Corrections Voices: Breaking Down the Wall of Silence In DOC

Jefferson City Correctional Center just experienced the latest in the continuing theme of violence and growing danger coming out of Missouri Prisons. It was reported by local news outlets that a staff member was Recovering after "Allegedly being attacked." As usual, the DOC Spokesperson gave little information and tried to downplay the seriousness of the event. In reality, this is another example of the department not taking staff safety seriously. Fortunately the staff member was not physically harmed and the potential was far worse. An offender who is supposed to be held under strict custody supervision due to a propensity for violence and an "alleged" murder of his cell-mate escaped from a faulty recreation cage and made it all the way to a housing unit at the other end of the camp. This was able to happen due to the lack of staff during the current shortage. As this dangerous and violent offender was roaming free, he encountered a staff member who he took h...

Missouri DOC has a lot of issues to deal with including staff shortages, the constant threat of erupting violence in the prison system, harassment and retaliation issues that seem to be going nowhere and administrative failures which keep the department from making any substantial steps toward improvement. Any addict will tell you that you cannot fix a problem without acknowledging there is one. This is where MODOC gets into trouble. The department has always had an honesty problem. The huge harassment and discrimination issue plaguing DOC is not new, but only in the last couple of years has it received any real national attention. Why? Because the department would not admit that it was happening until they had to. The volume of payouts from the department to victims shows that they were aware of the problem for decades but kept it quiet. This of course was until the Pitch article exposing Corrections harassment and department cover-ups went viral. Once everyone was talking about i...

We have received word that there may be another disturbance taking place in a Missouri Prison. This has yet to be officially confirmed, and if it is true, the Department will do what it can to keep it from the public. We do have good info indicating that there is a disturbance taking place in at least one Missouri Institution. We have made the decision to not release the institution names we are hearing for the safety of those involved if a disturbance is actively in progress. UPDATE: Tipton Correctional Center experienced a Riot leading to damage of at least four housing units and evacuation of staff. Unfortunately the media promotes the narrative of the department without question. You will not hear the word riot on the news. You will only see it referred to as a disturbance. The fact is that staff were evacuated and outside law enforcement was brought in. These are not actions associated with a disturbance but a riot. What we do know is that if riots are actively occurring or imp...