How Prisons Shirk Their
Responsibilities
By: Ed Keller
The Pennsylvania Department of Imprisonment (called the "DOC")
doesn't teach its people much. It does, however, teach the staff
how to avoid its responsibilities. DOC does so many wrong things
and it must lie so much, that the prison officials need to know
how to dodge themselves out of trouble. Then need to know how
to dodge their duties and obligations.
Like most things about the Pennsylvania Department of Imprisonment and its administrators, it's dishonest and devious. We call it "The Ploy." As with all public servants, employees of the Department of Imprisonment have a few legal obligation. That's what they get paid for - really, overpaid for. For ordinary guards, staying awake most of the time seems to be about all that's really required. A few may have to be able to read and write at least a little. Being a Pennsylvania prison guard is less demanding that being a supermarket bag-boy. You just have to loudly wish that the sick prisoners would die. For the guys in administrative positions in the Department of Imprisonment, there are a few more responsibilities. In real life, prison administrators simply shirk their obligations. They ignore their duties. Because an administrator may be called on to live up to some responsibility or to actually do some little bit of work, the DOC trains its administrators in the fine art of avoiding responsibility. The basic ploy is simple, just place the burden on someone else, just blame the prisoners. We have an example to show you how to use "The Ploy." Recently a prisoner fell. The law clearly requires prison administrators to keep the prison safe. In this instance, the prisoner complained to a so-called deputy superintendent, Mike Wenerowicz. Mike may have very limited talents, but he knows how to employ "The Ploy." He knows how to evade responsibility. The prisoner, who must use a cane, wrote: "I was ordered to the property/security area. As I entered, the floor just inside the door was slick apparently with the residue of ice-melting compound. I slipped and fell against laundry cart that was a hazard sitting beside the doorway. As a result I slightly injured my thumb. I complained vociferously to the guard in the area. He was too busy being flippant to pay much attention. Floors all around the prison including the property/security area should be kept safe and clean, free of hazards." The right answer to this helpful message should have been something like, "Thank you for the information. We'll have the floor cleaned." That's not what one gets from Michael Wenerowicz, a deputy warden expert in "The Ploy." He ignored the issue. He ignored the hazardous floor. He defensively tried to shift the onus or guilt to the prisoner. He answered: 1) Did you sign up for sick call [at a cost of $4]? 2) Did you tell your block CO [guard] about your thumb? 3) Were you watching where you were going? 4) Request noted. You'll notice how the prison administrator never got around to taking responsibility or to correcting a simple problem. Instead of doing his job, he contrived to shift blame and duty to the prisoner/victim. That's "The Ploy" at its finest. "The Ploy" is a defense tactic rooted in fear. If a prison administrator corrects a problem, it admits that there is a problem. That's a sign of weakness. Of course, prison administrators are weak, but to admit it is very frightening to them. They must pretend that what they're doing is right. All along they realize that they are doing evil things - often worse than what the prisoners whom they oppress have done. For a prison administrator like Mike Wenerowicz the standard practice is pass the buck, make it the prisoner's problem, never accept responsibility. The most odd part is that prisoners are required to take responsibility even for many things over which they have no real control, addiction, for example or poverty or race.
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