Social Chat

On February 21st, Michael Mejia shot and killed a Whittier Police Department officer during a traffic stop. Mejia also wounded another Whittier police officer in the shooting and has allegedly been linked to a shooting in the city of Los Angeles. You can read the story by clicking HERE.

This case is interesting because initial reports (by CNN click HERE) proposed that Mejia had just been released from CA State parole a week earlier. However, a local TV station (KTLA 5) has reported that Mejia was not released early, but completed his State ordered time and was no longer on parole. This is where is gets a bit convoluted.

Upon release, Mejia was still on Los Angeles County Probation and had reported to the probation department. The KTLA-5 article reports that he had been jail a couple of times due to probation violations, serving several 10-day jail sentences as sanctions. So while the State of CA Parole Division seems to be “off the hook,” one wonders why Mejia was still on the street, especially since he’d been in an out of trouble since his release.

Of course numerous reasons exist as to why Mejia was not jailed longer (rules of county probation, jail overcrowding, legal issues, etc.).  One thing that seems evident is that a grievous error of judgement occurred from someone in the LA County Probation Department. And this error cost the City of Whittier dearly. I’ll be watching closely over the next weeks to see what comes of this story.

Thoughts?

This week’s blog is an update on the aftermath of the recent Maryland Department of Corrections Prison uprising, hostage ordeal and death of a corrections officer.  Lots of back-n-forth about what or who was at fault. Horrid conditions, lack of officers, you name it. Significant increases in overtime leading to overworked employees, etc. Check out the ARTICLE write down your thoughts.

This week’s ARTICLE from the Beloit News focuses on the status of our State Juvenile Prison. WI Governor Scott Walker’s budget came out last week and includes the budget for Lincoln Hills Juvenile School (I’ve been there, it’s a juvenile prison). Anyway, it seems that the budget proposal for Lincoln Hills is a 1.7 million short of the WI Department of Corrections request. Hmm, interesting…yes, I said 1.7 million dollars short of the requested amount.

This is not the first time (or probably the last) Lincoln Hills has been in the news. You may recall in 2015 that the WI Department of Justice was called in to investigate serious inmate (kids) abuses at Lincoln Hills. The investigation was ultimately turned over to the FBI and is still pending. That said the WI Corrections Secretary Ed Wall resigned as a result of the investigation and was ultimately fired from the DOC (see story HERE).

So no matter your political orientation, a couple of things seem true. First, Lincoln Hills School is a mess. This is WI’s only state prison (I know it’s called a school) for juveniles and the State needs to get things fixed (one might ask what I mean by “fixed”). Second, it is sad that our government seems to be playing politics with the budget for kids who are locked up in a juvenile prison.

Thoughts?

So this story has got to be a nightmare for the State of Delaware for numerous reasons. First, it’s sad anytime an officer loses his/her life in the line of duty. Second one can only imagine how horrible life is for inmates in the Delaware prison system this week, especially for the overwhelming majority of inmates who had nothing to do with the uprising (i.e., inmates at other Delaware prison locations). Last, how about all those recruits going through job training or college graduates contemplating a career with the Delaware Department of Prisons? Yes, a nightmare on all accounts.

That said, hopefully the whole situation (once the story emerges) will serve as teachable moment for all those involved, including the local community, state and nation.

Thoughts?