The man with the plan
- February 18, 2015
- / Shannon Nickinson
- / community-dashboard
Michael Tidwell, 66, has a three-year plan for the Escambia County Jail.
And for a corrections staff that has been buffeted from one crisis to the next in recent years, the sense of stability is sorely needed.
Tidwell has been hired to replace Gordon Pike as the head of the county corrections department at a salary of $115,000.
“With a little continuity, we’ll be fine,” says Tidwell. “I can’t say enough about how proud the community should be of this corrections staff, because despite it all they come to work every day, they put so much into it.”
“It all” includes:
— A U.S. Department of Justice report that found a litany of safety, health and staffing issues at the jail, including the defacto racial segregation of inmates and issues with health-care access and protocol.
— A rocky transfer of power that saw Escambia County commissioners take over control of the jail from the Sheriff’s Office as the result of a political struggle between Sheriff David Morgan and then-County Administrator George Touart.
— A historic rainfall that damaged files and flooded the basement of the Central Booking and Detention Facility overnight on April 29, as well as the county probation office and work release offices.
— The following day, Central Booking exploded, killing two inmates, leaving a corrections officer paralyzed and injuring more than 180 people. Investigators determined a natural gas leak — likely caused when flooding in the basement pulled the natural gas powered dryers away from the wall — caused the explosion.
[caption id="attachment_9683" align="alignright" width="300"]
Investigators determined a natural gas explosion in April that killed 2 and injured more than 180 people at Escambia County jail in Pensacola. (Michael Spooneybarger)[/caption]
— A grand jury investigation into the cause of the explosion at the jail. No charges were recommended, but the grand jurors recommended improved emergency protocols, not rebuilding in the same location and supervision.
“This is not the first jail I’ve been involved in that’s been broken,” Tidwell says, “But this one is not broken by anybody’s design. Simply fate has dealt this agency a blow.
“This agency is really fragile, as a whole it’s been major issue after issue,” he says. “We’re trying to get some control over the issue.”
As for his first impressions of what needs to be addressed in the department, Tidwell says rather than say, “why is it not perfect, I would like to look at it and say if we see something that is not perfect, how quickly can we get it to a place where it is something we can tolerate and then how quickly after that can we get it to a place where it could be perfect. Luckily, I know there’s a process to do that.”
Three-year plan
[sidebar]
Highlights from Tidwell’s career
— Spent 15 years in Prince Georges County, Md., in corrections. He started there as a deputy sheriff. The county there took the jail from the sheriff and he went with the corrections department. When he left he was major in charge of all security operations there.
— Spent a year at the Baltimore City Jail, from 1990-1991. He left that job when the state took over the jail from the mayor, whose budget had a $50 million shortfall.
— Worked in the Virginia Department of Corrections in Greensville, one of the first places in the country that had three facilities in one fence: a state hospital, the state death chamber and the maximum house, the lockup for all offenders who can’t live in other facilities.
Tidwell was a major when he left and ran a unit at the death chamber and a unit at the state hospital.
— Went to private corrections and built a prison in Gadsden County that is now a women’s prison.
— Was St. Louis corrections superintendent for three years. “That was an adventure. We didn’t have enough money to fix the locks on the doors so we painted a line on the floor and told them inmates don’t come across that line. That’s all we had to say.”
And there no incident?
“None,” he said. “They clearly understood. You’re locked in and this is out. And you’re not allowed out.”
— Went to Memphis for eight or nine months when he was offered a job in Osceola County, where he stayed for six years. “That jail was in total disarray. It had imploded.” The issues
included sexual assaults, sexual harassment issues, separation issues related to the county’s takeover of the jail from the sheriff’s office there. “It was totally in disarray.”
“Over a six-year period we got to be recognized as one of the best jails in the state.”
[/sidebar]
Tidwell’s three-year plan focuses first on staff evaluation and training to get the right people in the right place. Year two, typically, involves looking at the physical plant of the facility to see what improvements it needs and by year three, “you stir it all up and (that’s) when you start to see things happening,” he says.
Of course, Tidwell walked into the job knowing he’d be getting a new jail. When Central Booking was rocked by a natural gas explosion on April 30, following the deluge of rain, it was clear a new jail was in the cards.
It won’t be the first new facility Tidwell has seen constructed in 25-year plus corrections career, which began in Prince Georges County, Md.
He comes to Escambia County from a stint overseeing the jail in New Orleans, but his career includes stops in St. Louis, Memphis, Osceola and Orange counties in Florida.
One of the first things he wants to do is train the staff in Crisis Intervention Techniques, a practice that began with the Memphis Police Department, he says. CIT helps law enforcement officers recognize the signs that bizarre or aggressive behavior is linked to mental illness. Some cities, Tidwell says, even give the training to public bus drivers.
“There are certain things when a person is in crisis that you simply should not do,” he says. “It will escalate the situation and de-escalation is what you want.”
One of the aspects of it is using headphones to simulate what it is like to hear voices in your head that are not your own.
“When you have that cacophony going off and you have a corrections or police officer trying to direct you to do something in a very commanding tone, it complicates the situation,” he says.
That’s why in CIT-trained units, you should see virtually no raised voices or yelling; you’ll see guards asking people to do things rather than commanding them to do something.
“That’s a tool that staff should be equipped with,” he says. “We’re going to train as many folks as we can in CIT, bring in a trainer to do this, to help us get to the point that staff and recognize and deal with those type of things.”
Mental health issues key
Tidwell also wants to make sure that the first person someone sees when he or she come into the jail is a nurse who will perform a medical and mental health evaluation.
“Everyone who gets arrested doesn’t go to prison, but everybody goes to jail. And the minute they come across that threshold, they’re ours to deal with,” he says.
Corrections has three mental health professionals on staff every day. Is that enough?
“We all know the answer is no, it’s not,” he says. “It’s truly unfortunate that jails have become the de facto mental health facility. Communities can’t afford to deal with this issue as robustly as the state or other people could.”
He also wants to increase the focus on reducing recidivism (reoffense rate). In his career, Tidwell has seen research indicate that two things heavily influence whether someone will reoffend: Age at first arrest and education level.
Key to addressing that in Escambia County will be looking at ways to bring literacy and job skills training opportunities into the jail.
He wants to look to the National Literacy Association for volunteers to help the inmates who will want to do that as long as “it’s safe and they won’t be laughed at. They can’t tolerate that in jail; it’s a very unforgiving environment. But that’s something we need to try to work toward.”
He has an agreement with the new food vendor Aramark, to provide certifications to inmates who qualify so they can get jobs the food service industry upon release.
“We’ll set some bridges up, here, in Mobile, wherever we can get them a job, that’s what we’re trying to do,” he says.
He is complimentary of the program at the county Road Prison, which includes farming vegetables and tilapia to feed the inmates there, as well as a welding program that teaches job skills.
“That project has grown so sophisticated that inmates who have gotten out who are now in leadership positions in jobs in the community are actually helping other inmates that come out to help in the communities.”
That is something, Tidwell says, the community should be proud of.
He takes umbrage at what he says are the “public statements and perceptions that have been allowed to form around the corrections department.”
[caption id="attachment_10044" align="alignright" width="300"]
Escambia County Jail[/caption]
He says the Justice Department report of 2013, “paints a picture that’s not very pretty. It leads folks to believe that this community is about 25 years behind the curve. In reality (now), that’s not the case.
“We’re not doing anything now that DOJ could come in now and say this is a problem. If there is a problem, it’s a physical plant problem because we’re in a crowded situation and we’re in a crowded situation because we lost 600 beds.”
Building a new jail to replace both the existing, outdated main jail and the destroyed Central Booking is about a 44-month process. In the meantime, Tidwell is working with County Administrator Jack Brown to see what can be done to reduce the cost to the county of housing female inmates in Santa Rosa and Walton county jails.
The tab for that is likely to be $5 million a year, something Tidwell and Brown both acknowledge cannot be sustained over the long term.
Plans call for moving up to 70 inmates to the Road Prison to be housed in beds that are available there. Among that group, those who qualify for the road camp’s programs will be considered as openings arise, Tidwell says.
Tidwell also will pursue a grant from the National Association of Counties that could be used to expand day-reporting facilities in the county.
In the meantime, as county officials move forward on plans to create design-build criteria and select a site for a new jail, Tidwell is urging the public to be patient.
“(The situation) calls for patience, I don’t know what else to say.”
Investigators determined a natural gas explosion in April that killed 2 and injured more than 180 people at Escambia County jail in Pensacola. (Michael Spooneybarger)[/caption]
— A grand jury investigation into the cause of the explosion at the jail. No charges were recommended, but the grand jurors recommended improved emergency protocols, not rebuilding in the same location and supervision.
“This is not the first jail I’ve been involved in that’s been broken,” Tidwell says, “But this one is not broken by anybody’s design. Simply fate has dealt this agency a blow.
“This agency is really fragile, as a whole it’s been major issue after issue,” he says. “We’re trying to get some control over the issue.”
As for his first impressions of what needs to be addressed in the department, Tidwell says rather than say, “why is it not perfect, I would like to look at it and say if we see something that is not perfect, how quickly can we get it to a place where it is something we can tolerate and then how quickly after that can we get it to a place where it could be perfect. Luckily, I know there’s a process to do that.”
Three-year plan
[sidebar]
Highlights from Tidwell’s career
— Spent 15 years in Prince Georges County, Md., in corrections. He started there as a deputy sheriff. The county there took the jail from the sheriff and he went with the corrections department. When he left he was major in charge of all security operations there.
— Spent a year at the Baltimore City Jail, from 1990-1991. He left that job when the state took over the jail from the mayor, whose budget had a $50 million shortfall.
— Worked in the Virginia Department of Corrections in Greensville, one of the first places in the country that had three facilities in one fence: a state hospital, the state death chamber and the maximum house, the lockup for all offenders who can’t live in other facilities.
Tidwell was a major when he left and ran a unit at the death chamber and a unit at the state hospital.
— Went to private corrections and built a prison in Gadsden County that is now a women’s prison.
— Was St. Louis corrections superintendent for three years. “That was an adventure. We didn’t have enough money to fix the locks on the doors so we painted a line on the floor and told them inmates don’t come across that line. That’s all we had to say.”
And there no incident?
“None,” he said. “They clearly understood. You’re locked in and this is out. And you’re not allowed out.”
— Went to Memphis for eight or nine months when he was offered a job in Osceola County, where he stayed for six years. “That jail was in total disarray. It had imploded.” The issues
included sexual assaults, sexual harassment issues, separation issues related to the county’s takeover of the jail from the sheriff’s office there. “It was totally in disarray.”
“Over a six-year period we got to be recognized as one of the best jails in the state.”
[/sidebar]
Tidwell’s three-year plan focuses first on staff evaluation and training to get the right people in the right place. Year two, typically, involves looking at the physical plant of the facility to see what improvements it needs and by year three, “you stir it all up and (that’s) when you start to see things happening,” he says.
Of course, Tidwell walked into the job knowing he’d be getting a new jail. When Central Booking was rocked by a natural gas explosion on April 30, following the deluge of rain, it was clear a new jail was in the cards.
It won’t be the first new facility Tidwell has seen constructed in 25-year plus corrections career, which began in Prince Georges County, Md.
He comes to Escambia County from a stint overseeing the jail in New Orleans, but his career includes stops in St. Louis, Memphis, Osceola and Orange counties in Florida.
One of the first things he wants to do is train the staff in Crisis Intervention Techniques, a practice that began with the Memphis Police Department, he says. CIT helps law enforcement officers recognize the signs that bizarre or aggressive behavior is linked to mental illness. Some cities, Tidwell says, even give the training to public bus drivers.
“There are certain things when a person is in crisis that you simply should not do,” he says. “It will escalate the situation and de-escalation is what you want.”
One of the aspects of it is using headphones to simulate what it is like to hear voices in your head that are not your own.
“When you have that cacophony going off and you have a corrections or police officer trying to direct you to do something in a very commanding tone, it complicates the situation,” he says.
That’s why in CIT-trained units, you should see virtually no raised voices or yelling; you’ll see guards asking people to do things rather than commanding them to do something.
“That’s a tool that staff should be equipped with,” he says. “We’re going to train as many folks as we can in CIT, bring in a trainer to do this, to help us get to the point that staff and recognize and deal with those type of things.”
Mental health issues key
Tidwell also wants to make sure that the first person someone sees when he or she come into the jail is a nurse who will perform a medical and mental health evaluation.
“Everyone who gets arrested doesn’t go to prison, but everybody goes to jail. And the minute they come across that threshold, they’re ours to deal with,” he says.
Corrections has three mental health professionals on staff every day. Is that enough?
“We all know the answer is no, it’s not,” he says. “It’s truly unfortunate that jails have become the de facto mental health facility. Communities can’t afford to deal with this issue as robustly as the state or other people could.”
He also wants to increase the focus on reducing recidivism (reoffense rate). In his career, Tidwell has seen research indicate that two things heavily influence whether someone will reoffend: Age at first arrest and education level.
Key to addressing that in Escambia County will be looking at ways to bring literacy and job skills training opportunities into the jail.
He wants to look to the National Literacy Association for volunteers to help the inmates who will want to do that as long as “it’s safe and they won’t be laughed at. They can’t tolerate that in jail; it’s a very unforgiving environment. But that’s something we need to try to work toward.”
He has an agreement with the new food vendor Aramark, to provide certifications to inmates who qualify so they can get jobs the food service industry upon release.
“We’ll set some bridges up, here, in Mobile, wherever we can get them a job, that’s what we’re trying to do,” he says.
He is complimentary of the program at the county Road Prison, which includes farming vegetables and tilapia to feed the inmates there, as well as a welding program that teaches job skills.
“That project has grown so sophisticated that inmates who have gotten out who are now in leadership positions in jobs in the community are actually helping other inmates that come out to help in the communities.”
That is something, Tidwell says, the community should be proud of.
He takes umbrage at what he says are the “public statements and perceptions that have been allowed to form around the corrections department.”
[caption id="attachment_10044" align="alignright" width="300"]
Escambia County Jail[/caption]
He says the Justice Department report of 2013, “paints a picture that’s not very pretty. It leads folks to believe that this community is about 25 years behind the curve. In reality (now), that’s not the case.
“We’re not doing anything now that DOJ could come in now and say this is a problem. If there is a problem, it’s a physical plant problem because we’re in a crowded situation and we’re in a crowded situation because we lost 600 beds.”
Building a new jail to replace both the existing, outdated main jail and the destroyed Central Booking is about a 44-month process. In the meantime, Tidwell is working with County Administrator Jack Brown to see what can be done to reduce the cost to the county of housing female inmates in Santa Rosa and Walton county jails.
The tab for that is likely to be $5 million a year, something Tidwell and Brown both acknowledge cannot be sustained over the long term.
Plans call for moving up to 70 inmates to the Road Prison to be housed in beds that are available there. Among that group, those who qualify for the road camp’s programs will be considered as openings arise, Tidwell says.
Tidwell also will pursue a grant from the National Association of Counties that could be used to expand day-reporting facilities in the county.
In the meantime, as county officials move forward on plans to create design-build criteria and select a site for a new jail, Tidwell is urging the public to be patient.
“(The situation) calls for patience, I don’t know what else to say.”
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