Former Adams Co. Prison employee: 'It was just a matter of time'

Originally found here.

HATTIESBURG, MS (WDAM) -

"It was just a matter of time," said a former Adams County Correctional Center employee.

A male employee who worked at the facility for one year said he was not surprised when he heard the news of the inmate riot that broke out Sunday night, killing one guard.

He said did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation from gangs with members inside the prison - or from Corrections Corporation of America - which is contracted to run the federal facility.

"There was talk among employees there in general that you know sooner or later something bad's going to happen," said the employee.

He says he came forward because 24-year-old Catlin Carithers, the guard that was killed in the prison riot Sunday was his friend.

"He was a good guy, he was really soft spoken, always smiling, always happy, always had something nice to say to everybody including the inmates."

He says since January the prison has gone on lockdown three times.

"The entire prison goes on lockdown because to try and keep the peace. The prisoners refuse to go back in to their specified housing units to be counted and they negotiated for them to get back in. If I had to guess, that's probably what happened yesterday and it just went south," he said. "Every time that I was there and it happened, it would happen on a Saturday or a Sunday because you had minimum staff there... they probably weren't able to get the prison locked down fast enough."

He says the prison is understaffed.

"On a night shift you may have 26 employees and 2500 inmates."

And alleges the facility is overcrowded, with 2,567 beds, he said there are likely many more prisoners. "If I had to guess there's probably more inmates than that there - because I know one time when I worked there was over 2600."

More than 400 inmates over capacity. He says guards would talk about how dangerous the prison was.

"They're constantly hiring people, but people are constantly quitting just because a lot of it has to do with safety issues, a lot of people don't feel comfortable," the former employee said. "You're on a unit with one other person, one other guard, with you know 500 inmates."

A facility spokesperson has said the low-security prison houses illegal immigrants who reentered the country after deportation.

He says all inmates were internationals but, from paperwork he saw while employed at the facility, some of the men held at the prison have been convicted of dangerous crimes.

"Criminals, I mean hard criminals - gang bangers, drug dealers, murderers, rapists that are doing time, who have been sent to a minimum security prison like the one in Natchez to finish out their time, then they will be deported."

CCA spokesman Steve Owen said the prison does not respond to anonymous accusers, but said in an email that the company provides all employees with "multiple means to communicate concerns or greivances" and encourages all former and current employees to "pursue those appropriate avenues."

In response to allegations that the prison is overcrowded and understaffed, Owen said: "The facility maintains a population that falls within the contracted capacity requirements of the Federal Bureau of Prisons." CCA refers questions regarding demographics - who is held in the prison and the number of inmates and staff - to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Owen said.

Update: Some Answers But Still More Questions in the Death of a Correctional Officer

This is an update to yesterdays story "Pictures Seem to Indicate that CCA Negligence Could Have Led to Officers Death at Adams County Correctional Facility." The original story can be found here.

News media reports have reported that the murdered Corrections Corporation of America staff member was called into work as a member of the facilities special response team to deal with the riot. According to those same reports he was on the roof of the Adams County Correctional Facility to observe and deploy chemical agents against the rioting prisoners. Significant questions still remain on how this ladder got onto the facilities recreation yard and came to be in the physical possession of rioting prisoners. Reports now seem to indicate that the murdered CCA staff member along with another CCA staff member were confronted by ten to fifteen prisoners. This violent confrontation was allegedly in response to these staff members having deploying chemical agents during CCA's tactical response to end the riot.

The existence of this ladder is still very troubling and continues to pose significant questions that CCA still has not publicly answered. Was it used by these staff members to access the roof or did prisoners gain access to a ladder inside of the Corrections Corporation of America prison? If it was used by CCA staff members to gain access to the roof then why did no CCA staff members maintain control of the ladder and why was it used in an area where inmates could gain possession of it?

Keep in mind that a ladder is a very sensitive tool in a prison. As a tool that could be used in an escape very specific internal and external tool control policies and procedures apply. American Correctional Association (ACA) standards on tool control also would be applicable. If the staff members were given the ladder by other staff members to access the roof then that would seem to indicate that they would have been ordered to violate existing tool control policies in the middle of a prison riot. This would make absolutely no logical sense. All of these tool control policies, ACA standards along with various government prison requirements serve a purpose. A breakdown in following these standards and requirements could very well of led to the death of the facilities young staff member and the assault of another.

Corrections Corporation of America put out a press release concerning the riot that read in part "Law enforcement officials are providing outside perimeter security as facility staff and management work to resolve the incident inside the facility." It would appear that part of this response was to send these two staff members up onto the roof to deploy chemical agents against rioting prisoners. A move that appears to of led to a brutal attack and unacceptable response from these prisoners in which they brutally attacked both staff members and very violently killed one of them. This blog finds it very troubling that CCA would have deployed these two correctional officers onto the roof by themselves.

With a huge number of employees taken hostage it's very possible that Corrections Corporation of America employees got emotionally invested in the situation and moved much faster than they should have. Corrections Corporation of America's press release and media reports seem to indicate that Corrections Corporation of America was attempting to deal with the situation inside it's fence on it's own. A situation that may have been beyond the scope of it's staff members training and abilities to handle. With what appears to be the majority of one entire shift at the prison taken hostage it's possible that CCA just did not have the physical manpower to deal with the situation. Perhaps they should have waited until better equipped and better trained outside law enforcement agencies had arrived to plan and carry out a response with the assistance of these outside agencies manpower and assets.

There is no excuse for what happened. There is no excuse for the brutal murder of this young correctional officer. There is also no excuse for what is starting to look like a very flawed response from Corrections Corporation of America's leadership at the Adams County Correctional Center to this riot.

This blog continues to call for the resignation of CCA's Adams County Correctional Facilities Warden Vance Laughlin.

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.

Pictures Seem to Indicate that CCA Negligence Could Have Led to Officers Death at Adams County Correctional Facility

A story first reported here by "The 270 View" Blog

Negligence (Lat. negligentia, from neglegere, to neglect, literally "not to pick up something") is a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances. The area of tort law known as negligence involves harm caused by carelessness, not intentional harm.

News media reports are stating that the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) officer who died at the Adams County Correctional Center was murdered by prisoners yesterday on the roof of the facility during the riot. This would indicate that prisoners somehow got access to the roof. A situation that should not of been possible. While no news media has yet reported on exactly how this happened it seems quite obvious to this blog based upon available photographic evidence that CCA employees left a ladder unsecured. One could then logically assume that this ladder most likely was how prisoners accessed the roof.

The picture in question was taken by a prisoner spokesperson for the rioting prisoners to prove to the station that they were involved in the riot. It was sent to Jackson, Mississippi station WAPT news (channel 16 locally). The picture clearly shows a metal ladder leaning against the roof of the prison (the actual picture is also posted above this story). The appearance of this ladder in a prisoner taken photographs would appear to be a mystery that needs to be answered. Was this ladder left unsecured? Was it left by staff involved in dealing with the riot?  If staff was using it then why would they do so on a recreation yard filled with prisoners?  It would seem that Adams County Correctional Center Warden Vance Laughlin and CCA have some serious questions to answer on how a metal ladder got onto a recreation yard full of rioting detainees especially since it appears that this same ladder was then used to gain access to an otherwise inaccessible part of the facility where a staff member was murdered. Typically ladders in prisons are chained when not in use. As a tool that could easily enable an escape ladders are generally not used in the immediate area of detainees. The people in Natchez are also very lucky that this ladder was not used by violent prisoners who had just murdered a Correctional Officer to escape from the facility.

The family of the slain officer deserves to know how this happened and why CCA staff did not ensure that this ladder was kept in a more secure environment. While I'm not sure why this young officer was on the roof I'm guessing it was because he was sent to observe the rioting prisoners and report back on there actions. Most likely he had no clue that the prisoners would be able to access the roof and physically assault him in the very brutal attack that led to his death. He probably was unaware that prisoners could get on the roof until he was confronted by them. Based on the prisoner taken photographs it would appear to this blog that Corrections Corporation of America could very easily be negligent in contributing to the death of it's own staff member by not preventing prisoner access to a ladder during a prison riot. Without access to this ladder it's hard to imagine how this young staff member could have been murdered. The family of this correctional officer deserved much better from the company that employed there family member.

This blog continues to call for the resignation of Vance Laughlin.

The full news report from WAPT can be found here.

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.