It is no small wonder one hears so many complaints of corruption and abuse from prisoners at the Shasta County Jail (hereinafter "JAIL"). Corruption in this case means power corruption (See FN. 1), where persons in power become corrupted by their authority believing they can do as they please with impunity. The problem is systemic.

Several inmates have reported their complaints of JAIL problems or of officer abuse are never answered, accusing officers of destroying the complaints prior to their reaching supervision, or of answering the complaint themselves thereby stopping them from reaching supervision. Other inmates complain that their complaints reached supervision but the issues were avoided and never addressed. Then when the problem recurs or the person presses the issue further, the administration will make the statement: I thought we resolved that issue.

This is an example of power corruption, or ineffective management, where no accountability or oversight allows that administrator, or officer, to consider a problem resolved in his own mind. However, that is often the only place where resolution has occurred--in that persons imagination. True resolution only occurs when through independent, effective, impartial, and adequate investigation, the problem is resolved in fact, or found to be a misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or miscommunication, and is thus not a bona fide problem. This cannot be determined by administrators blindly accepting only one side of a story without further investigation.

There has been speculation as to whether or not the Sheriff's Department Administration ever becomes aware of problems. It is asked, is the administration aware of the alleged "lost," "destroyed," or effectively missing complaints? Many, giving the administration the benefit of the doubt, believe management is being shielded from problems and complaints by its subordinates. Others claim management knows, or reasonably should know, of the problems. They then accuse the administrators of poor management skills for either not knowing of, or not resolving problems they should know of, and have the power to resolve but do not, including not being aware of the actions of their subordinates or acquiescing to those actions.

These questions can now be put to rest, as it is obvious both situations exist; the administration is aware of some problems and being shielded from others. If they are ignoring the input, then shame on them! After several months of presenting problems directly to the JAIL Facility Administrator, the emailing these articles to the Sheriff, it can be said unequivocally that the administration is aware of numerous problems, and systematically cover them up either through avoidance of the issues or through straight denial without any independent meaningful investigation of the complaints. It is apparent that this is both an ineffective management problem, and a power corruption problem, which have combined to produce costly and unnecessary expense to the taxpayers.

Because of this ineffective management model, it appears that the power corruption and cover-ups of JAIL problems permeates the Shasta County Sheriff's Department from the top to the bottom. Do the voters and taxpayers not question the waste of public funds expended in defending the numerous lawsuits filed against the Department. It is said there are approximately 80 such lawsuits against the JAIL presently listed on the Internet. Basic common sense would dictate a policy of attempting to resolve problems at the administrative level as being far more cost effective, and fiscally responsible to the taxpayers, than to ignore or avoid resolving problems that potentially lead to lawsuits.

There presently are reasons for these lawsuits--the administration does not resolve problems, or only resolves them in their own minds, then, covers-them-up or denies their existence. The only redress for the complainants then comes in the form of lawsuits at great taxpayer expense. Meanwhile, rather than resolve money costing problems, those with the power to solve those problems, the JAIL and Sheriff's Officials, instead beg for more money to "protect the public." Who is protecting the public from mismanagement? This is indeed poor management, and taxpayers should demand changes that put a halt to wasted funds before allocating additional funds.

FN. 1. See: "The California Prison System: A Design for Disaster," (Jan. 2004), Tom Watson, A synopsis of how power corrupts prison and jail guards, at: www.oocities.org/three_strikes_legal/watson_writings_index.htm; 

Zimbardo, P.G. (1971) "The Psychological power and pathology of imprisonment," A statement prepared for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 3, Hearings on Prison Reform, San Francisco, Calif., October 25, 1971.