Topic: The Club House / Just Asking.....

If we could only get someone to mute your posts that are irrelevant to this site….

Topic: The Club House / Privitazation of some of Ohios' prisons

I’m still here. Just been busy for some time. Was told back in October by a pretty high up in management that there will be 2-5 closures coming with the budget, but that was before the residents of our fine state lost their minds and elected this new clown as Governor. Who knows now. SB5 is dangerous not only as far as collective bargaining goes, but read the bill. It starts out with language to begin the privatization of our prisons. It’s a reality if this thing goes through. What the Republican leaders who are pushing for this (most of who also have their hands on stock in private prisons) fail to mention to the public is while on the surface it may appear to look like they can save money by privatizing prisons, they do it now by hand-picking their inmates from our system. If the inmate becomes a problem child, they ship him back to us. If the inmate developes medical issues that may result in any substantial amount of money being spent on them, they ship them back to us. The state also pays a fee to them for each inmate and a penalty if the inmate has to be shipped back for behavioral issues. If I could hand pick “honor inmates” that weren’t going to ever get sick or be unruly, I could run a day-care too. Apples to Apples they can’t do it as chep as we do. But as the smoke and mirrors show keeps being put on by the GOP and it’s followers get their “news/facts” from Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh, noone seems to want to point out silly things like facts, one being the republicans who own stock in private prisons have been itching for this for years. Being able to blame the economic crisis on public union employees may just be the scam they’ve been looking for…

Topic: The Club House / Comebacks

Hummingbird, We’ll try to remember that the next time we’re supervising you….“heard ’em all”, wonder why? How many numbers do you have?

Topic: A Broader View / Is it really as negative as it sounds?

Hummingbird, I think you stumbled onto the wrong site, this is corrections.com, not iamaformerinmate.com

Some of your requirements make sense though. If you barely managed to graduate high school, that may be a plus, because as I’ve found over the years when you try to talk intelligently to most inmates, they just look at you slack-jawed with that 1,000 mile stare because you’re talking way over their heads’ and they have no clue what you mean. So being closer to their level of intelligence may help with that communication barrier.

And you do have to have a high tolerence for incompetence, because most inmates are just that, incompetent. They were raised that way.

Topic: Letter of The Law / Personal Phone calls?

Yes, that’s what they are intended for. I was just pointing out the fact that I carry one to work everyday, and find no need to be on it calling all my friends/family all day while on the job.

Topic: Letter of The Law / No lunch breaks?

Read your contract. Either the one agreed to by your union or the one you signed when you were hired. Most deparments put in a line about how you agrre to work straight 8 without a formal lunch break. That’s how they get around it. You signed on the line and agreed to it and no one forced it on you. That’s how they bypass many of the afformentioned Federal laws.

Topic: Security Central / What cell extraction tools do you wish you had?

Coming from the only tools we use are OC and the typical shield smash and grab team, anything new would be useful. Tasers & Canines come to mind first. Also why not utilize something in between the cells in the access panels where we shut off their water? Why not install some type of piping the can be cleared with pressurized air if blocked, and then used to disperse chemical agent? I’m sure I could come up with all kinds of interesting ideas if I had unlimited funds, but I’ll settle for some basics for now.

Topic: The Club House / 20 years and out

At this point, I’ll just be happy if there are any funds left in the retirement fund when I get there, whenever it may be.

Topic: The Club House / CCW

Been thinking about it for a few years. Still haven’t found the need to get mine yet. Of course I could “what if” it to death with all the scenarios of running into inmates on the street etc. But if it’s me against an inmate and 6 of his gangster buddies, I’ll be out gunned anyway, right? Also with young kids in the house, it’s not a convenient thing to have lying around. Of course, I could “lock it up” so they don’t get to it, but that would pretty much defeat the purpose of having quick access to it in a time of need, right? Like I said, I just haven’t found the need to get it, to be responsible and legal with it, it’s just not convenient or practical.Wouldn’t a ballistic vest be a better investment? Lol. What if his aim is better than yours and he’s more of a “professional gunfighter” than you are?

Topic: The Club House / Professional Gunfighters?

I’m with Shakey on this one, Crank up the PINK FLOYD!!!

Topic: Letter of The Law / Personal Phone calls?

Had my SRT cell phone almost a month now. Still haven’t had any real use for it. Guess the institutional phone and radio is good enough for me.

Topic: Letter of The Law / Personal Phone calls?

Recently, our institution held a staff shakedown unexpectedly one morning. Two medical employees were fired for bringing in cell phones. One had it in her pocket and had a lame excuse about how it didn’t work, and the other had one wrapped in plastic and hidden in her mashed potatoes…. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

On the other hand, our SRT team were issued our cell phones last week, and I have yet to have the urge to use it. Guess it all depends on the person and if they are responsible enough to handle doing their job without having to be on the phone with their “homies” while on the clock. I’ll probably never even use this thing.

Topic: In Memory of... / Neil Jalowiec, Corrections Officer, LORCI

Elyria man charged in fatal crash
Filed by Brad Dicken December 19th, 2009

ELYRIA — The man behind the wheel of a Jeep Grand Cherokee that plowed into the back of a Buick LeSabre in a fatal car crash Tuesday was drunk, according to police, and has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide.

Elyria police Lt. Andy Eichenlaub said Emelio Hernandez Perez, 23, was charged Friday after police learned a blood test showed him having a blood alcohol content level of more than 0.30. Under Ohio law, the legal limit for alcohol in the blood is .08, meaning that Perez was more than three times the legal limit when he was tested after the crash.

Additional charges against Perez are likely after the case is presented to a county grand jury, Eichenlaub said.

He said police are still trying to determine how fast Perez was driving when he smashed his SUV into the car driven by 65-year-old Neil Jalowiec, who died of internal chest and abdominal injuries, according to Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus.

No one else was in either vehicle at the time of the crash, but Eichenlaub said witnesses have said Perez was speeding and weaving in and out of traffic just before the crash.

Donna Hagdis told The Chronicle-Telegram earlier this week that Perez sped past her, missing her car by inches. She said the only reason Perez didn’t slam into an oncoming semi was because she slammed on her brakes so he could get back over.

She said she was about 100 yards behind Perez when his SUV hit Jalowiec’s car, which was stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of state Route 57 and West River Road. Hagdis said she never saw brake lights.

Perez was treated and released from a Cleveland hospital and Eichenlaub said Perez hadn’t talked with police yet, but has hired an attorney.

Perez is a Mexican national who is living in Elyria and Eichenlaub said police are trying to determine whether he is in the country legally.

Topic: In Memory of... / Neil Jalowiec, Corrections Officer, LORCI

Wrong place at wrong time: ’Daddy’s little girl’ reminisces about father killed in crash
Thursday, December 17, 2009
By KRISTEN VASAS

GRAFTON — Two days after Neil Jalowiec was killed in a car crash, his daughter, Leesha Doehr, is trying to understand why her protector and role model had to be taken away from her so soon.

“It is so unfair,” Doehr said. “I am an only child, so I was always daddy’s little girl. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Jalowiec, 65, was driving his Buick south on West River Road when Emelio Hernandez Perez, the driver of a Jeep Cherokee, slammed into the back of his car at high speed. Doehr believes her father was going to or coming back from the bank before the accident Tuesday afternoon.

No one has been charged in the accident yet, Elyria police Lt. Andy Eichenlaub said.

A former member of the U.S. Marine Corps, Jalowiec and his family moved to Grafton in 1989. Jalowiec, who began to compete in body-building competitions when his family lived in Coral Springs, Fla., won The Sunshine State Award for bodybuilders in the older than age 40 category in 1988.

“He never tried to get me to work out, but he did always threaten all the boys when I was in high school,” Doehr said. “He would walk through the school during conferences and everyone would say he was a white Mr. T.”

Shortly after moving back to Ohio, Jalowiec started work as a corrections officer with the Lorain Correctional Institution in Grafton. Doehr said several of her father’s co-workers stopped by his house yesterday to offer their condolences. The institution was forced to call in bereavement help because so many people were upset when they learned of her father’s death, she said.

“My dad was very loved and he was a good man and people knew that,” Doehr said. “His co-workers were upset. Even the inmates were upset.”

When Jalowiec wasn’t spending time with his family or working out, he could be found fishing with a friend at a nearby, private pond.

During the summer, Doehr said her father would spend hours out on the lake, relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet. “He had a connection with that pond,” Doehr said.

Yesterday, Elyria police officers continued to investigate what caused Perez to crash into Jalowiec’s Buick.
Both cars are being kept at the Elyria Police Department until the investigation is complete, Eichenlaub said.

Jalowiec was wearing a seat belt during the accident, according to Elyria fire officials, but were unsure whether Perez, 23, was strapped in.

Perez was brought to EMH Regional Medical Center following the accident, and was flown to Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center for treatment. He was released yesterday, according to a nursing supervisor.

The Bauer-Laubenthal-Mercado Funeral Home will be handling Jalowiec’s services. A wake will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday.

He will be buried at Resthaven Memory Gardens in Avon on Saturday with full military honors by the U.S. Marine Corps.

Topic: In Memory of... / Neil Jalowiec, Corrections Officer, LORCI

Crash victim was longtime prison officer, Vietnam vet

Filed by Melissa Hebert December 17th, 2009 in Top Stories.
GRAFTON — Hearts were heavy on Wednesday at the Lorain Correctional Institution in Grafton, where Neil Jalowiec worked for 17 years as a corrections officer.

Jalowiec, a 65-year-old Grafton resident, was killed in a car accident on Tuesday at the intersection of state Route 57 and West River Road in Elyria. The tan Buick LeSabre he was driving was rear-ended by a red Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Emelio Hernandez Perez, 23, of Elyria.

The force of the collision pushed the two cars all the way across the intersection and pushed the back of Jalowiec’s car up to the back of the front seat.

Lorain County Coroner Dr. Paul Matus said Jalowiec died on impact of internal chest and abdominal injuries.

Perez was transported by helicopter from EMH Regional Medical Center to MetroHealth Medical Center in
Cleveland, where he was treated and released. The investigation into the crash continues.

Jalowiec’s family declined comment Wednesday through a family friend. Jalowiec leaves behind a wife of 42
years, Raeme, and a daughter, Alicia.

“He was very, very respected,” LORCI Warden Marc C. Houk said of Jalowiec, who was named correction officer of the year for the institution in 1994. “He was considered one of our best officers. Everyone called him ‘The Rock’ because you could always count on him.

“He had a very good rapport with both staff and inmates,” he said. “Whenever a new officer would start, he’d inevitably spend a day with Neil during training because of how solid he was, and what sort of leadership and guidance he could give.”

Jalowiec was the second employee in less than a week to die in a car accident. Edward Drake, a 33-year-old maintenance repair worker from Ashland, was killed Sunday in a one-car accident in Jackson Township. Drake, who started in food service in 2000 before transferring to maintenance in 2003, was described by Houk as a “very dependable, hard-working, dedicated professional” whose love of sports led him to be a lead volunteer in maintaining the facility’s softball fields and playing on the institution’s softball team.

Houk said the state’s Critical Incidents Stress Team was on hand at the facility to help employees deal with the losses.

Jalowiec was a Vietnam veteran, serving in the Marines as a sergeant for two years and eight months, with his tour of duty in Vietnam spanning 1966 and 1967.

He was a lifetime member of Veterans of Foreign Wars post 3341 in Grafton.

Helen Hahn of Grafton, a fellow VFW member, said Jalowiec stopped by the VFW hall almost every day, rarely staying long, other than to say hello and have a quick chat.

Hahn said that Jalowiec had recently been doing the paperwork to get on Medicare, and often would ask her questions about the process. She added that he hadn’t told her when he would retire, but that he wanted everything in order.

Jalowiec was getting ready to start a new chapter, she said. “And it’s so sad that he won’t be able to enjoy it. I’m just crushed.”

Donna Hagdis of Wellington was driving in the left lane southbound on state Route 57 Tuesday afternoon, heading to St. Jude school to pick up her children, when she said Perez passed her on the left by going into the median.

“He came up on me so fast, I never even saw him until he was passing me,” she said. “It was scary. I’m just glad my kids weren’t in the car.”

Hernandez missed her car by inches as he passed, Hagdis said, and only by her hitting the brakes was he able to get back into the left lane to avoid being hit by a semi truck approaching in the opposite direction.

Hagdis estimates she was about 100 yards behind Perez when he struck Jalowiec, who she says was stopped at the intersection of 57 and West River Road. She said she never saw Perez’s brake lights go on.

Topic: In Memory of... / Neil Jalowiec, Corrections Officer, LORCI

Corrections Officer Neil Jalowiec, 65, was killed Tuesday December 15th, 2009 in a tragic traffic accident. Neil’s vehicle was stopped at a traffic light when it was struck from behind by another driver travelling at a high rate of speed. Officer Jalowiec was pronounced dead on the scene. Officer Jalowiec was one of the best people, and THE best officer I have ever known. He was the first officer they sent me to when I started day one, to show me the ropes. I came to find out later this was the norm, and he has trained probably over half of our institution in this manner. Officer Jalowiec had been employed as a Corrections Officer at the Lorain Correctional Institution in Grafton, Ohio since 1992. Jalowiec was also a former Marine who had served in Vietnam. He was in many ways a father figure to the majority of the officers here at the institution. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

We all miss you Neil. Rest in Peace, it will NEVER be the same without you…

Topic: In Memory of... / Ed Drake, Maintenance Repair Worker, LORCI

Ed Drake, 33, was killed Sunday December 13th, 2009 in a tragic car accident. His vehicle lost control on an icy road, veered off the road striking a tree. Drake had been employed at the Lorain Correctional Institution in Grafton, Ohio for almost 10 years in various positions, most recently as a Maintenance Repair Worker. He leaves behind a wife and a four year old son. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Rest in Peace Drake. We all miss you.

Topic: Security Central / Covering Obs Cell camera's

You mean just asking them nicely and saying please doesn’t work? lol.

Topic: Security Central / Which cell extraction methods work best?

OCCD do you know of any video available anywhere of a K-9 involved extraction?

Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior?

Freedom is the absolute best incentive for good behavior, right? RIGHT!?!?!
IF that is the case, then you would be FORCED to admit this incentive FAILED!!! And if freedom fails, then I do not give a hairy rat’s – about all the books and magazines in China…
-Jon

According to your thinking, and your belief in this study, maybe we should eliminate Segregation units altogether? Why bother locking them in Seg if the incentive of getting back out into GP for their freedoms doesn’t work? Just let him continue to cause a disturbance and be assaultive in the housing unit.

For every one of these studies you see done, you eventually see another one that counters what the other study came up with. I’m wondering if these “smarty pants educational types” just make half of their results up in order to keep getting grants.

I mean, I read a study recently that talked about the great benefits of drinking your own urine. I, however, choose to go ahead with common sense on this one too….You can try it and let me know how it goes though.

Topic: The Club House / Ohio DRC

We still have not had the previously mentioned positions cut yet. Not sure how they came up with the spots they did to cut. Sounds like they are continuing to put Security on the backburner to payroll. They are actually going to cut one of the Perimeter positions on 3rd shift leaving us with only one Perimeter officer on duty on the shift they always preach is the one an inmate will most likely try to escape on. Common sense seems to be taking a backseat on this one too.

No word on the recanvass talks. Seems too many people do not want it to happen. Which is fine with me. I don’t really mind either way.

As far as the institutional seniority talks you referred too. I for one wish we could go to straight state time, I would probably transfer out of this madhouse pretty quickly if they did. That’s the only thing keeping me here. I’ve been to numerous institutions across the state doing clear-outs for SRT, and none of them are like LORCI. This place is a zoo, and the animals are running it instead of the zookeepers. Wishful thinking would be for the tide to turn back in our favor as to how we run things around here, but the liberal BS just keeps coming down the line while we keep getting cut. We all know what it took for the tide to turn back the last time (Lucasville), and none of us want that to happen ever again. Hopefully we get some positive change before it comes to that again. Not sure how much longer we can keep our finger in the dam before it finally bursts.

Topic: The Club House / Do You Have Uniform Inspection?

Mudflap, we don’t have to turn our old uniforms in anymore, they stopped doing that about 2 or 3 years ago at our place. We’ve been getting them much easier now. The last time I needed some I just shot an e-mail to the Sgt. handling the uniforms, and about 3 weeks later, there was a bag with my uniforms waiting for me in the entry building. Much nicer now. Used to be the same as yours and a real pain.

Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior?

You don’t think denying access to an inmate is an incentive for better behavior? And you claim you’ve been in corrections for 23 years? Have you spent all 23 years of that in an office behind a closed door?

Put a housing unit on lockdown for bad behavior. What do you get? A housing unit of inmates on their best behavior to get their priveledges back. Happens all the time and it works.

I’m tired of the Mommy & Daddy didn’t hug them enough excuse. At some point you become an adult, and know the difference between right and wrong either your mommy & daddy taught you, school taught you, or you’ve seen enough of your “homies” go to prison for doing stupid things. You learn the difference one way or the other. After that it is a choice of which route to take.

So you keep your hug-a-thug mentality, we’ll keep order on the block.

Topic: Letter of The Law / Can we deny inmates access to newspapers, magazines as an incentive for better behavior?

Jon, if a person knows the consequences of breaking the law are coming to prison, and they willingly break the law anyway, they are in a round about way volunteering themselves up for prison life. It’s not like we drafted these guys to come here & I don’t think anyone is forcing these individuals to break the law against their own free will.

Topic: The Club House / Ohio DRC

Yeah, I’m still here. Just haven’t been on lately. We here are losing positions too, mostly on our Special Duty shift. I’m sure a recanvass will follow as our union president is on that shift. Nothing has been set into motion that I know of yet though.

We are also preparing for a new Major. Our old one went to TCI, and we’re getting the one from TOCI. I haven’t heard any good words about him from TOCI staff, but time will tell. LORCI is a whole different world from parent institutions.