management

are housed. Left: Gage, Rex, and Winston

anxiously await the arrival of their puppy train-

ers.

In Memory of Officer James Henderson
Correctional Officer James Henderson of Georgia State Prison died on June 3, 2002 of injuries sustained in the line of duty. He had been a valued officer at GSP since 1994. He was also an Army veteran who had served in Korea, Germany and the US.

A very touching memorial service was held for Officer Henderson on June 6th in

Vidalia. One of the speakers was a long time coworker, Correctional Officer Lucy

Kingery. The following excerpt from her comments will give you an idea of the Officer James Henderson

respect Officer Henderson had earned at GSP.

Georgia State Prison

"James was the epitome of the type person and officer every Officer-in-Charge wants. He rarely ever missed work. He was conscientious. He knew policy and went by it. He took his duties very seriously. He was loyal and faithful to his job and fellow officers. Many officers worked with James over the years. They knew him to be polite, friendly and courteous, a kind and caring friend. James knew and believed in God. He talked with co-workers about religious issues. Like all of us, James had hard and difficult times, but it's to his credit, he persevered and made it through them. His delight, as everyone knew, was his daughter, Jennifer. He loved her and their time together.

James' courage and perseverance during the years with us will give us the strength to move on. The pride he had in his uniform and job will help many. Officer James Henderson is a credit to Georgia State Prison, the State of Georgia and the United States of America. We, his GSP family, will never forget him or the price he paid, to do so would be a disgrace."

Please remember to keep James' daughter, family and friends in your thoughts and prayers. Also remember Arnie Oliver, the officer who came to Henderson's assistance and was attacked by the same inmate. Mr. Oliver is still at home recuperating from his injuries.

NEW RISK REDUCTION INITIATIVE
With financial support from the National Institute of Corrections, the department is initiating a new program to reduce recidivism by providing programming throughout our various functions. Models of this new program will be established in Probation Offices, Day Reporting Centers, Diversion and Detention Centers, as well as Prisons and Transitional Centers.

The model will contain an Assessment component, the four (4) basic program tracks (CognitiveBehavioral, Substance Abuse, Education, and Employment), a Family/Community (Aftercare) component, and an Evaluation component to demonstrate the model's effectiveness in reducing recidivism. The model concept has been introduced to management in the Facilities Division and the Probation Division and sites representative of every secure and non-secure option available to our system have been selected to serve as "model sites". The first model program is scheduled for implementation in January, 2003.

Risk Reduction Services will continue to support the programming that is currently in place throughout

the system, working with staff to ensure that these programs are operating as effectively and efficiently

as possible. The model sites will be used to improve on what we already do and to test the effectiveness

of our program components so that, eventually, all other sites will have access to a model that can suc-

cessfully impact their respective populations.

(Continued on Page 5)

Page 2

THE DOC EAGLE

Puppies to Prison (cont.)
Integral to the success of the program are "volunteer weekend puppy raiser families." These families include staff from the Georgia Department of Corrections, as well as members of the community. These volunteers will take the puppies home every weekend to expose them to all types of social situations. The only expectation of the weekend family is that they must provide additional love and bonding, a safe home environment, and frequent familiarization with the everyday world. If you live in the Atlanta area and are interested in being a regular volunteer or a back up volunteer, call Michelle W. Turpeau, IMPACT Coordinator for the department at 404-624-2736.
The puppies will reside in a kennel specially built by inmate labor, which includes a classroom for the required coursework. The inmates in the program will wear a badge to identify themselves to everyone at the facility as one of the trainers. It also will be a learning experience for the staff at Metro who will receive training on how to interact with the puppies so as not to interfere with their training and on how to handle new security issues such as control of medical equipment brought into the prison by the volunteer veterinarians.
"This is a win-win proposition," said Commissioner Wetherington. "The inmates will be providing a valuable service to the public and at the same time receiving vocational training to enhance their employment prospects upon release."
A TIME TO SALUTE CORRECTIONS EMPLOYEES
May 6-12, 2002 was a special time for all of us as we paused to acknowledge our contributions to our agency and the citizens of Georgia by celebrating National Correctional Officer Week, National Nurses Week and Georgia Employee Recognition Week. Commissioner Wetherington videotaped his personal message of appreciation so that it could be shared with employees at all our sites. The Board of Corrections and the Governor expressed their recognition through official resolutions.
Corrections employees at facilities and offices all across the state celebrated the week with banners, posters, certificates of appreciation, goody bags, softball games, volleyball games and lots of good eating. It is evident that we love to eat and cookouts are our favorites. Facilities such as Columbus DC, Atlanta TC, GD&CP, Central SP, Augusta SMP, Pulaski SP and Truetlen Boot Camp got out the grills and fed the staff. We would also like to acknowledge the efforts by our facilities, such as GSP, to make sure everyone was fed well, including those who could not be relieved from their posts. Employees in the central offices in Twin Towers got together for some cake and punch and to look at old Corrections memorabilia.
Festivities during this week also included the presentation of the State Government Employee Recognition Awards at a ceremony in Atlanta on May 8th. Awards were given in the categories of innovations, safety, heroism, teamwork, leadership, customer service, community service and faithful service (40 years of service in state government). Nominations from Corrections were as follows:
Heroism Terry Calhoun, Sergeant at Georgia State Prison, for single handedly stopping the escape of an inmate from a public hospital while taking special efforts to keep civilians from being harmed.
(Continued on Page 6)

Volume 1, Issue 3

Page 3

Georgia Surpasses Ohio and Illinois: Now Sixth Largest Prison System in Nation

Recently released data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that during the last six months of 2001, Georgia moved ahead of Ohio and Illinois and now has the sixth largest prison population in the nation. Only Texas, California, Florida, New York and Michigan have more inmates. Highlights of the report include:

During 2001, the nation's prison population rose at the lowest rate since 1972, rising just 0.3%, Georgia's prison population grew by 3.9%
During the last six months of 2001, the states' prison population fell by 3,705 inmates, a decrease of 0.3%, Georgia's prison population grew by 1.3%.

During 2001, the Federal system (up 11,577), experienced the largest growth, followed by Georgia (up 1,705), and Tennessee (up 1,505). In 2000, the pattern was the same with the federal system leading the nation in prison growth followed by Georgia.

At the end of 2001 Georgia had 45,937 inmates. Georgia currently has 46,591 inmates.

The amount of time served in prison, not the number of admissions to prison, drives Georgia's prison growth. Once sentenced to prison, inmates serve increasingly longer prison terms. Georgia's 1995 "Two Strikes" law and 1998's "Parole 90% Policy" are the primary reasons for the growth.

There are over 6,000 inmates serving "One or Two Strike" sentences in Georgia prisons. An additional 8,000 inmates are serving under the "90% Policy." Projections show the prison system has absorbed the full growth of the additional "90% Policy" inmates but estimate that approximately 800 "One and Two Strike" inmates per year will "stack" in the prison system for several more years.

STATE Texas California Florida New York Michigan Georgia Ohio Illinois Pennsylvania Louisiana

# OF INMATES 167,070 159,444 72,406 67,534 48,849 45,937 45,281 44,348 38,062 35,710

WINNER OF THE `NAME THE NEWSLETTER'

Page 4

Commissioner Wetherington congratulates Kathy Seabolt, winner of the Name the Newsletter Contest, with lunch and a visit to the North Georgia Regional Corrections Academy
THE DOC EAGLE

Probation's New Electronic Connectivity
Years of heavy field books bulging with handwritten case notes and scrawled sticky notes are coming to an end for probation officers. As of July 1, 2002, all probation offices are now connected to SCRIBE, the automated case management system.
The system was initially piloted at five sites, including Rome. Patti Foster, Chief Probation Office in Rome says, "There were some staff here who had never so much as turned a computer on and there was a "fear" of the unknown. Officers were so used to writing things in the field, they were a little resistant to relying on a computer. Now, we are all reliant on SCRIBE. The program is simple enough for even a novice computer operator to use and yet gets the job done."
In the Albany Probation Office, one of the last sites to receive the system, Probation Officer III Rusty Russell agrees about the reliance on SCRIBE. "When a probationer or one of his advocates calls in, it is great to be able to access the information on the case without having to find the officer or the field book. It makes us more responsive to the public."
Overall, SCRIBE has been received very favorably. Freddy Pulliam, Chief of the Northern Circuit, described getting the system as "We have advanced 200 years in the past 24 hours." However, the system is under constant revision and updating. The Columbus Probation Office was added only in June, but Chief Tony McCrary notes that the officers "are already finding areas where with programming changes SCRIBE would be even more helpful in the dayto-day supervision of their caseload."
Rick Abbott, Systems Administrator for the division, continues his work with the OIT staff to ensure the system is the best it can be. At the same time, he is also working with a national committee to develop standards for totally integrated information systems to follow the offender from arrest to completion of criminal justice. The committee is funded by the Bureau of Justice, administered by the American Probation and Parole Association and partnered with the National Center for State Courts. Its guidelines will soon be critical in all grant awards from the Bureau of Justice.
Every probation office across the state received training in both SCRIBE and the GROUPWISE email system. The training, offered in both group and individual settings was thorough: "We don't leave until everyone has entered a case and has had an opportunity to ask questions," said Sheron Padgett, Senior Operations Analyst. She and Rick Abbott were the primary trainers but they were assisted in the effort by staff from around the state, including Wanda Posey and Stan Cooper from Cartersville, Drew Chestnutt from Cordele, Terry Allegood from Moultrie, Patti Foster and Glenda Jones from Rome, Angie Elliott from Lawrenceville, Allen Kirby from Milledgeville, Teddy Burgess from Dublin, Walt Seymour from Athens, Joe Cafiero from Savannah, Frances Blacknall from Waycross, Donna Long from Conyers, Ken Carroll from the SE Regional Office, and Joy Goolsby from the Division Office.

NEW RISK REDUCTION INITIATIVE (continued from page 2)
The model demonstration sites are: State Prisons: Pulaski, Lee Arrendale Transitional Centers: Metro, Augusta Probation Detention Centers: West Central, Terrell, Larmore, Whitworth Probation Offices: Albany, Savannah, Gainesville, DeKalb Diversion Centers: Gainesville, Griffin, Macon Community Alternatives: Specialized Supervision Unit (SSU) Fulton Co. Griffin Recovery Intervention Probation Program (GRIPP) Atlanta Day Reporting Center Savannah Impact Project Bainbridge Substance Abuse Treatment Center

Volume 1, Issue 3

Page 5

A Time to Salute Corrections Employees (Cont.)
Teamwork Brian Nabors, Phyllis Lawson, Kimberly Waller and Barbara Dixon, Employment Services Section of Central Personnel Administration, for their innovative and aggressive techniques to expand Correctional Officer recruitment sources and to simplify and expedite the Correctional Officer application and testing process.
Leadership Derrick Schofield, Warden of Augusta State Medical Prison, for his exceptional efforts and successes in the motivation of his staff.
Customer Service The 37 Northwest Probation Region employees who made exceptional contributions to the other law enforcement agencies of Georgia and the citizens of the state through their work on the search and recovery operation at the Tri-State Crematory. The employees are: Linda Silva, William Faucett, Roddy Turner, William Hellerstedt, Kristi Payne, Eric Barber, Dan Fox, Holly Davis, Judy Hawley, Richard McAfee, Buddy Wilson, Mike Fowler, Billy Bearden, Todd Burgess, Stan Cooper, Rebecca Burse, Cindy McClure, Allen Coody, Laura Stanford, Eric Gay, Scott Roberts, Frank Wood, Scottie Hedden, Brent Martin, Bo Payton, Robert Gross, Bobby Viers, Sheila Logan, Patti Foster, Phil Smith, Tiffany Taylor, Joan Kirkpatrick, Jimmy Tipton, Scott Sean, Jamie Harris, Charlotte Harkins, Tony Mitchell.

Tony Turpin, Warden at Arrendale State Prison shares a moment with Deputy Warden Tom Poole during Employee Recognition Week

Employees take time out to celebrate Employees Recognition Week. Pictured from left are Vanessa Roy from Programs, Cynthia Pearson from Human Resources, and Demecia Choudhary from Probation.

Community Service Carol Norman, Probation Officer at the Southwest Probation Detention Center, for her dedication to the safety of her community. Carol, voted Firefighter of the Year in 1992, was the first female volunteer firefighter in Colquitt County and helped organize the first fire department for her hometown of Hamilton. She is also a volunteer EMT and one of the few non-paid, certified EMT's in the state.

At the statewide awards ceremony, Robert Bird Kennedy of Farm Services, was recognized for his employee suggestion concerning the removal of husks from grits produced by Farm Services. Mr. Kennedy developed an air cleaner that removes the husk from the grits and increases production. Robert received a monetary award of $220.00 for his suggestion through the state's employee suggestion program.

Page 6

THE DOC EAGLE

RECENT RETIREMENTS: Thanks for Your Years of Service!

The following list includes the employees who retired in April, 2002 through June, 2002. We wish these employees the very best in their new endeavors.

Effective April, 2002: Billy Joe Anderson, Ware SP Phyllis M. Bailey, Northern Circuit Billy Bennett, Phillips SP Shelby E. Collins, Augusta SMP Kelvin D. Dent, Montgomery SP Eddie L. Folds, Georgia State Prison Steven E. Gilreath, Hays SP Reba R. Hill, Ocmulgee Circuit Ila Holton, Rogers SP Patricia L. Johnson, Smith SP Robert A. Jordan, Rogers SP Patrick L. Kennedy, Inmate Construction Thomas M. Kerr, Thomasville Diversion Ctr. Roy H. Knight, Ware SP Wallace L. Lemons, Washington SP Bryan D. Murray, Smith SP Dennis V. Pace, Macon Circuit Paul D. Pittman, GD&CP Joan W. Swain, Wayne SP Robert A. Swiatko, Georgia State Prison Sondra J. Williams, Rome Circuit

Effective May, 2002 June A. Adams, Wayne SP Gregory L. Blalock, Hays SP Robert E. Cass, Burruss Corr./Training Ctr. Bessie M. Cullens, Washington SP Robert A. Deloach, Valdosta SP Julian J. Dixon, Jr., Dodge SP James H. Durden, Walker Emma C. Funderburke, Mens SP Mary A. Harris, Rivers SP Lavinia E. Harrison, Rivers SP Charles W. Jordan, Northern Circuit Benny C. Kirkland, Coastal SP Joseph A. Masters, Coastal SP William L. McMichael, GD&CP Bobby C. Ray, Georgia State Prison Vera Mae Rogers, Rogers SP Linda M. Thomason, Columbus Diversion Ctr. John Israel Williams, Rivers SP
Effective June, 2002: Troy T. Barnes, Arrendale SP Willie Joe Wilson Black, Valdosta SP James R. Boles, Walker SP Julius R. Brigman, Coastal SP Joseph Francis Byrne, Ware SP

Donald S. Cooper, Georgia State Prison Joanne Cope, Patten Detention Center Elaine Bryant Gay, Central Detention Ctr. Louie E. Griffith, Putnam SP Donald Harrell Hanks, Valdosta SP Joyce A. Hartley, Phillips SP Robert Loy Ivester, Arrendale SP Willie L. Jones, Rogers SP Billy Gene Kennedy, Rogers SP Cynthia F. Matthews, FD Southwest
Regional Office Ellen Odessa McCoy, Rutledge SP James Hilbert Mullis, Central Detention Ctr. Betty J. Patrick, Treutlen Detention Center Sidney Eugene Rodgers, ASMP Curtis K. Scott, State Director's Office Thomas F. Spillman, GD&CP Carol A. Stafford, Houston Circuit Ronald L. Strickland, Ware SP Louise S. Threatt, Rogers SP Janice Irene Webb, Arrendale SP Morgan L. Webb, Patten Detention Center Nelma C. Webb, Rivers SP Carolyn Ruth Whitlock, Arrendale SP Morris R. Williams, Jr., Cordele Circuit

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT OUR BOARD?
The Board of Corrections is the policy-making board for our department. There are sixteen seats on the Board with eleven seats for the various congressional districts and five for the state at large. With the implementation of the redistricting, two seats will be added.

The Governor, with the consent of the state Senate, appoints members of the Board for 5-year staggered terms. Two new board members were sworn in April 4th. They are Lee F. New and James Cecil Nobles.

The Board develops rules governing the conduct and welfare of department employees and all aspects of the treatment of inmates under the department's custody. The members serve on the following committees: Education, Operations, Probation, Facilities, and Nominating. Our Commissioner is responsible for the day-to-day management of the entire department.

Front Row: Patricia Miller, Charles Webster, Jim Wetherington, Carlton Powell

Third Row: Asa Boynton, Lee New, Kenneth Kennedy, and James Nobles

2nd Row: Robert L. Brown, Bennie Butler-Newroth, William Whaley, and Robert Vass

Back Row: Bruce Hudson, Tyson Stephens, Charles Hudson, and
Not Pictured: John Irby

Volume 1, Issue 3

Page 7

WINDOWS TIPS

1) To start a program, you just click the Start

button, point to the folder your program is

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN! Supervisors are
preparing performance evaluations on the GDCPlus PMF 2)

in, and then click the program. To open a document quickly, you can dou-

Short Form. Salary Increases will be awarded in October
2002 to all employees who "Met" or "Exceeded" in per- 3)
formance during the performance period ending June 30, 2002.
4)

ble-click its icon. Deleted files and folders are saved in the Recycle Bin until you empty it. The Shut Down command on the Start

Salary increases will be awarded as follows:

menu enables you to safely shut down your computer.

2.25% performance-based increases will be awarded 5)

to full-time employees receiving "Met" or

"Exceeded" and hourly employees receiving overall

"Met", even if the increases result in amounts over established paygrade maximums, where applicable.

6)

To select more than one file or folder, hold down the CTRL key while you click each item. The underlined letters in menus are shortcuts. Press ALT plus the underlined letter to

2% will be awarded as a one-time lump sum increase

choose the item.

in addition to the 2.25% increases to full-time em- 7)
ployees who received "Exceeds" performance rat-

ings.

8)

You can use long filenames when you save documents. You can even use spaces! If you don't know how to do something, you

A 3% adjustment will be made to the structure of the Salary Plans by increasing minimum and maximum

can look it up in Help. Just click the Start button, and then click Help.

salary amounts. (Note: Employees whose base sala- 9) To learn what any toolbar button is for, you

ries are below the newly adjusted paygrade minimums will be moved to their new paygrade minimum salaries after these particular employees receive their 2.25% increases, if applicable).

can rest your mouse pointer on the button for a few seconds. Windows displays the button name.

10) You can get Help on each item in a dialog

Another event this year is that supervisors will be answer-

box by clicking the question-mark button in

ing a short GDCPlus survey. We want to know what su-

the title bar and then clicking the item.

pervisors think about using the GDCPlus PMF Short Form for both Performance Plans and Performance

11)

When a folder is open, you can press

Evaluations.

BACKSPACE to open the folder one level

higher.

12) To free disk space, try emptying the Recy-

cle Bin.

This newsletter is available on the web at www.dcor.state.ga.us

Those with stories of interest should contact:
Peggy Ryan, Director Human Resources Division
Phone: 404-656-4603 Fax: 404-463-3324 E-Mail:
ryanp00@dcor.state.ga.us