A growing prisoner population at the John Bell Adult Correctional Facility on St. Croix and chronic understaffing are among the factors contributing to an “unprecedented increase in violence within the facility,” according to the independent monitor’s latest report, filed in U.S. District Court.
The V.I. Bureau of Corrections is under federal supervision pursuant to two separate consent decrees for the St. Thomas jail and the St. Croix prison, formerly known as Golden Grove.
Monitor Kenneth Ray, in a letter to Chief Judge Wilma Lewis that accompanied his latest quarterly report, noted that at the St. Croix prison, “progress remains particularly slow and became unstable during this reporting period. Compliance improved for some of the 123 Substantive Provisions, declined for some, and remained the same for others.”
Of the 123 provisions, 21 are in “sustained compliance,” 18 are in substantial compliance, 71 are in partial compliance, and 13 in non-compliance, according to the report.
“Inadequate staffing levels and obsolete facilities remain predominant and formidable barriers to compliance, timely progress, and for ensuring consistently reliable protection from harm for prisoner, staff, and visitors at the facility,” Ray wrote. “Notwithstanding several problematic findings during this reported period, several provisions did advance and we remain hopeful and optimistic about the territory’s commitment to compliance.”
The U.S. Justice Department has been investigating the prison since 1985, and at the time determined prisoners at Golden Grove were being subjected “to egregious conditions of confinement pursuant to a pattern or practice of constitutional violations.”
The Bureau has struggled ever since to comply with court orders under a consent decree designed to make the prison safer for inmates and staff, which include specific provisions with defined tasks the Bureau must complete.
Ray’s 192-page report details several ongoing issues at the prison, and noted the territory’s hiring of an outside firm to handle consent decree issues.
Ray, in the report, noted that approved orders by the Justice Department are not and cannot be consistently followed by prison staff.
“For example, considerable amounts of dangerous contraband, increasing assaults and batteries on prisoners and staff, chronic staff shortages, significant increases in work-shifts and required security posts not staffed, lack of supervisory oversight, and staff not consistently following security policies and procedures prevent consistent application of the new post orders,” Ray wrote.
He also found that an increasing number of shifts are going unmonitored, although the prison’s staffing level only decreased by one full-time employee, from 61 to 60, between January 2021 and April.
Ray was blunt in his assessment that the prison is a potentially dangerous place for everyone inside.
“Persistent and pervasive actual and potential serious harm to prisoners and staff continues. This risk is amplified by an approximate 64% increase in the average daily prisoner population (ADP) and an approximate 94% increase in the ADP-to-staff ratio since January 2019,” Ray found.
“Reported incidents of violence among prisoners and on staff has also increased as the population has increased and on-duty staffing has decreased,” Ray wrote.
He also noted that “prior and current findings verified, correctional supervisors fail to perform shift rounds and do not reference staff missing rounds in their logbook entries or the corrective actions taken when a missed round occurs. This is extremely problematic.”
For example, an administrative investigation into the Sept. 17 death of 55-year-old Bryan Glasgow due to congestive heart failure found that “Officer #1,” who was assigned to the unit, failed to conduct formal counts at 12 p.m., 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. on Sept. 16.
The officer “made several false logbook entries documenting he conducted headcounts and security checks.”
A staff member identified only as “Supervisor #1” also made a log entry but “never entered” the housing unit and actually checked on prisoners. Another officer assigned to the unit on Sept. 16 “counted Prisoner Glasgow but never opened the cell door to confirm he was counting living, breathing, flesh” during his 12-hour shift .
The staffing challenges have lead to other problems, Ray wrote, citing for example “contraband logs reviewed suggest that searches or detection of contraband is infrequent at the facility and well below that required by policy.”
He added that although the Bureau reported an increase in contraband seizures from searches, “the high volume of seizures results from a single prisoner possessing a high quantity of contraband.”
“Contraband weapons continue to be a primary cause of serious physical injury to prisoners and create untenably dangerous working conditions for all staff,” he wrote.
Prisoners also remain at risk of sexual misconduct, and while the territory is in partial compliance with the provision concerning the Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA, one such “incident in March 2021” at the prison and a self-audit “identified serious deficiencies.”
To date, however, “the Monitoring Team has not received any verification the serious deficiencies identified from the March 2021 PREA incident and PREA Self-Audit had been corrected,” Ray wrote.
Ray also found that the Bureau’s classification of prisoners is also “increasingly problematic,” and a lack of specialized housing space means that detainees with different needs and risks are being improperly housed together.
For example, January’s housing report showed “26 cells with 52 inmates inappropriately double celled because of their classification,” and in one instance “a maximum and minimum classification prisoner double celled together.”
Ray’s report also noted that, “the territory recently retained new counsel to represent its interests in this case and to assist with moving progress stably forward. We look forward to collaborating with new counsel and their team.”
Three attorneys from the firm recently filed appearances in the cases, according to court records.
“The V.I. Department of Justice continues to be the lead counsel in both consent decree matters and controls the direction of both cases,” Bureau spokesman Kyza Callwood said in a statement released in response to questions from The Daily News. “With an eye toward finally resolving these long-standing consent decree cases, DOJ and the Bureau of Corrections jointly retained the law firm of Maynard Cooper Gale, P.C., a law firm with specialized legal expertise in complex prison litigation cases.”
According to Callwood “all work performed by the firm will be under the supervision of DOJ.” He referred the Daily News to Property and Procurement for a copy of the contract “between DOJ, the Bureau, and the firm.” .”
Property and Procurement Commissioner Anthony Thomas has not yet responded to a request for the contract .
