Corrections conversion underway

Above, WKCC will soon be home to female inmates-Rae Wagoner/Herald Ledger

When Bryan Henson assumed the role of warden at West Kentucky Correctional Complex on Sept. 16, 2009, he was prepared for some changes. Small ones, like being called “Warden” and maybe even a better parking spot. Overseeing the exchange of male for female inmates in the first transition of its kind in Kentucky Department of Corrections history less than six months after becoming warden, not so much.
“I have to say that housing female inmates here at WKCC was one thing that had never entered my mind,” he said in a Monday interview.
Henson said the changeover process will be a gradual one, scheduled to begin as early as yesterday (Tuesday) with the transfer of some inmates from WKCC to other facilities without the institution receiving inmates in return. The gradual removal of WKCC’s medium security inmates will take place over time, and the decrease in the ranks of minimum-security inmates will follow.
“We currently have 200 minimum-security inmates and 447 medium-security, and it’s going to take some time to get them transferred to other institutions before we complete the changeover,” Henson said. All the medium-security inmates and about half the minimum-security population will be gone before the first female inmates arrive in the spring. There will be a time period during the transition that will consist of females occupying the medium-security facility (inside the fence) with males in the minimum-security housing outside the fence, but Henson said that would be a very brief overlap and the populations would not be allowed to mix.
“My main concern is reassuring staff that this is going to be OK. We are making history here – this has never been done in Kentucky before, and the commissioner (Corrections Commissioner LaDonna Thompson) and the governor chose our institution out of 13 in the state to make this change,” he said. “This demonstrates their confidence in our ability to be able to deal with this conversion in a professional and effective manner and do what is necessary to minimize the potential for any problems.”
WKCC is the first medium-security facility within the Kentucky Department of Corrections (DOC) to maintain a perfect 100 percent rating in two consecutive American Corrections Association audits, having achieved that score in 2006 and again in 2009. (Audits are not conducted annually.)
Henson explained that the increasing female inmate population means that sector has room for growth and expansion, particularly for minimum-security inmates. Building new prisons is not currently an option because of the high cost, so the DOC began looking for other ways to accommodate this ever-increasing need. The cost of housing male inmates in private prisons the department contracts with is lower than the cost of housing the same number of female inmates, and the exchange of male for female capacity with Otter Creek, a private prison located in Wheelwright, is one way to lessen expense over the long term. In addition, WKCC has room to grow. Situated on 2,450 acres between Eddyville and Fredonia, the complex could easily accommodate several more dormitory-style buildings to house additional inmates as the need continues to increase.
While the move is expected to be cost-neutral in its first year, it is expected to generate savings in subsequent years, said a DOC press release issued on Friday.
In addition to the cost factor, allegations and incidents at Otter Creek contributed to the decision to house female offenders in a state-owned facility rather than a private one, Gov. Steve Beshear said in the same release. Beshear said he will again support legislation in the current session of the General Assembly that would increase the penalty of sexual misconduct by correctional officers and other prison officials from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class D felony. “Such actions not only threaten the safety and well-being of our inmates, but pose significant threat to the security of our institutions,” Beshear said. “There is no place for this behavior in our system.”
Justice and Public Safety Secretary J. Michael Brown said “this move gives us the flexibility to more appropriately manage and supervise our inmate population, particularly our female population, without immediately investing millions of public dollars into expanding or building new prisons.”
Brown added that many of the problems associated with Otter Creek’s management of the female inmates were related to a low staffing level of female correctional officers and that the state facility, which offers better pay, benefits and promotional opportunities, has greater potential for recruiting and hiring women.
“Could some inappropriate behavior or relationships happen between staff and inmates at WKCC?” Henson asked. “Sure – I’m not naive enough to say ‘oh that could never happen here,’ but we are definitely going to do everything we can to keep that from happening, including extensive training for staff to know how to avoid such a situation.”
“There are three key things I want to impress upon the staff here. First, nobody is going to lose their job. Second, there will be training, training, and more training to get ready for this changeover. Staff from our institution will go to KCIW (Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women, located in Pewee Valley) for training, and staff from there will come here to conduct training concurrently. Third, we are not going to put our staff members in a no-win situation. They will know what to do and how to do it before the first female inmate steps foot on the yard,” Henson said.
The intensive training will take place as the inmate population dwindles in preparation for the changeover, Henson said. The lower male population levels will free up staff to concentrate on training and preparing for the female inmates’ arrival.
Chatter among staff has been widespread since the announcement on Friday, and Henson said the majority of what he has heard has been upbeat and open-minded. He anticipates that some staffers will request transfers to other institutions, but said he has already heard from some female staff at Kentucky State Penitentiary and Green River inquiring about the possibility of transferring to WKCC and even one retiree who is interested in rejoining the WKCC workforce.
“Some of the staff is not going to be comfortable with the changeover, and that is to be expected. If a member of our staff really thinks it through and decides ‘this is not for me,’ we’ll see about arranging a transfer to another institution. I hope they’ll think it through and give the idea a chance to settle in, maybe go to the training sessions before they decide for sure,” he said. “I think it’s going to be an historic thing and I hope they’ll stick around to see what happens.
“I think we’ll look back in a year or so, and even several years down the road and know that history was made here, and those of us who were here during the transition will be able to say ‘I was part of that. I helped make that happen.’”
Henson emphasized that the institution will return to business as usual after the transition, and asks that staff be patient during the changeover.
“The warden is learning, too,” he said. “He’s been here 21 years and has never supervised female inmates. I am sure there’s a learning curve. But we’ll learn, and we’ll learn fast.”
One goal for WKCC is to increase its number of female staff. With an all-female inmate population, there are some jobs that will be restricted to female staffers and others that require at least one of the officers assigned a task be female. While he declined to cite a ratio of male to female staff or a minimum number of female staff required to house female offenders, Henson said best practices necessitate a larger number of female staff than are currently on the roster at WKCC.
Anticipated staff transfers from other institutions will jumpstart that change, and the majority of new hires replacing departing or retiring staff will likely be female.
“The inmate details will not change,” Henson stressed. “We will still farm, we will still send a detail to the tree farm and offer inmate detail to the county and the cities. The recycling center will continue to operate. There is no job here at the institution or on any of the details that we provide that a woman can’t do or would be less safe in doing just because of gender.”
Certainly some things will be modified. For instance, American Corrections Association standards mandate that there be one toilet per 12 male inmates, while the toilet-to-inmate ratio for female inmates is one toilet per eight inmates. Until the modification of restroom facilities can be accomplished, WKCC will be limited to 216 inmates inside the fence, because of the number of toilets already in place. As that number rises, the inmate population will rise as well until it achieves normal capacity of 447. In addition, ACA standards mandate that male inmates shower in an open bay with waist-high privacy walls. Female inmates will shower in stalls with curtains.
“These things are important, but we will do what we need to do to maintain security at this institution,” Henson said. “Our officers, male and female, will continue to make rounds and ensure that security levels are kept high.”
The healthcare needs of female inmates differ from those of male inmates, and this issue of The Herald Ledger contains a help-wanted ad for CorrectCare, seeking an ARNP for women’s health issues. Female inmates with major medical concerns or who are pregnant will be housed at KCIW, which has an on-site infirmary, Henson said. Intake and processing, including facility assignment, for female inmates takes place at KCIW. Only about 30 minimum-security inmates are housed there, so the remainder will reside at WKCC.