1

          1    HEARINGS ON RAPE AND STAFF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT 

          2                  IN U.S. PRISONS

          3   

          4      Tecumseh State Correctional Institution

          5     Nebraska Department of Correctional Services

          6   

          7           Friday, March 14, 2008; 9:00 a.m.

          8   

          9              U.S. Department of Justice

         10          Office of Justice Programs Building

         11                    810 7th Street

         12           Main Conference Room, Third Floor

         13                   Washington, D.C.

         14   

         15   

         16   PANEL DIRECTORS:

         17   Steve McFarland, Chair

         18   Carroll Ann Ellis

         19   

         20   Reported by:

         21   Warren Brey


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          1                   TABLE OF CONTENTS

          2   WITNESS                                     PAGE

          3   Robert P. Houston, Director, NDCS              4

          4   Rich Brittenham, Major, TSCI                  89

          5   Anton Simon, Lieutenant, TSCI                 89

          6   Brad Hansen, Emergency Preparedness

          7      Coordinator, TSCI                          89

          8   Dave Thomas, Health Service

          9      Administrator, TSCI                        89

         10   Michele Hillman, Unit Administrator,

         11      TSCI                                      228

         12   Bernard Noordhoek, Investigator, NDCI        228

         13   Fred Britten, Warden, TSCI                   117

         14   

         15   

         16   

         17   

         18   

         19   

         20   

         21   


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          1               TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Good morning.  This 

          3   is a continuation of a hearing of the Department 

          4   of Justice's Review Panel on Prison Rape.  My 

          5   name is Steve McFarland, and together with my 

          6   co-panelist, Carroll Ann Ellis, we welcome you.  

          7   Carroll Ann Ellis is the director of the Victim 

          8   Services Division of one of the nation's largest 

          9   police departments, Fairfax County, Virginia, and 

         10   brings a wealth of experience of commitment to 

         11   victims, particularly.  My day job is with the 

         12   Office of the Deputy Attorney General, United 

         13   States Department of Justice.  

         14             A couple of housekeeping matters.  The 

         15   men's room is straight down that hall, behind the 

         16   elevators.  We will take breaks.  If any witness 

         17   needs to clarify or correct or amplify on 

         18   testimony, feel free to do so; you don't need to 

         19   be asked.  If you've already testified and you 

         20   think of something that you wish you had said, to 

         21   correct, we're here to learn and listen, so 


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          1   please feel free.  

          2             If you could be as direct and specific 

          3   to the Tecumseh institution, other than the 

          4   director, of course, who can speak and say 

          5   whatever he wants about the whole system, but 

          6   we're primarily focusing on the problem at 

          7   Tecumseh.  

          8             And, Ms. Ellis, do you have anything 

          9   you wanted to add?  

         10             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Good morning. 

         11   Welcome.  I look forward to your testimony. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  We're privileged to 

         13   have the director of the Nebraska Department of 

         14   Correctional Services, Robert Houston.  Mr. 

         15   Houston, welcome.  

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Good morning.  Thank 

         17   you. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  The floor is yours, 

         19   sir. 

         20             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Well, good.  Well, what

         21   I thought I'd do is just take a couple minutes 


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          1   and tell you a little bit about myself.  You 

          2   received what my testimony is, and so in talking 

          3   to Rob, I can summarize that very quickly, so it 

          4   allows you more time for questioning.  And then I 

          5   thought I'd take a minute and tell you from my 

          6   perspective a little bit about the context of the 

          7   Nebraska Department of Corrections and Tecumseh 

          8   from my perspective, just kind of lay the ground 

          9   rule for subsequent testimony.  

         10             First of all, I serve as corrections 

         11   director.  I was appointed to Governor Heineman's 

         12   cabinet in March of 2005, exactly three years ago, 

         13   today.  And immediately previous to that, I was 

         14   director of the Douglas County Department of 

         15   Corrections, which is the metropolitan of Omaha, 

         16   Nebraska; it's our largest county jail.  The jail 

         17   will house up to 1,400 inmates, and I had just 

         18   right at 500 staff for that responsibility. 

         19             Previous to that, I was assistant 

         20   director, what we now call deputy director of 

         21   corrections, over the Community Corrections 


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          1   Division.  And previous to that, I was a prison 

          2   warden for 11 years of three different 

          3   institutions, two maximum-security and one 

          4   medium-security prison.  

          5             Before that, I was deputy warden of the 

          6   Nebraska State Penitentiary.  And before that, 

          7   I'd started as a county corrections officer in 

          8   Douglas County, where I eventually became 

          9   director, then came to the state system as a 

         10   counselor, worked as a senior counselor, unit 

         11   manager, housing unit administrator, and then the 

         12   associate warden of a new facility, the Omaha 

         13   Correctional Center, before going to that deputy 

         14   director's job at the penitentiary -- or deputy 

         15   warden's job.  

         16             I have both a bachelor's degree and a 

         17   master's degree from the University of Nebraska 

         18   at Omaha and Lincoln.  I became an instructor for 

         19   the University of Nebraska and did that for 20 

         20   years up until I got this job.  We can't have 

         21   outside sources of income, so that ended.  Didn't 


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          1   want to do it for free, so I thought I'd better 

          2   move on to other things.  

          3             I'm currently president of the 

          4   University of Nebraska Criminal Justice 

          5   Scholarship Fund for the university through the 

          6   University of Nebraska Foundation.  I've been an 

          7   auditor since 1990 for the American Correctional 

          8   Association.  I've audited about 45 

          9   penitentiaries and jails throughout the United 

         10   States.  I've done consulting work with the 

         11   National Institute of Corrections, mostly in the 

         12   area of unit management and team building.  

         13             And then I'm currently a member of the 

         14   Nebraska Crime Commission, the Jail Standards 

         15   Board, and then several other state boards that 

         16   came with my appointment as director of 

         17   corrections.  

         18             So that's a little bit about my 

         19   background. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Mr. Houston, I'm 

         21   sorry, did you mention, have you been an actual 


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          1   correctional officer in the course of -- prior to 

          2   being unit manager and housing unit administrator 

          3   and so forth, were you a line officer? 

          4             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes, in the county 

          5   jail. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  At the county jail. 

          7             ROBERT HOUSTON:  When I came to the 

          8   state penitentiary, I was a counselor. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see. 

         10             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  And as far as my 

         11   testimony is concerned, you have it before you.  

         12   I just want to say that I'm very pleased to 

         13   represent my department and to provide 

         14   information in our commitment in support of 

         15   eliminating sexual assault and abuse in Nebraska 

         16   prisons and programs.  

         17             And I can go through this, if you'd 

         18   like, or I can skip it if you'd like, whatever 

         19   you'd like for me to do.  If you'd like me to 

         20   read it into the record, I'd be happy to do that. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  No, it will be 


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          1   included in the record, and we have read it.  

          2   Appreciate it. 

          3             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Okay.  I'll make a 

          4   couple other comments about it.  

          5             Our agency is entirely accredited by 

          6   the American Correctional Association.  We won 

          7   the Eagle Award in 2007.  And virtually every 

          8   program in the prison that we have is accredited, 

          9   including our central office, our training 

         10   academy, industries, parole system, and 

         11   throughout.  

         12             Our ten wardens and deputy director 

         13   personally review and revise policies that 

         14   prohibit sexual assault and abuse.  With the 

         15   American Correctional Association comes the -- we 

         16   review every policy, every procedure, every 

         17   attachment, every year, sometimes throughout the 

         18   year, well, often throughout the year, to make 

         19   certain that our policies are current and up to 

         20   the national standards.  

         21             We are very flexible as a department.  


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          1   We're small.  We have 4,423 inmates currently, 

          2   right at that number, and so with our smallness 

          3   comes our ability to make changes, endorse 

          4   changes, institute policies.  

          5             We'll have things that if they come up 

          6   on Monday as an issue, on Tuesday I meet with my 

          7   executive staff.  On Wednesday, our deputy 

          8   directors can talk directly to their staff, their 

          9   wardens, their program heads.  On Thursday, we 

         10   can see what the feedback is, and on Friday, 

         11   we've got a pretty good idea what we're going to 

         12   introduce on Monday.  So I don't know if that 

         13   gives you an illustration as to how quickly we 

         14   can respond to things. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sounds just like the 

         16   way things work here.

         17             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes, I thought so. 

         18             (Laughter.)

         19             ROBERT HOUSTON:  And the colleagues I 

         20   bring with me today are Tony Simon, who you'll 

         21   meet, and he's our second shift lieutenant.  He's 


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          1   also on our honor team and does outstanding in 

          2   both his responsibilities as lieutenant and being 

          3   a part of the spirit of our department.  

          4             Benny Noordhoek and I have worked 

          5   together for years.  He's our investigator, and 

          6   you'll meet him shortly.  

          7             Michele Hillman comes to us, and I 

          8   believe Michele has about ten years of 

          9   experience, right at ten years of experience, and 

         10   she is now recently promoted to unit 

         11   administrator, and we're excited to have her in 

         12   that capacity.  

         13             Rich Brittenham has been with Tecumseh 

         14   ever since it opened, and Rich and I worked at 

         15   the penitentiary together, and he's back at the 

         16   penitentiary as captain.  He found that commuting 

         17   two hours a day after seven years gets to be a 

         18   little weary and so forth. 

         19             Brad Hansen is here, and Brad and I 

         20   have worked together for nearly 30 years, and 

         21   he's our investigator -- or the head of 


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          1   investigations -- and he's over, also, our teams 

          2   that have to do with SART, and also our SERT 

          3   teams, which we use in emergencies.  

          4             And then, of course, the TSCI warden, 

          5   Fred Britten, is here today, and Fred and I have 

          6   worked together for a little over 30 years, and 

          7   he and I worked at the penitentiary together and 

          8   have worked at other facilities together.  

          9             So what you're going to find is, is 

         10   that the staff all the way down the line not only 

         11   are very experienced corrections practitioners, 

         12   but also have been with Tecumseh literally since 

         13   it opened and watched the development.  

         14             Now, to tell you a little bit about 

         15   Nebraska, I think, to -- I'm sorry.  And I missed 

         16   Dave Thomas.  Dave is --

         17             I don't know why I don't have you on -- 

         18   I do have you on here and I walked right over 

         19   you.  

         20             Dave is the head of our health services 

         21   at Tecumseh, and he is with Correctional Care 


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          1   Solutions, and is also from -- not only is he 

          2   responsible for medical, but he's from that area 

          3   of the state, so he knows that area of the state 

          4   very well.  He has a good educational background, 

          5   and we truly enjoy having him on staff and having 

          6   Correctional Care Solutions as our medical 

          7   provider.  

          8             Of our ten facilities, only one of them 

          9   has a medical provider, and that's Tecumseh.  

         10   Now, over the last couple of years, we've had 

         11   other contractors.  We don't have a bias towards 

         12   or against having contractors as well as our own 

         13   staff for different areas.  

         14             We had a private provider for our 

         15   education, and we've gone to self-operate.  We've 

         16   had a private vendor for our food service at 

         17   Tecumseh, and we've now going to self-operate 

         18   with food service.  

         19             We have not made that decision with 

         20   Correctional Care Solutions, because we find that 

         21   their services are excellent.  They're able to 


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          1   provide us with professionals, such as Dave, that 

          2   we wouldn't be able to do using our existing 

          3   personnel system and limitations by our union 

          4   contract and how we compensate people to get the 

          5   best talented people in medical.  

          6             So a little more introduction than you 

          7   needed there, Dave, but I thought I would make up 

          8   for it with overkill.  

          9             Now, Nebraska, just to give you a 

         10   little context about Nebraska, and I talked about 

         11   the small size of the institution -- or of our 

         12   department.  You probably this morning drove by 

         13   more people to get here than we have in the state 

         14   of Nebraska.  We have about 1.7 million 

         15   Nebraskans.  Nearly all of them -- not nearly all 

         16   of them, but well over half are from Lincoln 

         17   East, which is the last 60 miles of a nearly 

         18   500-mile across state.  

         19             Our third largest city in Nebraska is 

         20   Memorial Stadium on football day.  So that gives 

         21   you an idea as to how small our state is.  


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          1             Our small towns, and this is going to 

          2   relate to Tecumseh and why Tecumseh was built in 

          3   Tecumseh.  Our small towns are even smaller than 

          4   they were in the 1950s, and that's of great 

          5   concern to those of us in Nebraska, because we 

          6   want to have our small towns to have larger 

          7   populations, to retain the people that graduate 

          8   from our high schools.  Our high schools have 

          9   rodeo teams as well as football teams and 

         10   basketball teams, to tell you that we do have a 

         11   western influence.  

         12             Our incarceration rate is one of the 

         13   very lowest in the nation.  I think we're about 

         14   44th there.  

         15             We're able to make changes relatively 

         16   quickly.  Our community corrections resources in 

         17   Nebraska are growing at a very rapid pace.  By 

         18   that is, we're putting day reporting centers 

         19   across the state that are accessible not only to 

         20   probationers who are convicted of felonies, but 

         21   also for our inmate population that then becomes 


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          1   parolees and goes into our community centers -- 

          2   are able to access those community centers.  And 

          3   so we've really had an increase in our resources 

          4   available to us in the community.  We've had a 

          5   flat prison population.  We're trying to lessen 

          6   our reliance in Nebraska upon incarceration.  

          7             As an agency, we are really kind of a 

          8   big fish in a small role, in that we are the 

          9   second-largest agency in the state.  We're the 

         10   very largest criminal justice agency in the State 

         11   of Nebraska.  

         12             The media, we have media contacts every 

         13   day.  They're very interested in what we do.  And 

         14   when we have media contacts, they're usually very 

         15   positive media contacts, or at least very 

         16   informative media contacts.  

         17             We have inspections in our prisons 

         18   literally every day.  Whether it's the American 

         19   Correctional Association, our internal audits, 

         20   which we consider are more rigorous than our 

         21   external audits.  Health inspections.  We have 


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          1   the State ombudsman's office that is under the 

          2   legislature, and they have staff, their sole job 

          3   is to look after our 2,375 staff and 4,400 

          4   inmates, and so we're under their close eye every 

          5   day.  

          6             We have State senators who are very 

          7   interested in what we do, who have been very 

          8   supportive, especially recently, in their support 

          9   of the department, the interests that we're 

         10   pursuing.  

         11             We include the people that can be in a 

         12   position to be adverse, but we don't see them 

         13   as adverse; we want to make them part of our 

         14   department, and we've done so in the past three 

         15   years, and it's been very productive.  

         16             In fact, Fred Britten sits on the 

         17   administrative confinement team that included 

         18   people from the legislature, included senators 

         19   and their aides on that committee, and we changed 

         20   how we do administrative confinement, how we make 

         21   decisions to put people on administrative 


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          1   confinement, how we make decisions to keep people 

          2   on administrative confinement, and also how we 

          3   transition them out into general population.  

          4             In fact, we started a transition unit 

          5   so that the inmates can move out into the 

          6   population in a way that not only works for us as 

          7   far as how we make our decisions, but also how 

          8   the inmates can be introduced to the population 

          9   so they can make their decisions or come to peace 

         10   with people that they may have had conflicts with 

         11   in the prison population.  

         12             In July 2009, we will have nearly 150 

         13   psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, mental 

         14   health workers, and substance abuse workers for 

         15   that small population of 4,400.  We are extremely 

         16   well resourced and will become even better 

         17   resourced when it comes to dealing with the 

         18   mental challenges, with the anger challenges of 

         19   the inmates that we have in our population.  

         20             By the end of 2008, we will have ten 

         21   percent of our inmate population at any one time 


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          1   in a residential substance abuse bed.  We will 

          2   have another 20 percent at any one time involved 

          3   in an outpatient treatment.  

          4             What we've done is, we've looked at how 

          5   we deliver our mental health and substance abuse 

          6   services, and we have looked at the top of the 

          7   pyramid so that we now dedicate our resources to 

          8   those people that have the most severe problems, 

          9   those people that have the greatest addiction, 

         10   that have the greatest addiction combined with 

         11   their behavior, whether that be violent behavior 

         12   or repetitive behavior, and concentrate our 

         13   resources in that way -- and taking advantage of 

         14   what I described earlier, and that is, the 

         15   community resources that have come up and are 

         16   coming up on board, so that we can move those 

         17   people who we consider to be of less of a risk 

         18   into the community and through those resources so 

         19   that we have a safer Nebraska.  

         20             By the end of 2008, we will have an 

         21   acute mental healthcare unit for our department, 


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          1   and that will be located at the Lincoln 

          2   Correctional Center.  And the reason we're having 

          3   it there is that it puts it in Lincoln, where 

          4   we're better resourced when it comes to mental 

          5   health professionals and so forth.  

          6             Every year we have thousands of 

          7   visitors, professionals and volunteers, who spend 

          8   thousands of hours with our inmate population.  

          9             When inmates write my office, which 

         10   they do often, we make certain that they get a 

         11   very detailed, very supportive answer regardless 

         12   of what their question is.  We have people that 

         13   write us four and five times a week, and if you 

         14   looked over even the people who they know well at 

         15   Tecumseh that write four or five times a week 

         16   about the smallest of things, they still get very 

         17   detailed, very respectful answers to their 

         18   inquiries.  

         19             We routinely call upon the National 

         20   Institute of Corrections.  Whenever the manual 

         21   comes out, we go through it, we go through it 


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          1   with our deputy director, Robin Spindler, and we 

          2   tag every single program that NIC offers, and if 

          3   we qualify for it, we either have a team or 

          4   individuals lined up to apply for every program 

          5   that NIC offers.  

          6             We use LETRA out of California for our 

          7   emergency procedures.  Brad Hansen will speak to 

          8   that, which includes our emergency staff 

          9   services, and also our intent to make certain 

         10   that we spread those types of services for our 

         11   inmate population if they become victims of 

         12   violence or sexual assault or sexual abuse.  

         13             The Criminal Justice Institute in 

         14   Connecticut, we do a lot of work with them, as 

         15   we'll talk about.  As we implemented our 

         16   classification system, it is both sensitive to 

         17   gender and to risk factors as we move people 

         18   through the system based upon science rather than 

         19   on what we think the factors are, and moving 

         20   people into the Nebraska community.  

         21             We also call upon the University of 


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          1   Nebraska.  As you can imagine from my connection 

          2   there, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and 

          3   the Lincoln campus are these are -- things that 

          4   used to be that it would be kind of fun to have 

          5   them out.  Now they're an integral part of our 

          6   operations.  

          7             We just went to self-operate with 

          8   education.  We've become a certified school.  We 

          9   have a certified high school at our youth 

         10   facility.  I've become superintendent of schools 

         11   now.  And we make certain that we have the best 

         12   education program we possibly can.  And we've now 

         13   become -- University of Nebraska at Omaha has 

         14   become a contractor to that, and they're going 

         15   statewide to look at all of our prisons, at our 

         16   education programs, so that everything we do, 

         17   every breath we take, is geared towards reentry 

         18   back into the community.  

         19             We take great pride in transparency, 

         20   and hopefully you're going to see that today, as 

         21   we build practices around this reality.  As I 


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          1   indicated, we are kind of a big fish in a small 

          2   pool, so we're looked at, especially our budget 

          3   is looked at, and that's what we're kind of 

          4   going through now, is our budgetary process, but 

          5   everything we do is really looked at from a lot 

          6   of ways.  

          7             We spend a lot of time with family and 

          8   friends.  I'm going to participate in a seminar 

          9   here in a couple weeks with family and friends of 

         10   inmates, and it will be an all-day program of 

         11   which we'll participate throughout the day.  

         12             We're taking what we consider to be the 

         13   head of the pack as far as complying with 

         14   principles and practices of PREA.  There's a lot 

         15   of things, a lot of language and so forth that 

         16   we're putting into place.  A lot of things we've 

         17   done, either in relationship to PREA or because 

         18   of PREA, to make certain that we're where we need 

         19   to be.  

         20             A few comments on Tecumseh and then 

         21   I'll leave it open for questions.  


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          1             Tecumseh is one of the facilities I 

          2   have not worked in.  I was here when Tecumseh 

          3   opened, with the department, working as a warden 

          4   in another facility.  I went to the Douglas 

          5   County Department of Corrections for two years 

          6   and then came back, and I can see a marked 

          7   difference in Tecumseh, having been gone for that 

          8   period of time and then coming back.  

          9             And I think a general way of saying it 

         10   is, is that when I left and Tecumseh had just 

         11   opened, the expectations that we had came to be 

         12   true; and that is, whenever we open new 

         13   institutions -- I was part of the opening of the 

         14   Omaha Correctional Center, the Lincoln 

         15   Correctional Center; I went to the youth facility 

         16   a year after it had opened; I went to Douglas 

         17   County for the opening of nearly a $60 million 

         18   addition and the hiring of a lot of staff; also 

         19   went to the penitentiary in 1981 when we expanded 

         20   that into the new prison that we have; and we 

         21   know that when we open up institutions, there's a 


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          1   lot of processes, a lot of development, that 

          2   natural development that happens.  

          3             Opening Tecumseh with 500 staff, nearly 

          4   500 staff, in a rural part of Nebraska, not too 

          5   far from Omaha, not too far from Lincoln, is a 

          6   very large challenge that you're going to find 

          7   today, a lot of new staff.  

          8             But the difference I saw was that the 

          9   first couple years that Tecumseh was open, the 

         10   inmates would come up and say, this is what we 

         11   need; this is what we don't have.  And they're 

         12   making a comparison between what they had at the 

         13   penitentiary.  When I came back, the inmates 

         14   started saying, this is what I need.  

         15             And I think that's significant, because 

         16   as the institution developed and as the programs 

         17   got better, and as the staff became more 

         18   confident in what they do, and the small amount 

         19   of staff that had experience in prisons, which I 

         20   think Fred will testify to, is about 20 percent, 

         21   started growing larger and larger, Tecumseh 


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          1   became more like our other institutions.  And so 

          2   it's been quite a maturization, a maturity 

          3   process that they've undergone.  

          4             We expected to have a high turnover at 

          5   Tecumseh, and that came to be.  We had the same 

          6   thing at every institution that we opened, a high 

          7   turnover rate when it started, because we'd get 

          8   some very good people, but prison work was just 

          9   not for them, and they would come and they would 

         10   go.  

         11             In fact, it was even hard -- it's even 

         12   hard to keep track of the turnover, because if 

         13   you have a personnel number 3334 and it turns 

         14   over during the year, you can see that that 

         15   position turned over.  We've had some position 

         16   numbers that have turned over twice during the 

         17   year and three times during the year, people 

         18   finding that this business is just not for them. 

         19             But that's because things have to be 

         20   built around the opening of that institution.  

         21   Things that are in place at the penitentiary and 


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          1   at other institutions, as Tecumseh opened, were 

          2   not in place there.  

          3             So if a new staff member starts at the 

          4   penitentiary, they're going to be working around 

          5   people that have been there for 15 and 20 years.  

          6   If a new person starts at a developing 

          7   institution, whether that be OCC when it started 

          8   or Tecumseh when it started, they're going to be 

          9   learning from somebody that has about six or 

         10   eight months of experience.  They're going to be 

         11   learning from people who are surrounded by people 

         12   whose corrections experience goes back months or 

         13   maybe a couple years.  

         14             And what is really significant, even 

         15   more significant, is a culture that has to 

         16   develop when you open a new institution.  

         17             So I wanted to spend quite a bit of 

         18   time talking about the groundwork at Tecumseh as 

         19   it relates to the PREA study.

         20             Tecumseh has very dedicated, 

         21   hard-working Nebraskans, with the Nebraska value 


                                                                       28

          1   system, handling the most difficult inmates that 

          2   we have.  The facility that you've picked is the 

          3   facility where we have transferred the most 

          4   difficult inmates in our system.  And it's not 

          5   like, although we would like to say, but Fred 

          6   probably knows, that we didn't take it easy on 

          7   Tecumseh when we opened Tecumseh.  They started 

          8   out with the most difficult inmates.  

          9             If we were to redraft that, we'd 

         10   probably start out with inmates that would not be 

         11   as great a challenge to that department.  If we 

         12   were to do it again, I would think we would make 

         13   certain that we had plenty of jobs for the 

         14   inmates to do before we sent the inmates down 

         15   there.  So, less challenging inmates, more jobs 

         16   for them, I think, would have been a better way 

         17   to go when we first opened Tecumseh.  Now, that's 

         18   been several years ago, and a lot of maturing 

         19   since then, but nonetheless, if we were to 

         20   redraft that, I think that would be part of our 

         21   redraft.  


                                                                       29

          1             The last thing I have is, is that 

          2   Nebraska prisons, and more specifically to 

          3   include Tecumseh, you would find when you go 

          4   through it that they're very clean, that it's 

          5   very orderly.  We receive very high marks, as 

          6   Fred will talk about, from national auditors, 

          7   whether they be NIC people coming through, or the 

          8   American Correctional Association, the 

          9   consultants we have and the experts, that we take 

         10   great pride in our Nebraska prisons and try to 

         11   keep them clean and orderly and well managed and 

         12   very humane.  

         13             So I'll leave it at that. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Thank you, Mr. 

         15   Director.  

         16             Have you had an opportunity to read the 

         17   Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report that 

         18   was issued on December 16, 2007, about sexual 

         19   victimization in state and federal prisons 

         20   reported by inmates? 

         21             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 


                                                                       30

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And do you 

          2   believe it? 

          3             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Well, --

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  With respect to 

          5   Tecumseh? 

          6             ROBERT HOUSTON:  One of the figures 

          7   that's in here is that the -- on page 5, the 

          8   Table 5 indicates number of incidents per 1,000 

          9   inmates, and the number came up 869.  Now, I 

         10   would not think that that number would apply to 

         11   Tecumseh.  The error rate was very high. 

         12             One of the things that Rich Brittenham 

         13   will talk about is, if we were to redraft this, 

         14   we would probably give the inmates no choice 

         15   about showing up to talk to the surveyors.  The 

         16   inmates were given a choice.  They could tell the 

         17   correction officer, no, I don't want to go over 

         18   there.  If we were to redraft this, we'd have 

         19   made certain they went over there and told the 

         20   surveyors, no, I wish not to participate, after 

         21   they found out exactly what it was about.  So I 


                                                                       31

          1   think if more inmates would have shown up, that 

          2   the figures would be different.  

          3             Now, we had Indiana in here yesterday, 

          4   and I believe their survey indicated that there 

          5   was about 79 percent of the inmates showed up, 

          6   and they came out about the same as we did.  So I 

          7   don't know that it would have made a difference, 

          8   but it probably would have.  But we take no issue 

          9   with this report.  

         10             I think our job today is to make it 

         11   very difficult for you to find something that we 

         12   need to do that we're unwilling to do.  You're 

         13   just not going to find it. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's great. 

         15             ROBERT HOUSTON:  So you're going to 

         16   have to work hard. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Well, that's 

         18   refreshing.  So when you were referring to a high 

         19   error rate, what you meant was that it had a 

         20   lower response rate than Indiana's and some 

         21   others. 


                                                                       32

          1             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Exactly, yes. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Because as I 

          3   understand it, BJS, this NIS survey, which is the 

          4   most comprehensive and scientifically accurate 

          5   survey in our nation's history of this issue, 

          6   opined that there is a 95 percent probability 

          7   that the number of sexual -- the prevalence of 

          8   sexual victimization at Tecumseh is between 9 1/2 

          9   or 9.4 and 17.4 percent of the population.  So 

         10   that's including the error rate, the range of 

         11   error between plus or minus 4, so it could be as 

         12   low as 9.4 percent, as high as 17.4 percent, 95 

         13   percent sure that that's the case.  

         14             So I take it from your remarks that 

         15   even if it was as low as 9.4 percent, that's a 

         16   serious problem that has your attention? 

         17             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  This report has 

         18   our full attention. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  What has been done, 

         20   if anything, since this was released three months 

         21   ago to address the apparent problem at Tecumseh? 


                                                                       33

          1             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Well, now, one thing I 

          2   will say is, I know that as we talk today about 

          3   the incidents that are actually reported to us, 

          4   that's what we know, and that number is much more 

          5   modest than the numbers would indicate in this 

          6   report. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I'm sorry, which 

          8   number? 

          9             ROBERT HOUSTON:  I said the numbers 

         10   that have been actually reported to us. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, okay, yes. 

         12             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Is a much more modest 

         13   number than what the inmates indicate in this 

         14   report.  

         15             And to answer your question about what 

         16   we've done since the report, I think it's 

         17   probably -- and I gave a little bit of background 

         18   going back to 2001 about the development of 

         19   Tecumseh.  We see Tecumseh as an ongoing process, 

         20   just like all of our other institutions that are 

         21   more mature, and I think as we go through the 


                                                                       34

          1   day, you're going to see that a lot has been done 

          2   previous to 2006, and continues on.  

          3             The most significant thing most 

          4   recently, this made a big difference at Tecumseh, 

          5   has to do with staffing.  When we started --

          6             Fred, would that have been a year and a 

          7   half ago, with our vacancies?  

          8             FRED BRITTEN:  Yeah, a little over a 

          9   year ago. 

         10             ROBERT HOUSTON:  A little over a year 

         11   ago, we had 77 vacancies at Tecumseh.  Now, if 

         12   you can imagine, and that's among our corrections 

         13   officers, that when they're not there, we've got 

         14   to get somebody else there.  We just had 

         15   thousands and thousands and thousands of hours of 

         16   mandatory overtime.  That number has been cut in 

         17   half to where we now have about 35 or so 

         18   vacancies at Tecumseh. 

         19             I was down to Tecumseh about a month 

         20   ago and one of the staff members came up and 

         21   said, Director, one time.  I said, one time what?  


                                                                       35

          1   She says, I've only been mandatory one time in 

          2   the past six months.  

          3             And what staff is able to do now is, 

          4   they're able to volunteer for their overtime, and 

          5   then they go to the bottom of the list, and since 

          6   we don't have the big numbers that we used to 

          7   have, staff can really pick when they work their 

          8   overtime to make up for the shortages of those 35 

          9   staff.  And so if your son has a baseball game or 

         10   you have something going on, you can have some 

         11   prediction to your life that you couldn't have 

         12   before. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  When we're talking 

         14   about overtime, are we talking about back-to-back 

         15   eight-hour shifts? 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay. 

         18             ROBERT HOUSTON:  We're talking about 

         19   16-hour days.  And much of that, when we can, is 

         20   now a 12-hour day, where somebody will come in 

         21   four hours early to meet somebody who stayed four 


                                                                       36

          1   hours later.  And so we've been able to, even 

          2   though we have quite a bit of overtime, it's at 

          3   the staff's choosing, it's at a more reasonable 

          4   level, and it's managed in a way that allows 

          5   people to live their life. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Why do you think you 

          7   have such a high turnover rate among your staff 

          8   at Tecumseh? 

          9             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Well, I think part of 

         10   it is the newness of the institution that I 

         11   described earlier.

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And when did it open, 

         13   I'm sorry? 

         14             ROBERT HOUSTON:  2001.  But part of it 

         15   is, is kind of the dog chasing the tail, in that 

         16   staff come in and all of a sudden they start 

         17   working all this overtime, and really in an 

         18   environment that they're not familiar with, and 

         19   they think it's really stressful to work eight 

         20   hours, and now they're working sixteen hours, and 

         21   they can't hang with all that overtime and so 


                                                                       37

          1   they move along.  Well, that just creates more 

          2   overtime for other people to be concerned about. 

          3             So about a year, a little over a year 

          4   ago, we put together a Blue Ribbon Panel, where 

          5   we took this to be State ownership, and so the 

          6   director of administrative services, the director 

          7   of banking, who's from that area, the director of 

          8   health and human services, the State personnel, 

          9   we meet every other month and look at Tecumseh 

         10   and to look at what our staffing is, how we can 

         11   retain staff and how we can recruit staff to that 

         12   part of the State.  

         13             And as we go through that month by 

         14   month, and Tecumseh staff have just been 

         15   outstanding in implementing everything that is 

         16   suggested to them, and then even going beyond 

         17   that and then report back to the committee, a lot 

         18   of things have happened.  

         19             One is, we've cut in half the number of 

         20   vacancies.  Number two, the statewide feeling 

         21   that comes to the facility, although it was good, 


                                                                       38

          1   is great now.  It's always been good, but this 

          2   takes it up even further.  And the feeling that 

          3   our agency has, our cabinet members, have about 

          4   the personnel staff at Tecumseh, the people that 

          5   you have here today, has just gone up the scale 

          6   incredibly. 

          7             And so, I don't know if I'm losing my 

          8   point on the answer to the question, but that's 

          9   probably the biggest single improvement, because 

         10   it's really kind of the underlying tone and run 

         11   of the institutions that's the most critical.

         12             The other thing is, is that we look at 

         13   culture all the time and we talk about culture.  

         14   Our former director, Harold Clarke, was our 

         15   director for nearly 16 years, and he just had 

         16   outstanding leadership.  We're a State where the 

         17   director of corrections is expected to be a 

         18   correctional professional and not someone who's 

         19   appointed.  

         20             And we've enjoyed that, we've enjoyed 

         21   that throughout Harold's tenure, and Frank Gunner 


                                                                       39

          1   before him, in that we have corrections 

          2   professionals and not people unfamiliar with 

          3   corrections that are running corrections.  Harold 

          4   was able to put us in a position where we had 

          5   both the resources and the culture, the training, 

          6   skills, and so forth, that we need to be a 

          7   successful department.  

          8             My job has been to carry on that 

          9   mission and take us even further in bringing the 

         10   nation's best approaches to promising practices 

         11   to the department. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So I can take it, 

         13   because Tecumseh has, as you put it, the most 

         14   difficult inmates, that it's kind of a volatile 

         15   mix to have your maximum security, highest, most 

         16   challenging inmates together with a staff that is 

         17   inordinately tired and overworked? 

         18             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  If you take the 

         19   combination of the most difficult inmates, the 

         20   newest staff, working a lot of overtime, trying 

         21   to accomplish a tremendous task of providing a 


                                                                       40

          1   safe environment, that is a very hard mixture of 

          2   things.  

          3             Now, that has changed considerably from 

          4   2001 forward.  If you go in the institution now, 

          5   as the auditors do, in 2008, you go, wow.  If you 

          6   look at the relationship, if you just watch the 

          7   staff and how they interact with the inmates 

          8   throughout the Department of Corrections, is the 

          9   first thing that auditors talk about, is they 

         10   can't believe at such a high security there would 

         11   be such tension-free conversations between the 

         12   staff and inmates.  

         13             And when I talked about jobs earlier, 

         14   is that a lot of comments that inmates make come 

         15   out of idleness, and they didn't have a lot to 

         16   do.  Some of these inmates that came to Tecumseh 

         17   were making a dollar eight an hour; and they came 

         18   to Tecumseh the next day, they're making a dollar 

         19   twenty-five a day.  Well, that makes a big 

         20   difference in what their attitude is.  And so we 

         21   really didn't do Tecumseh a lot of favor by not 


                                                                       41

          1   having good jobs down there for them, to begin 

          2   with, but that was the bigger thing.  That was 

          3   certainly something that Director Clarke was well 

          4   aware of and really tried to do everything he 

          5   could and everything we could to get as many jobs 

          6   down there as possible.  

          7             But one of the challenges we have in 

          8   getting jobs down there, at the penitentiary we 

          9   were able to have a lot of private employers come 

         10   in, because they're right there in Lincoln, it's 

         11   a metropolitan, they can come and go.  Even 

         12   though we have all the work ethic and work group 

         13   and everything else at Tecumseh, it's hard to get 

         14   private employers to do business 70 miles away 

         15   from a metropolitan area, so that is a challenge.  

         16   So as a result, we've had to put more public 

         17   operations down there than private operations.  

         18   And we now have a wood factory that's starting to 

         19   come up online that will employ 40 more inmates. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Wood factory? 

         21             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Wood. 


                                                                       42

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Cabinetry? 

          2             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Cabinetry, exactly.  

          3   And we have a laundry operation down there.  

          4             And how many people do we have? 

          5             FRED BRITTEN:  About 85. 

          6             ROBERT HOUSTON:  About 85 that work in 

          7   the laundry operation, and those are very good 

          8   jobs, that pay hourly wages rather than daily 

          9   wages.  

         10             And so the future is very bright for 

         11   Tecumseh, and getting brighter each day, as 

         12   you'll find out, but it is very much -- the 

         13   challenge we put to Tecumseh right from the 

         14   beginning has been tremendous. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Mr. Director, 

         16   one of the documents that you were kind enough to 

         17   provide the Panel is Administrative Regulation 

         18   203.11, a six-page regulation with a number of 

         19   exhibits or attachments, and it is marked 

         20   confidential, limited distribution, not to be 

         21   disseminated to inmates.  


                                                                       43

          1             I take it -- well, let me ask you, how 

          2   can we ask you questions about this that you'd be 

          3   comfortable with, insofar as this will be a 

          4   public record and we are planning on posting the 

          5   transcript as well as the video of this on our 

          6   Web site, so I doubt that your inmates have 

          7   access to the Web site, and they may not find the 

          8   transcript to be great reading, but nevertheless, 

          9   I want to respect, this document is your sexual 

         10   assault policy, is it not? 

         11             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  And it's marked 

         12   that way right now because it's a fairly new 

         13   policy.  Going to the front page, you can see the 

         14   effective date was March 31st of 2005. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes. 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  And I would think that 

         17   one of the things is, we're making a checklist of 

         18   things we learn out of today.  I would say that 

         19   probably the next time we review this, we'll take 

         20   that off of there, we'll put it in the inmate 

         21   libraries, so you can say or do anything you want 


                                                                       44

          1   about this. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great. 

          3             ROBERT HOUSTON:  I've been through 

          4   this, as you can imagine, several times in 

          5   preparation for today, and we want the inmates to 

          6   know what's expected of staff and what we're 

          7   going to do, and so --

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And you want your 

          9   staff to know that, too. 

         10             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Absolutely.  And so I 

         11   would say that the only reason that we have that 

         12   on there is because it's a new policy, and we 

         13   will change that. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  I just wanted 

         15   to be respectful of your wishes.  And so if 

         16   there's any question that you don't want on a 

         17   public record, we can go offline, so just 

         18   indicate that.  Otherwise, I'll just proceed to 

         19   ask some questions about this policy.  Is that 

         20   all right? 

         21             ROBERT HOUSTON:  I think you're going 


                                                                       45

          1   to be hard-pressed to find something we're not 

          2   going to want public, so. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  In 

          4   reading the definitions in this Administrative 

          5   Regulation 203.11, the definition of completed 

          6   inmate-on-inmate nonconsensual sexual acts is 

          7   described, as well as inmate-on-inmate abusive 

          8   sexual contacts, and both of them have the phrase 

          9   "without his or her consent."  As the director, 

         10   do you permit inmate-on-inmate consensual sexual 

         11   activity at Tecumseh? 

         12             ROBERT HOUSTON:  No. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So you would be open 

         14   to clarifying this policy that, with or without, 

         15   quote, consent, sexual activity, be it the sexual 

         16   acts or the sexual contacts, are prohibited.  Is 

         17   that fair? 

         18             ROBERT HOUSTON:  That's very fair. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay. 

         20             ROBERT HOUSTON:  And that's in our 

         21   history.  What we also submitted was our inmate 


                                                                       46

          1   rulebook, and one of the -- a Class 1 offense is 

          2   sex, sexual behavior, and so in here we're being 

          3   a little more definitive, and I think that we can 

          4   change this language, but in our rulebook, 

          5   you'll see sexual activities, and it does not 

          6   give any permissions, it doesn't give any 

          7   permissions for consensual sex or sex of any 

          8   sort. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So you don't want 

         10   your staff to be in the position of having to try 

         11   to determine whether what's going on in the 

         12   bathroom between those two inmates is consensual.  

         13   You're just going to say, none of it; that is an 

         14   administrative disciplinary violation.  Is that 

         15   correct? 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  The only reason 

         17   we would look to see whether or not there's some 

         18   compliance by the other person is trying to 

         19   figure out what sanction, what separation to 

         20   make. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's the only 


                                                                       47

          1   thing that's germane. 

          2             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Exactly. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  Thank you.  

          4   Mr. Director, as you know, the BJS found that by 

          5   far the biggest aspect of the problem at Tecumseh 

          6   is staff-on-inmate sexual victimization. 

          7             ROBERT HOUSTON:  That's correct. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  By extrapolating the 

          9   percentage of inmates victimized, the estimated 

         10   number of victims at Tecumseh of staff-on-inmate 

         11   abuse or victimization would be 104 of your 

         12   inmates there, and that's just in 2006.  And then 

         13   on top of that would be another 11 inmates 

         14   suffering from inmate-on-inmate victimization.  

         15   So the big issue at Tecumseh, as I understand it, 

         16   is staff-on-inmate abuse. 

         17             ROBERT HOUSTON:  We've had 

         18   relationships; we've had criminal charges on 

         19   staff that have become involved with the inmates.  

         20   And so, yes.  Those numbers, I think, would be 

         21   not numbers we would agree to, but the fact that 


                                                                       48

          1   staff have had sex with inmates is not something 

          2   we would question. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  How many staff 

          4   have been cited, whether they were criminally 

          5   charged or disciplinary proceedings, have been 

          6   charged at Tecumseh with violating this 

          7   sexual assault policy? 

          8             ROBERT HOUSTON:  That --

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Or shall we wait for 

         10   the warden on that? 

         11             ROBERT HOUSTON:  I think so.  Benny? 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Or the investigator? 

         13             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  In '06?

         14             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 

         15             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  One staff was 

         16   charged in '06. 

         17             ROBERT HOUSTON:  We had one staff that 

         18   was charged. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  One staff who was 

         20   criminally charged, or administrative? 

         21             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Criminally.


                                                                       49

          1             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Criminally charged. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And was he 

          3   sentenced? 

          4             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes.  It was a she. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  She.  All right.  

          6   What's the gender breakdown, or do you know, Mr. 

          7   Director, at Tecumseh of the staff? 

          8             ROBERT HOUSTON:  We have a high 

          9   percentage of women working at Tecumseh.  

         10             And, Fred?  

         11             FRED BRITTEN:  About 24 percent of our 

         12   custody staff are female, about 32 percent of our 

         13   unit management staff are female, and about 46 

         14   percent of our support services staff are female. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That was 24 percent 

         16   custodial, 32 percent unit managers?  

         17             FRED BRITTEN:  Yes.  Unit management, 

         18   yeah. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Management.  And 46 

         20   percent support staff.  If you include the 

         21   support staff, almost half of all of your 


                                                                       50

          1   staff -- or are you saying 46 percent of the 

          2   support staff are female?  

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  Yes, 46 percent of the 

          4   support staff are female.  And that includes 

          5   everything from clerical to working in our 

          6   canteen and so forth. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Thank you. 

          8             Mr. Director, the Administrative 

          9   Regulation 215.01, entitled Correctional 

         10   Investigator's Duties and Reporting of Criminal 

         11   Activities, and we'll ask more detailed questions 

         12   in this regard of Mr. Noordhoek, but if you know, 

         13   and I direct this at you because this regulation 

         14   specifically involves you -- as you know, it 

         15   discusses the prosecution of cases -- the  

         16   regulation states that the correctional

         17   investigator's direct supervisor and the deputy

         18   director of institutions shall review the

         19   correctional investigator's written report.  

         20   They must authorize the submission of the written 

         21   report to the appropriate county attorney for 


                                                                       51

          1   review, and if the two don't agree, then it goes 

          2   to you to decide if the report is to be 

          3   submitted.  

          4             The regulation doesn't state what 

          5   standard is used to determine whether to submit a 

          6   case to the prosecutor or the county attorney.  

          7   Do you know -- what standard do you use in making 

          8   that decision, and what standard do you expect 

          9   your staff, the investigator, the investigator's 

         10   direct supervisor, and the deputy director to use 

         11   in deciding whether to forward something on to 

         12   the prosecutor? 

         13             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Okay.  I can tell you, 

         14   in three years, that that's never come to me.  

         15   There's not a case that the investigators -- and 

         16   Benny can speak to that, that I'm ever aware of 

         17   that the investigators wanted to send to the 

         18   county attorney that's ever been turned back. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I'm sorry, 

         20   everything has been turned over to the county 

         21   attorney? 


                                                                       52

          1             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay. 

          3             ROBERT HOUSTON:  And Benny and I 

          4   haven't had this conversation; he'll probably get 

          5   up here and tell something different. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  We'll wait, but 

          7   thank you. 

          8             ROBERT HOUSTON:  But never have we ever 

          9   even discussed the possibility that our 

         10   investigators would ever have a case that we 

         11   wouldn't want to take right to the county 

         12   attorney. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  As I understand it, 

         14   though, we only received evidence that there were 

         15   four staff misconduct sexual assault-related 

         16   complaints at Tecumseh in all of 2006. 

         17             ROBERT HOUSTON:  I believe that number 

         18   is five and Brad Hansen will indicate what the 

         19   fifth one is.  Yes. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And only one 

         21   was substantiated; is that correct? 


                                                                       53

          1             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  We actively go 

          2   after prosecutions for a real practical reason:  

          3   We are a small Nebraska community, and if we 

          4   don't actively prosecute those cases that are 

          5   prosecutable, what will happen is, is that 

          6   individual will then get back into a human 

          7   service field, and we don't want that to happen. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So as far as you're 

          9   concerned, Mr. Director, you want every staff 

         10   misconduct complaint that comes to an 

         11   investigator at Tecumseh to be reviewed by the 

         12   county attorney for criminal prosecution if it 

         13   relates to sexual assault? 

         14             ROBERT HOUSTON:  If we find that 

         15   there's something in there that can be 

         16   prosecuted, that's what we want to happen. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Now, who do 

         18   you expect should make the decision as to whether 

         19   there's something in there that rises to the 

         20   level of criminal activity? 

         21             ROBERT HOUSTON:  We'd like the county 


                                                                       54

          1   attorney to make that decision. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So as far as 

          3   your staff, you want them to refer all sexual 

          4   misconduct complaints from Tecumseh to the county 

          5   attorney, not doing any screening themselves; is 

          6   that correct? 

          7             ROBERT HOUSTON:  That's right.  

          8   Exactly, yes.  And we have an outstanding working 

          9   relationship with the county attorneys.  In fact, 

         10   when these cases start, the State Patrol becomes 

         11   a partner with us in the investigation, so really 

         12   the investigations of staff misconduct, whether 

         13   it relates to this or to other types of things, 

         14   is really the State Patrol.  Our investigators 

         15   are there because, heretofore, before we had the 

         16   investigators, the State Patrol is busy doing 

         17   what they're doing.  

         18             So, let's relate it to drugs.  Two 

         19   pounds of marijuana moving down I-80 across 

         20   Nebraska is a big deal, and that's where the 

         21   State Patrol would concentrate their efforts, 


                                                                       55

          1   rather than on an ounce of marijuana coming into 

          2   the penitentiary.  Well, in our world, an ounce 

          3   of marijuana coming into the penitentiary is a 

          4   huge deal, and so when you look at it from the 

          5   State Patrol's perspective, why wouldn't they see 

          6   two pounds going down the highway as a bigger 

          7   deal than this.  

          8             So that's when we formed the 

          9   investigator's office, and as a huge side benefit 

         10   of that, has to do with investigations concerning 

         11   sexual assault and abuse.  And so what our 

         12   investigators do, basically, are the ground 

         13   troops to get the reports, to know the 

         14   environment, to work with the State Trooper to do 

         15   the interviews and gather the evidence and all of 

         16   those things, but really it's the State Patrol 

         17   that become our partner early on, not at the 

         18   later stage but early on.  In fact, they're 

         19   usually called probably the same day as something 

         20   develops.  And then the county attorneys, 

         21   obviously, are very good at prosecutions.  We 


                                                                       56

          1   have a long, excellent relationship throughout 

          2   Nebraska. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great.  And do you 

          4   have any formal arrangement with the Nebraska 

          5   State Police or State Patrol about their 

          6   involvement in sexual assault at Tecumseh? 

          7             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  Their agreement 

          8   with us is, they will work on every case with us, 

          9   because what we've done is made their job a lot 

         10   easier. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  And so 

         12   is it your expectation that the investigating 

         13   authorities at Tecumseh on your staff would also 

         14   involve the State Police in every case alleging 

         15   sexual abuse involving inmates? 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  If we can find 

         17   anything in there that we believe is beyond 

         18   administrative, that meets any element of 

         19   something that can be prosecuted, the state 

         20   Patrol is immediately contacted. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And then 


                                                                       57

          1   again, I'm just curious as to who's making that 

          2   decision about whether you can find anything in 

          3   there.  Are you saying that if the county 

          4   attorney finds something that rises to the level 

          5   of a crime, then the State Patrol gets involved; 

          6   is that what you're saying? 

          7             ROBERT HOUSTON:  No.  We get the State 

          8   Patrol involved first. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, I would think 

         10   so. 

         11             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Right.  They become 

         12   involved first.  Again, we're small.  They work 

         13   with the county attorneys in whatever county 

         14   they're at. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I'm just trying to 

         16   understand, when do you get the State -- when do 

         17   you call the State Patrol in to be involved in an 

         18   investigation?  Is anybody at your staff at 

         19   Tecumseh expected to be able to do some triage 

         20   and say, well, this isn't worth bothering the 

         21   State Patrol on; we'll just handle it internally? 


                                                                       58

          1             ROBERT HOUSTON:  No.  It doesn't -- 

          2   well, maybe I can give you a parallel example 

          3   that will indicate the attention we pay to sexual 

          4   assault and sexual abuse.  

          5             When we have -- for example, in our 

          6   harassment policy for staff, we have in there 

          7   that the director of corrections will be advised 

          8   of harassment cases.  So if we have a supervisor 

          9   who -- or two colleagues that are working 

         10   together on the first shift at Tecumseh and one 

         11   of them either says something insensitive to the 

         12   other where that person finally gets exasperated 

         13   and says, I'm going to report this, and then they 

         14   go in and talk to the sergeant, and then the 

         15   sergeant gets hold of the lieutenant, the 

         16   lieutenant then makes up a, kind of an outline in 

         17   a report as to what happened there.  

         18             Say this is on a Monday morning.  By 

         19   late Monday morning, that goes to Shannon Rowen, 

         20   who is our assistant director of HR for the 

         21   department.  She goes through those reports and 


                                                                       59

          1   then makes up a summary, and then she e-mails me 

          2   on my BlackBerry, and usually before 1:00 in the 

          3   afternoon or 2 in the afternoon, it might be 

          4   later on that day, I've got a complete summary of 

          5   the argument that happened earlier in that day 

          6   between these two individuals and the alleged 

          7   harassment.  

          8             And the policy on harassment is given 

          9   to each one of the employees and so forth.  And 

         10   then I make a decision as to whether or not it 

         11   needs to be investigated or if there can be -- 

         12   whatever the recommendation of the institution, 

         13   look that over and agree or disagree with that. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's 

         15   staff-on-staff harassment or disagreement, 

         16   correct? 

         17             ROBERT HOUSTON:  I use that only as an 

         18   example to say how much attention we pay to 

         19   details of interactions.  The same would be true 

         20   with an inmate complaint.  

         21             If an inmate writes up -- an inmate 


                                                                       60

          1   reports to any employee that there is an abuse or 

          2   something such as that, first it's taken up to 

          3   the lieutenant's office, and from there they take 

          4   some initial reports.  The captain or the major 

          5   would become involved with that, possibly the 

          6   deputy warden, and usually before too many 

          7   minutes or hours pass, an investigator is 

          8   contacted; in Tecumseh's case that would be 

          9   Benny.  Benny would be expected to get down there 

         10   that day or the next day to do the interviews, 

         11   and probably on the way down he's either 

         12   contacted or picked up a State Trooper to go with 

         13   him. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  By Benny, is that 

         15   Mr. Noordhoek? 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And when you 

         18   say go down there, he's not onsite in Tecumseh? 

         19             ROBERT HOUSTON:  No.  He's in our 

         20   central office. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  Well, what 


                                                                       61

          1   I'm asking is, I don't see anything in your 

          2   policies and regulations that clarifies whether 

          3   someone in the hierarchy of the department can 

          4   stop or can decide that the State Police do not 

          5   need to be involved in this investigation, and 

          6   I'm trying to clarify what you as the director 

          7   expect.  Is every sexual assault complaint at 

          8   Tecumseh referred to the State Police, or is 

          9   somebody deciding whether it's worth their time 

         10   or not? 

         11             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Well, I think Benny 

         12   could probably answer that the best. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right. 

         14             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Because there's 

         15   nothing we would do to stop that. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But they're not 

         17   going to come unless you call them, right? 

         18             ROBERT HOUSTON:  The State Patrol? 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes. 

         20             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Right, yes, would be 

         21   called.  I imagine there's something an inmate 


                                                                       62

          1   could say, you know, this inmate touched me, or 

          2   something that, you sure it was sex -- you know 

          3   what I mean?

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, right. 

          5             ROBERT HOUSTON:  There is some --

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  You don't want to be 

          7   bothering them on flimsy, minor things. 

          8             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Right.  We need to see 

          9   if there's at least something to it.  And if 

         10   there's something to it, then, yes, contact the 

         11   State Patrol right away. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  The problem with -- 

         13   for what it's worth, my two cents.  The problem 

         14   is that if at some lower level an individual can 

         15   say, no, we don't really need any outside 

         16   investigation or we don't need to bother Benny to 

         17   come down here from Lincoln, if that person is 

         18   the perpetrator or is looking the other way with 

         19   respect to staff, then that could explain why you 

         20   have 85 individuals surprising you with a survey 

         21   response that, hey, I have been abused in the 


                                                                       63

          1   last 12 months by staff.  

          2             So I'm just offering as one possible 

          3   thing for your consideration is, refer everything 

          4   and anything of a sexual nature until you are 

          5   sure that you are just -- there are no stops, 

          6   there are no speed bumps, everything gets to the 

          7   State Patrol, and even if it inconveniences them.  

          8   You've indicated that you've got a legislature 

          9   that's very cooperative, that you've got the 

         10   second largest department in the State, that 

         11   everybody is motivated, and you can have 

         12   something on your desk or on your BlackBerry 

         13   within a matter of hours.  

         14             Then it shouldn't be difficult to say, 

         15   you know what?  We're one of the worst in the 

         16   country, according to this survey.  We need -- 

         17   and with all the ACA accreditations that you've 

         18   done, sir, we need to get a -- you know, we need 

         19   to clean our nose on this, so let's err on the 

         20   side of absolute punctilious overreporting.  If 

         21   the guy says he got touched in the groin by 


                                                                       64

          1   another inmate, we're not going to decide whether 

          2   that is worth having the State Police get 

          3   involved.  They're going to be called. 

          4             ROBERT HOUSTON:  I think after you hear 

          5   from Benny and from others, I think you're going 

          6   to see that that's what we do.  We fall on the 

          7   side of caution. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Mr. Director, I just 

          9   want to affirm you about the tremendous attitude 

         10   that you've expressed.  You're the correctional 

         11   professional, I'm not, but I just greatly 

         12   appreciate the attitude that you and apparently 

         13   your staff have, that rather than being defensive 

         14   and being in denial and saying, gee, you know, we 

         15   take exception to this, that, or the other thing 

         16   in the survey, we're going to assume it's true, 

         17   and we're going to assume we're talking about 

         18   rape, and we're going to assume that 90 percent 

         19   of it is happening by staff.  And if one percent 

         20   of it is happening by staff, that's too much.  If 

         21   one of those assaults, be it inmate-on-inmate or 


                                                                       65

          1   staff-on-inmate, or harassment or just touching, 

          2   we're not going to look at it whether it's 

          3   consensual or not; it is written up and referred 

          4   up and we're going to have the State Police all 

          5   over it.  

          6             And I just greatly appreciate your 

          7   attitude and your openness to remedying an 

          8   epidemic that apparently is happening at this 

          9   relatively new institution, which still has a lot 

         10   of overtime, a lot of tired officers, with all 

         11   the worst eggs in your basket, all there with not 

         12   enough programming, too much time on their hands, 

         13   and so I greatly want to affirm the attitude that 

         14   you've brought here this morning. 

         15             ROBERT HOUSTON:  I appreciate it. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Ms. Ellis.  

         17             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Thank you.  Good 

         18   morning again, Mr. Director. 

         19             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Good morning.  

         20             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I certainly echo 

         21   the Chairman's sentiments in terms of your 


                                                                       66

          1   attitude, and I look forward to a very productive 

          2   time today in focusing on those areas that will 

          3   be most beneficial to you and the work that you 

          4   perform. 

          5             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  

          6             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Thank you for that 

          7   information about Nebraska. 

          8             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  

          9             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  And certainly about 

         10   the facility itself, and very useful information, 

         11   because it helps us to perhaps recognize many of 

         12   your challenges.  I'd like to ask a couple of 

         13   questions.  

         14             Is Nebraska a death penalty state? 

         15             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 

         16             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  And do you have 

         17   lifers at Tecumseh? 

         18             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 

         19             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I see.  Do you have 

         20   conjugal visits? 

         21             ROBERT HOUSTON:  No.  We have 


                                                                       67

          1   furloughs, when people achieve community level, 

          2   but we do not have conjugal visiting. 

          3             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  And you indicated 

          4   in answering the Chairman's questions regarding 

          5   staff-on-inmate sex, that you've had some 

          6   criminal offenses and you've had some 

          7   relationships.  Could you expound on 

          8   relationships and what you meant by 

          9   relationships?

         10             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Okay.  I'll try not to 

         11   do it by overkill.  

         12             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  That's okay. 

         13             ROBERT HOUSTON:  But we expect staff to 

         14   have professional relationships.  We are 

         15   undergoing some changes in our pre-service class 

         16   over the next year, where we're going to be 

         17   looking at the training that we offer in 

         18   pre-service and in-service about just teaching 

         19   staff -- we do a very, very good job of teaching 

         20   people the mechanics of cell extractions, uses of 

         21   force, the policy that we have before us and so 


                                                                       68

          1   forth.  

          2             What we don't really do a good job of, 

          3   or we can do a better job of, I should say, is 

          4   teaching the staff how to redirect inmate 

          5   negative behavior, how to take that criminal 

          6   thinking and try to direct that in a more 

          7   positive direction.  

          8             So we're developing a training program 

          9   that will start out as two hours and then develop 

         10   into a four-hour or longer course on just 

         11   basically how to redirect criminal thinking, and 

         12   how to better respond to the things that inmates 

         13   are going to say, so that as you learn your way 

         14   into the department, you also learn how to 

         15   establish professional relationships with inmates 

         16   who will try to capitalize upon what they 

         17   perceive as a weakness.  So those are the types 

         18   of things we think we can do better at.  

         19             What I think we do very good job at is, 

         20   once they get there, is to monitoring the 

         21   relationships that we see developing and what the 


                                                                       69

          1   red flags might be.  

          2             For example, our officers when they 

          3   come in are assigned to various security posts.  

          4   So some of them have very little interaction with 

          5   inmates and others have -- that's all they have 

          6   is interaction with inmates; they spend eight 

          7   hours in a sole post with the inmates.  

          8             Some of the inappropriate professional 

          9   or the dual relationships that develop between 

         10   the inmates and the staff is because the person 

         11   that greets you in the morning is probably an 

         12   inmate.  The person that tells you that you look 

         13   very nice today or you're a little tired today or 

         14   how are the kids and those types of things is an 

         15   inmate.  The person that might reinforce that is 

         16   an inmate, when you're in these more isolated 

         17   posts. 

         18             And so one thing that we've had in our 

         19   department is post rotation.  We try to rotate 

         20   staff from post to post to try to take away from 

         21   that a bit and get them around the institution.  


                                                                       70

          1   It accomplishes that, training, awareness, and 

          2   those types of things.  

          3             But at the same time, there are people 

          4   who are librarians, who are working other posts, 

          5   that that's the type of relationship that 

          6   develops, and out of that comes some negative 

          7   relationships.  And so we need to always be 

          8   cautious of that.  

          9             And so I think our supervisors do a 

         10   good job of trying to identify that, because it's 

         11   usually staff saying, so-and-so is having a 

         12   relationship with so-and-so, that brings things 

         13   -- so that we can identify those a little bit 

         14   better.  

         15             An initiative that has been undertaken 

         16   by both Tecumseh, and Tony can talk to that, and 

         17   also by the penitentiary, is form what we call a 

         18   team within a team.  Tony as a supervisor has at 

         19   any one time probably about 50 to 55 staff that 

         20   work on his shift each evening and they 

         21   traditionally have looked at the lieutenant as 


                                                                       71

          1   being their supervisor.  

          2             But we have sergeants, so we've taken 

          3   the sergeant that we have, and some corporal 

          4   positions and upgraded them to the sergeant, and 

          5   we've run those supervisors through virtually 

          6   every training program we have with the 

          7   Department of Administrative Services; we have 

          8   leadership courses in the department, two levels 

          9   of it, and other training that is specific to 

         10   first-line supervisors.  

         11             So on January 1st of 2008, we began our 

         12   program of team within a team.  So each one of 

         13   those supervisors, instead of Tony having 55 

         14   staff, now has about 15 staff, and they're 

         15   expected to talk to those individuals, try to 

         16   make contact with them every day throughout the 

         17   shifts, maybe several times during the shift,  

         18   have them do the preparation for personnel 

         19   evaluations, to answer questions they might have 

         20   and so forth, so that we can really hone in on 

         21   those people in second shift that -- and we'll 


                                                                       72

          1   spread it to other shifts given that this is 

          2   successful, so that they're the best trained 

          3   supervisors we can have, that they are in posts 

          4   where they can rotate out and see the staff, 

          5   answer questions, and really, out of 

          6   conversations, really kind of get a good feeling 

          7   as to how your shift is going, if an inmate is 

          8   talking to you in a way they shouldn't be 

          9   speaking to you, if they're asking something they 

         10   shouldn't be asking of you, to answer those 

         11   questions and get at it right away.  

         12             So that's the program that's coming on.  

         13   So that's kind of the attention we're paying to 

         14   those relationships, both teaching them at 

         15   in-service, pre-service, and then supervise it 

         16   every day to try to get at that.  

         17             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Thank you for that 

         18   information.  That's very important in terms of 

         19   the problems that you have, those relationships, 

         20   so we'll probably want to ask more questions 

         21   about that as we move along.  


                                                                       73

          1             I was struck by your experience in 

          2   working with criminal justice within the field 

          3   and teaching at the university level.  So you 

          4   have had lots of experience or information in 

          5   terms of victimology and the importance of victim 

          6   assistance in the criminal justice field. 

          7             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And to that, I would 

          9   ask this question:  From your experience in 

         10   working in prison systems, what do you think 

         11   contributes to sexual acting out and sexual 

         12   violence in the overall prison experience? 

         13             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Let's see if I can ask 

         14   a question correctly:  What is it that I think 

         15   contributes to having sexual violence?  

         16             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Yes.  It's a 

         17   pervasive problem.  

         18             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  

         19             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Why does it occur 

         20   when people are confined in those areas, 

         21   notwithstanding that rape and sexual assault 


                                                                       74

          1   exist in the wider society, but what are your 

          2   thoughts about sexual violence across the board 

          3   in prison systems?  What do you think contributes 

          4   to that? 

          5             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Okay.  Well, I hope to 

          6   not get off point, but to put it in a very 

          7   general context, both how I look at it as whether 

          8   I be teaching at the university or whether I be 

          9   talking to my staff and so forth, what I guess I 

         10   look at it as is, is there's a continuum in 

         11   incarceration.  And Gofton's book on asylums, I 

         12   think, was a very good read of mine, and that had 

         13   nothing to do with prisons but everything to do 

         14   with prisons.  It was about the mental health 

         15   institutions.  And what he speaks about there -- 

         16   well, it's not spoken to there but in other 

         17   areas, but gets at the secondary rewards that 

         18   inmates look for in relationships.  

         19             I mean, when an inmate -- the way the 

         20   inmate looks at things is, is they look both at 

         21   the use and also the misuse of things. 


                                                                       75

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I'm sorry, I'm 

          2   having difficulty hearing. 

          3             ROBERT HOUSTON:  They look at both the 

          4   use and misuse of things.  So the use of 

          5   relationships and maybe the misuse of 

          6   relationships.  

          7             But prisons in general, the way I look 

          8   at them is, you start with your higher security 

          9   institutions and then you go all the way to your 

         10   community centers, and there's a continuum from 

         11   the highest security to the lowest security.  And 

         12   the influences that they have, both from external 

         13   forces and also internal forces, is you move from 

         14   what's called imprisonization, prisonization and 

         15   the effects of that, to importation.  Okay.  

         16             So prisonization is those types of 

         17   behaviors that develop because you have a closed 

         18   community.  Importation are those things that are 

         19   of influence because they come from the outside.  

         20   So it comes from the outside; it would be 

         21   victims' groups, families, friends, the 


                                                                       76

          1   opportunity for reentry into society, programs, 

          2   substance abuse programs and so forth, things 

          3   that happen as you get into lower custody 

          4   facilities and into community centers.  A lot of 

          5   activities, a lot of optimism by the inmates to 

          6   get back into society, to go on furloughs, to 

          7   have conjugal contacts, and so forth.  That 

          8   happens at the lower end of any prison system, 

          9   including ours.  

         10             At the higher end has to do with 

         11   imprisonization, and those are the types of 

         12   behaviors, I think, that arise in closed 

         13   communities.  And so with the inmate population 

         14   that we have, they're doing a long period of 

         15   time.  They know that they're never, ever going 

         16   to be free again.  And so they look for the 

         17   amenities that we can provide and those types of 

         18   things.  

         19             But being deprived of the amenities and 

         20   being deprived of the mental health counseling 

         21   and that type of thing, the imprisonization -- 


                                                                       77

          1   the prisonization effect, I think, is that 

          2   certain behaviors and relationships that develop 

          3   that are very closed, very much can become 

          4   predatory on one another, because there isn't, as 

          5   at the other end of the continuum, those types of 

          6   things being imported from the general society 

          7   that cause things to be like the community.  

          8             And it's there that we have to move 

          9   with the greatest amount of caution, and 

         10   therefore our penitentiary, therefore Tecumseh -- 

         11   so that we know that those are the types of 

         12   effects or the inward looking, the very much on 

         13   the inmates' part, the "I" oriented.  

         14             And you can tell from the 

         15   correspondence you get, there's a marked 

         16   difference between somebody in a high-security 

         17   institution and somebody in a low-security 

         18   institution.  They're very much concentrated on 

         19   "I" in the high-security institution, and very 

         20   much concentrated on community optimism, family 

         21   optimism, and so forth at the lower end.  


                                                                       78

          1             And so by understanding the dynamics of 

          2   what a high-security, long-time serious offender 

          3   looks at, we need to respond accordingly with 

          4   resources, with programs, with jobs, with mental 

          5   health, and all the other resources.  And that's 

          6   why by bringing in Dr. Thomas White, who said, 

          7   look at your department as a pyramid and look at 

          8   the top of the pyramid and look at your most 

          9   serious offenders, your most mentally ill, those 

         10   people that have the greatest challenges when it 

         11   comes to substance abuse and substance abuse 

         12   where they act out violently and so forth, and 

         13   concentrate your resources there.  

         14             Because if you can make -- if we can 

         15   make a dent, even though we know it's very 

         16   expensive and we're spending a lot of money and a 

         17   lot of time with, with our clinical psychologists 

         18   and hiring psychiatrists and so forth, if we can 

         19   make a dent in that population, two things 

         20   happen.  

         21             One is, is that you're going to have a 


                                                                       79

          1   safer prison.  Because now, now the inmates are 

          2   going to get those types -- that type of 

          3   importation they would normally be deprived of. 

          4             And the other thing that's going to 

          5   happen is -- when those individuals do reenter 

          6   society, they have the highest probability of 

          7   reoffending.  And so if we can deal effectively 

          8   with that top end of the pyramid, it's going to 

          9   make a huge difference on how the institution is 

         10   run and how safe the Nebraska community is, and 

         11   that's where we've concentrated our resources, 

         12   and we're migrating even more resources to that 

         13   higher level.  

         14             One thing that Tecumseh did not have 18 

         15   months ago that they have now is, we have two 

         16   mental health professionals right on our 192-bed 

         17   special management unit, and that is at Tecumseh; 

         18   it's the highest risk inmates, the people that, 

         19   they earned their way there by bad behavior. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's Ad Seg, sir? 

         21             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Administration Seg, 


                                                                       80

          1   yes.  We call it the special management unit.  So 

          2   we now have mental health professionals there.  

          3             We now have at the Lincoln Correctional 

          4   Center an acute mental health unit that we're 

          5   developing.  The only reason that -- we're just 

          6   trying to get a psychiatrist hired.  We gave up a 

          7   couple of positions in central office to fund 

          8   this thing.  We've had it advertised for a year 

          9   and a half.  We've had a couple of candidates.  

         10   We hope to get that person hired.  If we don't, 

         11   we're still going to proceed anyhow, try to get 

         12   nurses of those qualifications and so forth to be 

         13   there. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So that's 192 beds 

         15   in the SMU at Tecumseh?

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  And so I know 

         17   that's a long road to answer your short question, 

         18   but I really think that where the violence comes 

         19   from is the fact that, if you take people who are 

         20   in a highly closed set of circumstances and if 

         21   you don't well-resource them, keep them busy, 


                                                                       81

          1   have the amenities that are necessary, you're 

          2   going to have behaviors that arise naturally in 

          3   human behavior in closed communities that is all 

          4   the bad in what we are.  And so that's why we're 

          5   concentrating our resources with those 

          6   individuals.  

          7             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Thank you.  And I'm 

          8   also hearing you say in terms of your staff and 

          9   relationships, that you recognize that there are 

         10   some areas in terms of your staff and their 

         11   specific needs and that you are addressing them, 

         12   as well. 

         13             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Absolutely.  

         14             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I have one more 

         15   question.  I want to ask you about PREA and the 

         16   implementation of PREA across the board in your 

         17   facilities in Nebraska.  What has been your 

         18   greatest challenge? 

         19             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Well, I don't know 

         20   that -- I think the challenge has just been 

         21   getting after it, you know, and implementing 


                                                                       82

          1   things.  

          2             There is not a single thing that I have 

          3   read, a single training program that we haven't 

          4   tried to participate in.  I can't think -- and 

          5   Brad Hansen will speak to this when he gets up; 

          6   there's not a thing that we find in PREA, as far 

          7   as standards are concerned, as far as the SART, 

          8   having that model put into place, talking to Dave 

          9   Thomas about having a nurse undergo the education 

         10   for the SANE; there's not a thing that we find in 

         11   PREA that we can't do, either that we're not 

         12   doing now or that we're not willing to do.  It's 

         13   just a matter of just putting it into place.  

         14             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  PREA is pretty 

         15   basic in terms of safety and security and 

         16   information and access to resources and those 

         17   things that are most important in addressing 

         18   sexual assault, so I'm encouraged to hear that 

         19   you're feeling very positive about what you are 

         20   doing at this point and, as you said, looking 

         21   forward to perhaps discussing it a little more in 


                                                                       83

          1   depth as we move along.  Thank you very much. 

          2             ROBERT HOUSTON:  You're welcome. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Mr. Director, I just 

          4   had two follow-up questions.  One is, are your 

          5   COs at Tecumseh unionized? 

          6             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And do you 

          8   feel that you have the latitude under your 

          9   collective bargaining agreement to make the 

         10   hiring decisions, staffing decisions, necessary 

         11   in your judgment to cure the problem of excessive 

         12   overtime? 

         13             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  Well, no, now 

         14   that you ask.  There is something we'd like to do 

         15   differently.  

         16             One of the things we've been working 

         17   with our union is, is to allow us to have 

         18   alternative shifts, so that not all our shifts 

         19   are eight hours, that some of them be 12-hour 

         20   shifts.  We would not have -- in our estimation, 

         21   we believe we could make a dent in the overtime 


                                                                       84

          1   we have if we had the ability to have some 

          2   officers, not all officers, but some officers 

          3   that work 24-hour posts on 12-hour assignments, 

          4   at least to try that out. 

          5             And the reason I say that and the 

          6   reason we think specifically about Tecumseh is, 

          7   when you look at -- and the institution keeps 

          8   very good track of where our staff come from; 

          9   they come mostly from southeast Nebraska, but 

         10   it's a very sparsely populated part of our State, 

         11   so, as a result, staff have to travel 15, 20, 30 

         12   miles each way.  Well, that's an hour or more 

         13   each day that they have invested in travel.  And 

         14   we think if they went on to 12-hour shifts, at 

         15   least for some of them, and then had 78 more days 

         16   a year off to go about their business of farming 

         17   or farming-related activities, that we could 

         18   attract some people that would stick around a 

         19   little bit longer. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Reduce the turnover. 

         21             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes, exactly. 


                                                                       85

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great.  And we had 

          2   asked -- Mr. Siedlecki of our office had asked if 

          3   we could get information about suicides and 

          4   attempted suicides at Tecumseh.  Do you have that 

          5   information? 

          6             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  Well, let's see.  

          7   More specifically, I think the last suicide in 

          8   the department was, I believe, 2003.  We had one 

          9   case within the past year and a half where a 

         10   person had taken their own medication in a larger 

         11   quantity, and I don't know for sure, Benny might 

         12   be able to assist with that, whether or not that 

         13   was determined to be a suicide. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  What about attempted 

         15   suicides at Tecumseh? 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  That I'd probably 

         17   leave up to Benny to respond to, but I don't know 

         18   that we've had many of those. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

         20             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  What about 

         21   homicides? 


                                                                       86

          1             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Homicides.  We have 

          2   one case now that's going on, we don't know if 

          3   it's a homicide or not, but we know that two 

          4   individuals, what we see, got into an altercation 

          5   and one of them died, and that's a court 

          6   proceeding that's occurring now, but that's 

          7   really the only one we've had. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Are there any 

          9   pending lawsuits against the department that 

         10   relate to either treatment of an inmate or staff 

         11   at Tecumseh? 

         12             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Not that I'm aware of.  

         13   We do get a healthy amount of litigation, and 

         14   we'll have individuals that will, you know, have 

         15   individual cases.  Usually it's about their time 

         16   calculation and things such as that.  But I can't 

         17   think that we have or ever have had any 

         18   litigation that pertained to the safety and 

         19   security at Tecumseh. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Do you have 

         21   any litigation or, to your knowledge, has there 


                                                                       87

          1   ever been any litigation relating to or alleging 

          2   sexual abuse or sexual harassment of a staff 

          3   member at Tecumseh -- I'm sorry, by a staff 

          4   member at Tecumseh?  In other words, somebody is 

          5   suing alleging that a staff member or a former 

          6   staff member at Tecumseh sexually abused or 

          7   harassed them?  Might be another -- the victim, 

          8   or plaintiff, might be another staff member or 

          9   might be an inmate or a former inmate at 

         10   Tecumseh? 

         11             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Well, I can't imagine 

         12   that we haven't had some complaints of that, but 

         13   I certainly don't know what they would be.  

         14   That's something we can certainly get and get to 

         15   you and add to the record. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Would you expect 

         17   your -- I assume the department has some legal 

         18   counsel. 

         19             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And I assume that 

         21   legal counsel would brief you on any litigation 


                                                                       88

          1   against the Department of Corrections? 

          2             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay. 

          4             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Our legal counsel, we 

          5   obviously prepared for today, I think as you'll 

          6   see, and they have been with us on several 

          7   occasions for half-day and day-long sessions in 

          8   preparation for today.  But I can't think out of 

          9   that experience that there was -- I really 

         10   couldn't tell you what we have for litigation in 

         11   that area. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Did your 

         13   legal counsel come with you today, or no? 

         14             ROBERT HOUSTON:  No. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Mr. Director, thank 

         16   you again for both your testimony and your 

         17   attitude, and we look forward to learning 

         18   together the rest of the day. 

         19             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Okay.  Thank you.

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  At this time, could 

         21   we have Mr. Brad Hansen, Major Brittenham, 


                                                                       89

          1   Lieutenant Simon, and Mr. Thomas come join us for 

          2   this, to start the first panel.  

          3             Good morning, gentlemen.  Thank you for 

          4   joining us.  Would you please raise your right 

          5   hand and let me swear you in.  

          6             (The witnesses were placed under oath.)

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Starting with Major 

          8   Brittenham, would you please state your full name 

          9   and rank and your responsibilities at Tecumseh 

         10   for the record?  

         11             RICH BRITTENHAM:  My name is Richard E. 

         12   Brittenham.  I currently am a captain at the 

         13   Nebraska State Penitentiary.  As Director Houston 

         14   stated, I was a major there from the opening of 

         15   Tecumseh State Correctional Institution until 

         16   February 18th of this year.  Part of my duties 

         17   was, I oversaw the custody department -- 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  This is at Tecumseh? 

         19             RICH BRITTENHAM:  At Tecumseh, yes, 

         20   correct.  I oversaw the custody department,  

         21   reviewed and disseminated reports.  I made 


                                                                       90

          1   recommendations dealing with staff 

          2   professionalism, worked with enforcing the rules 

          3   and regulations, and dealt with inmate discipline 

          4   as far as overseeing the disciplinary committee 

          5   coordinator's office.  I attended what we call 

          6   the IRC, Incident Review Committee, every day, to 

          7   review the previous night's reports. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's the IRC, 

          9   Inmate Review Committee?  

         10             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Yeah, it's an 

         11   Incident Report Committee.  

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Incident Report, 

         13   sorry.  

         14             RICH BRITTENHAM:  From the reports from 

         15   the night before, we meet every day, every next 

         16   working day, I should say, and review the night 

         17   or the weekend's previous. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Thank you, Captain.  

         19   Mr. Thomas.  

         20             DAVE THOMAS:  Good morning, Chairman 

         21   McFarland, Ms. Ellis.  My name is David R. 


                                                                       91

          1   Thomas.  I'm the health service administrator at 

          2   Tecumseh State Corrections.  I ultimately have 

          3   administrative authority over all of the medical 

          4   care that's given at Tecumseh State Corrections. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And that includes 

          6   mental health?  

          7             DAVE THOMAS:  I have authority over the 

          8   pscychologists at Tecumseh State Corrections.  

          9   The psychiatrist and the -- or I have authority 

         10   over the psychiatrist at Tecumseh State 

         11   Corrections.  The psychologists and licensed 

         12   mental health professionals are part of the 

         13   Department of Corrections; however, we have an 

         14   excellent working relationship and meet daily. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So you have 

         16   control over the psychiatrist but not the 

         17   psychologists at Tecumseh. 

         18             DAVE THOMAS:  Not administrative 

         19   control. 

         20             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Is there a position 

         21   in addition to the psychiatrist there who is 


                                                                       92

          1   strictly in terms of medical needs? 

          2             DAVE THOMAS:  Correct.  The 

          3   psychiatrist, Dr. Baker, at our facility sees the 

          4   patients that need medication, and she prescribes 

          5   that medication. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That was Dr. Baker? 

          7             DAVE THOMAS:  Yes, sir. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And should we be 

          9   addressing you as Dr. Thomas?  What's your 

         10   professional credentials, sir?  

         11             DAVE THOMAS:  I have a bachelor's 

         12   degree in nursing.  

         13             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  In nursing. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Thank you, sir.  

         15   Lieutenant Simon.  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, good morning.  My 

         17   name is Anton Joseph Simon.  I'm a lieutenant 

         18   assigned to second shift at Tecumseh State 

         19   Correctional Institution.  I'm assigned to 

         20   oversee second shift and all the staff assigned 

         21   to second shift, to include completing their 


                                                                       93

          1   evaluations, conducting on-the-spot counseling, 

          2   and informal and formal counseling.  I am also 

          3   responsible to oversee the facility after hours 

          4   and to ensure the safety and security of the 

          5   institution is met after hours. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And the second shift 

          7   is from when to when?  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  Two p.m. to ten p.m. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And, Lieutenant 

         10   Simon, how long have you been in any capacity at 

         11   Tecumseh?  

         12             ANTON SIMON:  I've worked at Tecumseh 

         13   for just over six years now.  I started as a unit 

         14   caseworker for about two years, I was a sergeant 

         15   for about two years, and I have been a lieutenant 

         16   for about two years now. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And Mr. Thomas, how 

         18   long have you been at Tecumseh? 

         19             DAVE THOMAS:  I've been at Tecumseh 

         20   since before the facility opened.  I started in 

         21   June of 2001, and we started to take inmates in 


                                                                       94

          1   the first part of December 2001.  So almost seven 

          2   years. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And, Captain 

          4   Brittenham, how long were you at -- I know when 

          5   you stopped, but when did you start?  

          6             RICH BRITTENHAM:  When I was a major, I 

          7   was promoted in September of 2000. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So you first 

          9   set foot or started duty at Tecumseh in -- 

         10             RICH BRITTENHAM:  September of 2000. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  -- September of 

         12   2000.  

         13             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Before it was even 

         14   built.  

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's 12 months 

         16   before you got your first inmate.  

         17             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Right.  We were 

         18   setting up post orders and policies and hiring 

         19   staff and getting them to training for when we 

         20   opened it up in phases.  So it was back then. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So this is kind of 


                                                                       95

          1   your baby.  You and Lieutenant Simon have been 

          2   there from the outset.  Okay.  Mr. Hansen.  

          3             BRAD HANSEN:  Yes.  My name is Brad 

          4   Hansen.  I'm the department emergency management 

          5   supervisor.  I've been working for the department 

          6   for 30 years.  Some of my -- part of my 

          7   responsibilities are that I supervise the 

          8   Division of Investigation, where we have two 

          9   investigators.  I'm also responsible since early 

         10   last year, 2007, of reporting our incidents to 

         11   BJS for our PREA report.  And in the last couple 

         12   weeks, I've been identified as the PREA 

         13   coordinator, but I don't know that that will 

         14   last, but our current PREA coordinator is moving 

         15   on to other jobs. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Who is your current 

         17   PREA coordinator?  

         18             BRAD HANSEN:  Janee Pannkuk. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Would you mind 

         20   spelling that for the record.  

         21             BRAD HANSEN:  Sure.  It's J-e -- or J- 


                                                                       96

          1   -- someone is going to have to help me.  J-e-n --

          2             RICH BRITTENHAM:  J-a-n-e-e. 

          3             BRAD HANSEN:  J-a-n-e-e.

          4             RICH BRITTENHAM:  P-a-n-n-k-u-k. 

          5             BRAD HANSEN:  Yeah, thank you. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Would you try it 

          7   again; I'm a little slow here.  

          8             RICH BRITTENHAM:  J-a-n-e-e.  Last name 

          9   is Pannkuk, P-a-n-n-k-u-k.

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Just like it sounds.  

         11   And Ms. Pannkuk has left or is -- 

         12             BRAD HANSEN:  I think she's got five 

         13   days or six days left. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And when did 

         15   she start as PREA coordinator?  

         16             BRAD HANSEN:  I don't know; I'd have to 

         17   ask Bob.  Probably a year ago, year and a half 

         18   ago, she was named. 

         19             ROBERT HOUSTON:  She's been responsible 

         20   for the change to the classification system -- 

         21   she's been responsible for -- at least I think, 


                                                                       97

          1   the last couple of years, her job is over 

          2   programs, so she's over the programs we've done 

          3   in our classification system, where we evolved 

          4   the Criminal Justice Institute, and she's over 

          5   volunteer services, education.  So there's a 

          6   variety of things she's over.  Included with that 

          7   is the PREA effort as it involves the grants.  We 

          8   now added, about a year and a half ago, Patricia 

          9   Sattler, who is our grants coordinator, so she's 

         10   kind of picked up as far as the grants.  But Brad 

         11   came out because of his capacity; we thought he 

         12   could better answer the questions that you would 

         13   have. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Well, thank you, and 

         15   welcome.  

         16             Lieutenant Simon, what's the atmosphere 

         17   on your shift among staff as it relates to sexual 

         18   comments, jokes, labels?  Do the guys and ladies 

         19   on staff have occasion to make jokes about the, 

         20   you know, a particular effeminate inmate or other 

         21   sexualized references to inmates?  


                                                                       98

          1             ANTON SIMON:  Well, I'm sure it 

          2   happens, but it doesn't happen around me. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Doesn't happen --

          4             ANTON SIMON:  Around me. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  -- around you.  Why 

          6   is that?  

          7             ANTON SIMON:  I would assume because 

          8   I'm their supervisor. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Before you 

         10   became the lieutenant on the second shift and you 

         11   were a unit counselor, would you hear sexualized 

         12   comments, jokes, labels, you know, about 

         13   so-and-so is obviously gay or, you know, I wonder 

         14   what those two cellees are up to tonight, or that 

         15   sort of thing?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  I am sure that I have, 

         17   but I don't recall any specific incidents. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  And why did 

         19   that change when you became their supervisor?  

         20             ANTON SIMON:  Why did --

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Why did you stop 


                                                                       99

          1   hearing those sorts of things when you became the 

          2   supervisor of the second shift? 

          3             ANTON SIMON:  Well, because I was a 

          4   supervisor, more was expected of me. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So has there been a 

          6   change in the policy such that, now that you're 

          7   in a position to enforce it, you're not hearing 

          8   it?  Or was there -- the policy has always been 

          9   against that kind of joking and you just -- now 

         10   you're in a position to do something about it?  

         11             ANTON SIMON:  That's right, the policy 

         12   has always been against it. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  What about 

         14   the presence of pornography or skin magazines in 

         15   Tecumseh, is that allowed?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Inmates are allowed to 

         17   purchase magazines. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  They can have 

         19   subscriptions to pornographic, adult-type 

         20   literature?  

         21             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, that's correct. 


                                                                      100

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is there any limit 

          2   on, you know, soft porn, whatever that is, 

          3   hard-core porn, or is it just if they subscribe to 

          4   it, they can get it?  

          5             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, we do have 

          6   restrictions. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  What is that?  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  I don't know all of them, 

          9   but I know like bestiality, aggressiveness, stuff 

         10   like that is banned. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  And who -- 

         12   did you have something to add?  

         13             ANTON SIMON:  I was just going to add, 

         14   pictures or pictures that depict rape or sexual 

         15   violence, that that is not allowed, as well. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And as long 

         17   as it doesn't depict rape or violence or 

         18   bestiality, they can have it in their possession? 

         19             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And can they put it 

         21   inside their cell, visible inside their cell?  


                                                                      101

          1             ANTON SIMON:  What do you mean by 

          2   visible? 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Can they put it on 

          4   the wall?  

          5             ANTON SIMON:  No.  Inmates are not 

          6   allowed to post items on their walls. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Can they put 

          8   it on the mirror?  

          9             ANTON SIMON:  No. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Anywhere visible to 

         11   them in the cell?  

         12             ANTON SIMON:  No.  They're not allowed 

         13   to post items like that.

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So they can pull it 

         15   out under the pillow and look at it all they 

         16   want, but it can't be posted.  

         17             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Can they 

         19   share it with inmates?  

         20             ANTON SIMON:  Our inmate rules prohibit 

         21   passing and receiving items from one inmate to 


                                                                      102

          1   another, but, yes, that does happen. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  Kind of hard 

          3   to enforce.  

          4             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  You can put a 

          6   centerfold in a lot of places on your body and 

          7   accidentally on purpose drop it in somebody 

          8   else's cell.  Is that fair to say?  

          9             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, sir. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So that would 

         11   become, while it's technically contraband, that 

         12   can become a valuable item or currency, if you 

         13   will, among inmates.  Is that fair?  

         14             ANTON SIMON:  It could be. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's something to 

         16   sell; is that right?  

         17             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Has anybody on your 

         19   shift, Lieutenant, ever been disciplined or 

         20   written up for making a sexualized joke in the 

         21   presence of an inmate?  


                                                                      103

          1             ANTON SIMON:  Not to my knowledge. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  But you think 

          3   that it happens?  

          4             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Just not around you. 

          6             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Do you think that -- 

          8   is it fair to say that among staff, there's 

          9   something of a -- you know, TV might call it a 

         10   code of silence, but I mean, there's a sense of 

         11   camaraderie and commitment and to get along with 

         12   one another; you generally don't, unless it's 

         13   life threatening, you don't rat on your fellow 

         14   staff member?  

         15             ANTON SIMON:  No, I don't think that's 

         16   necessarily true. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  What 

         18   sort of things do you think are reported 

         19   regularly and what sort of things probably go by 

         20   the wayside, if you know?  

         21             ANTON SIMON:  Some of the things that 


                                                                      104

          1   are reported regularly are, we deal with a lot of 

          2   rumors floating around staff.

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Like what?  

          4             ANTON SIMON:  So-and-so is dating this 

          5   officer, stuff like that.  Or, I can't think of 

          6   any examples off the top of my head. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Rumors about 

          8   activity among inmates?  

          9             ANTON SIMON:  Sometimes. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  How about rumors 

         11   about activity between a staffer and an inmate? 

         12             ANTON SIMON:  Sometimes. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And you've heard 

         14   that recently in Tecumseh, some such rumors, 

         15   whether they're true or not? 

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Recently, in the past few 

         17   months? 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And what do 

         21   you do about it, if you hear those rumors?  


                                                                      105

          1             ANTON SIMON:  If one of my staff comes 

          2   up and says so-and-so is telling me this, I have 

          3   them write an incident report and follow up. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And where would it 

          5   go; where would the incident report go?  

          6             ANTON SIMON:  I would submit it to the 

          7   major's office. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And that would be 

          9   Captain Brittenham's successor?  

         10             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And who is 

         12   that?  

         13             ANTON SIMON:  Right now we have not 

         14   appointed a major.  They conducted interviews a 

         15   couple weeks ago, I believe. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So if it happened 

         17   yesterday, who would you have given the incident 

         18   report to?  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  Right now, Captain Conley 

         20   is our acting major.  

         21             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Sir, I believe 


                                                                      106

          1   they're rotating the captains through that office 

          2   every two weeks. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So there's 

          4   somebody to give it to you.  

          5             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, sir. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So if we were 

          7   to talk to Captain Conley or some of the other 

          8   rotated captains, they'd be able to tell us how 

          9   many, if any, incident reports they received 

         10   recently?  

         11             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  They should be able 

         13   to tell, Captain?  

         14             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I believe they 

         15   should, yeah. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And is there 

         17   a log of incident reports, to your knowledge, 

         18   Lieutenant?  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  I don't know. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Captain?  

         21             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I don't think there's 


                                                                      107

          1   a written log like on a ledger or anything.  It 

          2   just depends, after -- usually what they would do 

          3   with that is, they would take it the next day to 

          4   IRC, and there's a group of people in there who 

          5   would discuss it and follow up.  If there's 

          6   information, whoever enters into a database, they 

          7   might have it in there, if it warrants it.  But a 

          8   steadfast hundred percent, no, I wouldn't say 

          9   there would be a log. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So are 

         11   incident report forms -- there are forms, I take 

         12   it? 

         13             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Yeah, it's a green 

         14   sheet of paper with lines that has, like, name, 

         15   number, and report written by. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Are those forms 

         17   numbered in such a way that you'd know if one had 

         18   been filled out and lost, if it hadn't been 

         19   logged?  

         20             RICH BRITTENHAM:  The only way a number 

         21   is put on it is if it's put into a database.  


                                                                      108

          1   Otherwise, there's no number -- I mean, other 

          2   than page 1 of 2. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So if Lieutenant 

          4   Simon or his other shift supervisors on the other 

          5   shifts were to have filled out an incident report 

          6   and it got lost between Lieutenant Simon handing 

          7   it to the major or to the acting major, there 

          8   would be no way of knowing; is that correct?  

          9             RICH BRITTENHAM:  No.  They put it in a 

         10   lockbox, and then the next morning I would go 

         11   there, open up a lockbox, and it's got a slot, 

         12   oh, a couple inches by that much -- so if it was 

         13   in there and when I was there, when I came in, if

         14   it wasn't there, I wouldn't know about it. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So if I understand 

         16   this correctly, and I appreciate all of your 

         17   candor and honesty on this, if I understand the 

         18   way it could work, if the shift supervisor -- 

         19   backwards.  

         20             If a correctional officer on any shift 

         21   heard a rumor about sexual activity between a 


                                                                      109

          1   staff member and an inmate, they have the option 

          2   of filling out an incident report, or do you need 

          3   -- does the shift supervisor have to direct them?  

          4   In other words, does the shift supervisor make a 

          5   decision, okay, officer, that sounds serious; I 

          6   want you to fill out an incident report?  How 

          7   does it work?  Do you expect your officers on 

          8   your shift to always fill out an incident report 

          9   if they hear a rumor of sexual activity, either 

         10   staff-on-inmate or inmate-on-inmate, or is it up 

         11   to you to tell them, oh, that sounds serious; 

         12   please fill out an incident report?  

         13             ANTON SIMON:  My expectation of them is 

         14   that they would take the initiative and do it 

         15   themselves. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  So if 

         17   you hear a rumor, you're going to expect that 

         18   somebody is in the process of or has already 

         19   filled out an incident report?  

         20             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And then 


                                                                      110

          1   you're going to fill out the -- or you're going 

          2   to review the incident report, and then do you 

          3   make a decision as to whether you want to turn it 

          4   in to the major, or are you supposed to turn in 

          5   every one of them?  

          6             ANTON SIMON:  I'd turn it in to the 

          7   major's office. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But I know that's 

          9   what you do -- or do you understand that you must 

         10   turn it in?  Are you expected to turn it in, or 

         11   is it just your personal practice that, hey, I 

         12   turn them all in?  

         13             ANTON SIMON:  No, we're expected to 

         14   turn them all in.

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is that in any 

         16   policy?  Is that written down anywhere?  

         17             ANTON SIMON:  Not that I'm aware of. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  In your 

         19   in-service training, do you have any training 

         20   about this process of sexual abuse reporting; 

         21   does that come up in your annual in-service 


                                                                      111

          1   training?  

          2             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, it does. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And do you 

          4   recall any discussion in that training about what 

          5   all folks are supposed to do on staff in 

          6   forwarding up the food chain any kind of 

          7   allegations of sexual abuse?  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  I'm sorry, I didn't --

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That was a very long 

         10   question.  Is it included specifically in the 

         11   training; do you recall the training actually 

         12   addressing what you're supposed to do with an 

         13   incident report on sexual abuse?  

         14             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.  They are instructed 

         15   to report it to their supervisor. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And are the 

         17   supervisors, in this case, you, are you directed 

         18   in that training to always forward it to a major, 

         19   or are you supposed to do a little sorting 

         20   yourself and decide, well, this sounds flaky or 

         21   this doesn't sound very serious; I don't think I 


                                                                      112

          1   need to bother the major with it?  

          2             ANTON SIMON:  No, we are not instructed 

          3   to sort it ourselves.

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So everything 

          5   goes up?  

          6             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  But it's 

          8   possible that the incident report, because it's 

          9   not numbered, forms are not numbered, could get 

         10   lost and the major would never know that one was 

         11   coming his way and just never made it to him.  Is 

         12   that correct?  

         13             ANTON SIMON:  I suppose it's possible. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Do you talk 

         15   to the major after every shift and say, now, I 

         16   take it you found in the lockbox the incident 

         17   report that I filled out or that my officer 

         18   filled out from yesterday's shift?  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  No, I do not. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So it is 

         21   imminently possible that an incident report gets 


                                                                      113

          1   filled out by an officer and maybe it doesn't 

          2   make it to you; is that right? 

          3             ANTON SIMON:  It's possible. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And there's no log, 

          5   so we don't know if -- you're not going to have 

          6   reference to a log to find out, I never got that 

          7   from Officer Hansen; I'm going to go back and 

          8   find out what happened to it.  Is that correct? 

          9             ANTON SIMON:  Correct.

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And then, similarly, 

         11   for the same reason, we're never going to know if 

         12   it never made it from you to the lockbox; is that 

         13   correct? 

         14             ANTON SIMON:  Correct.

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And we're never 

         16   going to know what the major did with it when he 

         17   got it out of the lockbox; is that correct?  

         18             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Lieutenant, 

         20   you know this facility, you've been there since 

         21   it opened, and you've testified that you believe 


                                                                      114

          1   that sexual activity is going on there.  If I was 

          2   to tell you that a staff member sexually -- was 

          3   sexually involved last night with an inmate at 

          4   Tecumseh but I wasn't going to tell you where it 

          5   happened, where is the first place you would 

          6   look?  In other words, where is the most 

          7   secretive place?  Where's the place where it 

          8   would be most difficult for you or anybody else 

          9   to find out about?  

         10             ANTON SIMON:  Are you talking in our 

         11   physical plant? 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, sir, in your 

         13   physical plant.  

         14             ANTON SIMON:  I don't know of any 

         15   particular place that's any more difficult to 

         16   hide than any other. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  Let's 

         18   talk about video cameras.  Are there video 

         19   cameras anywhere in Tecumseh? 

         20             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, there are. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And where are they? 


                                                                      115

          1             ANTON SIMON:  There's numerous cameras 

          2   throughout the institution. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  Let's 

          4   start with the residential units.  Are there any 

          5   video cameras in those? 

          6             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, there are.

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  In all of them?  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And is this 

         10   single cell, double cell, or dura-member style?  

         11             ANTON SIMON:  Most of our general 

         12   population is double-celled. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And as I understand 

         14   it, Tecumseh has all custody levels; is that 

         15   right?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  We're primarily medium 

         17   and maximum.  We do have a small number of 

         18   minimum-custody inmates for working outside of 

         19   our fence. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So you have 

         21   everybody from folks that are about ready to go 


                                                                      116

          1   on community corrections up to death row? 

          2             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And are there 

          4   any inmates who are not double-celled?  

          5             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, there are; there are 

          6   some single cells.

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Setting aside Ad 

          8   Seg?  

          9             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.  Currently, our 

         10   minimum unit is single-celled.  Our substance 

         11   abuse treatment unit is single-celled, and I 

         12   believe right now there's 22 inmates in our 

         13   substance abuse unit.  And then we have one 

         14   general population unit that's single-celled, 

         15   which houses 64. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I'm just curious and 

         17   I'm showing my ignorance:  Why would the minimum 

         18   custody be single-celled and your most difficult 

         19   folks be double-celled?  

         20             ANTON SIMON:  I don't know. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Anyone have an -- 


                                                                      117

          1             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I would think some of 

          2   it is, it's kind of like a little bit of a 

          3   benefit.  And the design of the unit would be, 

          4   because they do work outside the fence, so that 

          5   would be that.  They also do not have any contact 

          6   with medium- and maximum-custody inmates unless 

          7   they're escorted by staff.  So it's kind of an 

          8   isolation, too, because they can have access to 

          9   outside the perimeter. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Warden, I take it 

         11   you want to say something?  If so, you need to 

         12   raise your right hand.  

         13             (The witness was placed under oath.)

         14             FRED BRITTEN:  Well, the reason we put 

         15   the minimum-custody inmates in the gallery that 

         16   they live on -- the physical plan of our facility, 

         17   though the gallery they live on is Housing 

         18   Unit 1, F Gallery -- and F Gallery is the closest 

         19   gallery to the administration building where we 

         20   bring them to to process them out, to work in the 

         21   administrative building, and to work outside the 


                                                                      118

          1   facility.  

          2             And so, subsequently, it's just 

          3   strategically the best place to house them, and 

          4   it just happened to be single-celled.  It wasn't 

          5   some mystery as to why do the minimum guys get 

          6   single cells.  It was just a strategic location 

          7   where we could put them to process them so they 

          8   don't have contact with the maximum-custody 

          9   inmates. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Thank you.  

         11   Thank you very much, Warden.  

         12             Lieutenant, going back to the cameras, 

         13   I take it the cameras, you can't see into the 

         14   cells from the cameras in general populations; is 

         15   that correct?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  That's correct. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So you can see 

         18   anybody who's going in or out of a cell or coming 

         19   up to a cell door, but you can't see, once they 

         20   go in, you can't see in there?  

         21             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 


                                                                      119

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And how long are the 

          2   tapes kept?  

          3             ANTON SIMON:  We don't normally record 

          4   our cameras. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

          6             ANTON SIMON:  They can be set to 

          7   record, but we do not record all of our cameras. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And do you have an 

          9   officer always monitoring these live feeds?  

         10             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Captain, you were 

         12   shaking your head.  

         13             RICH BRITTENHAM:  They're in central 

         14   control, and so they have other duties, but they 

         15   also can, or they have monitors in the control 

         16   stations where they can monitor it, but dedicated 

         17   eight-hour solidly watching that I don't think is 

         18   -- I think they have other duties, as well. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So they could miss 

         20   something -- 

         21             RICH BRITTENHAM:  You know what I'm 


                                                                      120

          1   saying? 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, so they could 

          3   miss something.  They turn their head or they're 

          4   looking at another monitor? 

          5             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Or somebody come up 

          6   to their hatch and ask for a grievance or an 

          7   inmate interview request, yeah, then that monitor 

          8   wouldn't be watched unless, by chance, somebody 

          9   is in there. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And what are the 

         11   responsibilities of the folks, of the officer who 

         12   would be monitoring this in central control; what 

         13   else does he or she have to do? 

         14             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Well, they open all, 

         15   like down along our central services, the doors 

         16   into the library, into the kitchen, to the 

         17   gymnasium, they have to open those when the 

         18   access call button is punched; then the camera 

         19   comes up to make sure it's identified so an 

         20   inmate who's not authorized to go in there or 

         21   into the admin building or something like that, 


                                                                      121

          1   so when they do, and they hit that camera, that 

          2   picture goes to that monitor, so they have to see 

          3   who's there.  Then it leaves other things.  And 

          4   in central control, they issue radios, keys, 

          5   handcuffs, whatever the case may be. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  And how 

          7   many officers are in central control doing what 

          8   you just described at any one time?  

          9             RICH BRITTENHAM:  First shift will have 

         10   three, second shift will have three, and third 

         11   shift will have two. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Third shift is from 

         13   ten to six?  

         14             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Correct. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And does 

         16   control also have to operate the, is it the 

         17   sallort or the entrance for visitors into the 

         18   prison?  

         19             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Yeah.  The gatehouse 

         20   tunnel slider doors and stuff, yes, they do that. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So at any 


                                                                      122

          1   given time, there might not be anyone watching 

          2   all monitors. 

          3             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Dedicated 100 

          4   percent, I don't think that would happen. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  So, 

          6   therefore, if an individual arranged for a 

          7   visitor at a set time, it's conceivable that they 

          8   could be occupying the attention of central 

          9   control right at the stroke of 10:00 such that it 

         10   would be reasonably sure no one was watching a 

         11   particular cellblock at that moment.  

         12             RICH BRITTENHAM:  For central control. 

         13   Now, again, there's cameras and monitors in the 

         14   housing units, too.

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Who's looking at 

         16   those? 

         17             RICH BRITTENHAM:  The control center 

         18   officer.

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, I see.  So the 

         20   same camera could be seen either by central 

         21   control, but they have other duties. 


                                                                      123

          1             ANTON SIMON:  I don't know if the 

          2   camera could view both places. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Lieutenant Simon.  

          4             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Yes, they can.  I 

          5   didn't know that. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  What do you expect 

          7   your people to be doing; should they be watching 

          8   all the time, watching the monitor, or walking 

          9   around in the residential area?  

         10             ANTON SIMON:  They spend most of their 

         11   time sitting at their computer station, operating 

         12   the doors, answering the phone.  I'd say that's 

         13   what they spend the majority of their time doing. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Captain?  

         15             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Just a point of 

         16   clarification is, the custody staff will staff 

         17   the control center that opens the door and issue 

         18   the things like I discussed. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  

         20             RICH BRITTENHAM:  There's unit 

         21   management staff who will be out on the floor and 


                                                                      124

          1   working the floor.  So it's just not totally 

          2   custody. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So on your 

          4   second shift, Lieutenant, how many folks do you 

          5   have in one of your double-celled general 

          6   population residential units and who's doing 

          7   what?  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  At a minimum, we would 

          9   have one control center officer and at least one 

         10   housing unit caseworker.  Control center officer 

         11   is responsible for the operation of the housing 

         12   unit doors, the cameras.  They keep the log.  

         13   They also issue out various supplies throughout 

         14   the day to inmates.  

         15             The unit caseworker is responsible to 

         16   be on the floor, to help with the day-to-day 

         17   needs of the inmates, to help them place phone 

         18   calls and scheduling of -- oh, I guess we no 

         19   longer schedule shower time; the inmates are free 

         20   to shower in open day rooms.  But they're on the 

         21   floor to help in the day-to-day needs of the 


                                                                      125

          1   inmates and to conduct cell searches and security 

          2   checks. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And are there 

          4   any other officers expected to be in a 

          5   residential unit during your shift, other than 

          6   the one in the control center and one unit 

          7   caseworker?  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  The yard staff will 

          9   periodically enter a housing unit.

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And how many at one 

         11   time might enter for the yard staff?  

         12             ANTON SIMON:  Probably be no more than 

         13   one.  Maybe two. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And where are 

         15   you at all this time?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Well, we do have an 

         17   office where we work out of, but I am also 

         18   responsible to conduct area checks throughout the 

         19   facility, so I could be anywhere throughout the 

         20   facility at any time. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So at any one time, 


                                                                      126

          1   there are at least, during your second shift, 

          2   there are at least two officers in a residential 

          3   unit and there might be as many as four or even 

          4   five if you happen to be there along with one or 

          5   two yard staff; is that correct?  

          6             ANTON SIMON:  No, I think you're kind 

          7   of high.  It would be -- for each unit would be 

          8   one officer and one caseworker. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, I'm sorry.  Yes, 

         10   one officer, one caseworker, and then in terms of 

         11   other custodial staff, there might be a, at any 

         12   given time might be one or two or even three in 

         13   that particular dorm?  

         14             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And how many 

         16   inmates are in this dorm that we're talking 

         17   about, general population?  

         18             ANTON SIMON:  One hundred sixty-four to 

         19   a housing unit. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And during 

         21   your shift, I assume the inmates are allowed to 


                                                                      127

          1   be up and around between two and ten.  When can 

          2   they not -- when are they locked down in their 

          3   cells, other than the general lockdown?  

          4             ANTON SIMON:  Okay.  At 3:15 in the 

          5   afternoon we close the yard and we lock down the 

          6   day rooms.  We have a formal count at 1600.  When 

          7   the count clears, we start feeding our evening 

          8   meal, and at that time when they are released for 

          9   the evening meal, they can access the day room or 

         10   go to the yard, if the yard is open, or the 

         11   gymnasium or any other various activities that we 

         12   have going.  The yard will stay open right now 

         13   until dark.  The day rooms stay open until 8:15 

         14   p.m., at which time the day rooms are cleared off 

         15   and they start locking down for a 2100 count. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  9:00 is the next 

         17   count?  

         18             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Last count?  

         20             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, for second shift

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  For second shift.  


                                                                      128

          1   And are they allowed out after the 9:00 count?  

          2             ANTON SIMON:  General population 

          3   inmates, no.  The minimum-custody inmates come 

          4   out after the 9:00 count, until midnight, I 

          5   believe. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And how long is the 

          7   rec area open?  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  The yard area? 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  No, not yard; that's 

         10   till dark, right?  

         11             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is there a gym or 

         13   recreation -- 

         14             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.  The gym is open 

         15   until 7:45. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And general 

         17   population, even high-security custody level, are 

         18   allowed to use the recreation facility?  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  As well as the yard? 

         21             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 


                                                                      129

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So after the 

          2   4:00 count, you can have 164 high-security 

          3   inmates in the day room as well as coming and 

          4   going to the yard, with as few as one control -- 

          5   one officer and one unit caseworker?  

          6             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  How much 

          8   overtime have you had to put in, say in the last 

          9   year?  

         10             ANTON SIMON:  As a lieutenant, I'm now 

         11   salaried, so I don't get paid overtime. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That kind of stinks. 

         13             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I know the feeling.  

         15   So whether you're getting paid for it or not, 

         16   what kind of hours have you been putting in the 

         17   last year?  

         18             ANTON SIMON:  I'm not required to work 

         19   an extra shift like the hourly employees are, but 

         20   there are certainly nights when I'll be staying 

         21   late an hour or two writing reports or come in 


                                                                      130

          1   early an hour for a meeting.  I don't know an 

          2   exact number.  Forty-five hours in a week. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And how about 

          4   your unit caseworkers, how much overtime are they 

          5   putting in, say over the last 12 months?  

          6             ANTON SIMON:  Over the last 12 months, 

          7   I think our unit staff has been pretty decent; 

          8   they haven't had to be required to work a lot of 

          9   overtime.  If anything, it would be voluntary 

         10   overtime. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And how often 

         12   does that happen, in 2007, how much voluntary 

         13   overtime?  

         14             ANTON SIMON:  I don't know. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  What about 

         16   '06?  I take it things were different then.  In 

         17   '06, was there any mandatory overtime on your 

         18   shift?  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, there was. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And how much? 

         21             ANTON SIMON:  It would vary day to day.  


                                                                      131

          1   Some days it would be as low as one or two; some 

          2   days would be around 15 maybe. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Fifteen? 

          4             ANTON SIMON:  Fifteen staff members. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Fifteen staff 

          6   members all do double shifts?  

          7             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, that's correct.  But 

          8   like Director Houston mentioned, we have the 

          9   split-shift program, plus on second shift is

         10   post-close down; I can use that staff member to 

         11   relieve an overtime and send him home. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Was that option open 

         13   to you in '06?  

         14             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, it was. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And does the unit 

         16   permit you to do the split shifts?  

         17             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  You heard the 

         19   director talk about, when I asked about the 

         20   union, that if he had his druthers, he'd like to 

         21   have a little bit more freedom under the 


                                                                      132

          1   collective bargaining unit to do some creative 

          2   shifts, like 12-hour shifts.  Is that possible 

          3   today?  

          4             ANTON SIMON:  Is it possible? 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, do you know if 

          6   any of your staff are allowed to do 12 hours, not 

          7   16 but 12 hours or something more than eight hours? 

          8             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.  We have -- although 

          9   we're still set up to do three eight-hour shifts, 

         10   we have a lot of staff that do work 12 hours. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  And was 

         12   that true of 2006?  

         13             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Hi, Warden.  

         15             FRED BRITTEN:  Hi.  I wonder if I could 

         16   just explain a little bit what Tony is talking 

         17   about.  The union has never authorized us to go 

         18   to 12-hour shifts.  What he's talking about is if 

         19   somebody has worked eight and then they work over 

         20   four hours of overtime.  So we don't have an 

         21   assigned 12-hour shift. 


                                                                      133

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  

          2             FRED BRITTEN:  We don't have anything 

          3   like that.  He's just talking about somebody 

          4   that, okay, this person worked eight, somebody 

          5   come in early, so they went over four hours, and 

          6   somebody come in early from the next shift to 

          7   work the other four hours.  So then that person 

          8   has four hours at the front end and they work 

          9   their eight-hour shift on the back end.  That's 

         10   what he's talking about as far as 12 hours. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  But you're 

         12   going to pay overtime if that happens?  

         13             FRED BRITTEN:  Anytime anybody works 

         14   overtime, they're going to get overtime for it. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And, Mr. Director, 

         16   when you were responding to me then, you were 

         17   saying -- did you mean that you wish you could 

         18   have officers who could work 12 hours and you not 

         19   have to pay them overtime for the four hours?  

         20             MR. HOUSTON:  Well, if we had 12-hour 

         21   shifts available, we would pay them at straight 


                                                                      134

          1   time, and we would make that a schedule that they 

          2   can rely on. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure, and they 

          4   wouldn't have to drive so often. 

          5             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Exactly. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay, I see.  

          7   Thanks.  

          8             Why don't we take a break and we'll 

          9   reconvene at 11:35, 15 minutes.  Thank you. 

         10             (Recess taken.) 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Welcome back.  

         12             ANTON SIMON:  Thank you.  Mr. 

         13   McFarland? 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, sir.  

         15             ANTON SIMON:  If I may add something 

         16   for clarification? 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Please.  

         18             ANTON SIMON:  Okay.  I have a schematic 

         19   of one of our general population housing units 

         20   here. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great.  


                                                                      135

          1             ANTON SIMON:  The way they're divided 

          2   is, this side would be the AB side, this side 

          3   would be the CD side.  The AB side would hold 128 

          4   inmates, so my original number of 164 is wrong.  

          5   Each side, like AB and CD, each side has one 

          6   control center officer and one housing unit 

          7   caseworker.  

          8             FRED BRITTEN:  So this would be where 

          9   they come in the unit.  Okay?  And this is AB and 

         10   this is CD.  So here's the control center that 

         11   the major was talking about, and here's a wall 

         12   that divides this in half, so there's potentially 

         13   64 guys over here and potentially 64 guys over 

         14   here.  So this officer that sits here in this 

         15   control station can see the whole unit from his 

         16   control station.  And then the unit staff that 

         17   work here, also, that patrol this half -- this is 

         18   just half a unit.  But this is considered a unit; 

         19   this is a housing unit.  

         20             For example, this is 2, so this would 

         21   be housing unit 2-AB, this would be housing unit 


                                                                      136

          1   2-CD.  So there would be this control center 

          2   officer here and unit staff, and control center 

          3   officer here and unit staff.  

          4             So the other thing is that, they just 

          5   don't get to come and go as they please.  We run 

          6   doors on the hour.  So like five minutes before 

          7   the hour till five minutes after the hour, that's 

          8   doors.  Otherwise, the doors are shut down. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  

         10             FRED BRITTEN:  So you're either going 

         11   in or out of the unit, but when the doors are 

         12   over -- that's just a term we use, doors; but 

         13   when that is over, then there is no free flow of 

         14   traffic in and out of the unit. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  Okay.  

         16             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  While you're here, 

         17   where are the showers?  

         18             FRED BRITTEN:  The showers are -- well, 

         19   like right here are the showers.  Here and here 

         20   are the showers.  And here and here are the 

         21   showers.  Okay? 


                                                                      137

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is there a line of 

          2   sight from here into the showers, or no?  

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  There is no direct line 

          4   of sight into the showers; that's correct. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  

          6             FRED BRITTEN:  I don't know if that's 

          7   helpful or not, but I wanted to -- 

          8             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Thanks very much.  

          9   Thank you, Warden. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Thank you.  Just for 

         11   the record, can we make a copy of this?  

         12             FRED BRITTEN:  You may. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Thank you.  It's very 

         14   helpful.  This is Housing Unit 2, Area B, 

         15   first-level floor plan.  

         16             FRED BRITTEN:  All the units are 

         17   designed basically the same way. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And how many housing 

         19   units are there?  

         20             ANTON SIMON:  Three. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Three.  All right.  


                                                                      138

          1   So all three of them, and each of these four 

          2   wings has up to 64, capacity of 64 double-celled 

          3   inmates, correct?  

          4             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So did you say there 

          6   are three housing units?  

          7             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, there's three.  One 

          8   of those housing units does have our -- one of 

          9   those galleries would be the minimum, and the 

         10   opposite to that would be the substance abuse 

         11   units.  That's single-celled. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, okay.  

         13             ANTON SIMON:  Also, I forgot to add, 

         14   SMU. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Our Ad Seg, that would be 

         17   our fourth unit. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got it.  So that has 

         19   100 -- 

         20             ANTON SIMON:  That's 192-bed, 

         21   single-celled. 


                                                                      139

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So if I'm 

          2   doing the math right, we've got 64 in each wing, 

          3   times four wings, times three units, would be 

          4   768, but we have to reduce one of those units 

          5   because you have single-celled substance abuse as 

          6   well as -- did you say the minimums are in one of 

          7   these?  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And they're 

         10   single-celled, as well.  

         11             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And I believe, 

         13   for the record, I don't know if it was picked up, 

         14   that the warden was saying that there's not a 

         15   direct line of sight into the showers from the 

         16   control station that looks at AB wing or the 

         17   control station that looks at CD wing.  Did I get 

         18   that right, Warden?  

         19             FRED BRITTEN:  That's correct. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Thank you.  

         21             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  And just to follow -- 


                                                                      140

          1   up, did someone say that inmates are allowed to 

          2   shower at any time?  

          3             ANTON SIMON:  Anytime the day rooms are 

          4   open for their access, they can shower.  

          5             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  So they can walk 

          6   out and go and have a shower any time of the day 

          7   that they -- 

          8             ANTON SIMON:  They would have to go at 

          9   a set time when the doors are open, which is 

         10   usually the top of the hour; we'll give them a 

         11   ten-minute time frame when they can go to the 

         12   yard or the gym or come in or go to the shower.  

         13             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  And just as a 

         14   matter of course, how did you arrive at electing 

         15   to do something like that, rather than having 

         16   scheduled times?  Because I guess I'm wondering, 

         17   how does that interfere with the daily 

         18   activities, with the special programs, the 

         19   educational programs, recreational time, on and 

         20   on; how does that -- is there a conflict there?  

         21             ANTON SIMON:  I don't think so.  I 


                                                                      141

          1   think the inmates generally like it, because then 

          2   they can shower at the end of the day when they 

          3   come back from working in the laundry or back 

          4   from playing their ballgame in the gym, or, it's 

          5   up to them when they shower.  

          6             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I see. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Warden, did you have 

          8   something else you wanted -- 

          9             FRED BRITTEN:  I'm sorry, I just wanted 

         10   to add some clarification to this description of 

         11   the housing units, if I might approach you. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, please.  Please, 

         13   please, please.  

         14             FRED BRITTEN:  Okay.  Let me just give 

         15   you a general layout of the institution.  Housing 

         16   Units 2 and 3 are designed exactly the same, so 

         17   that schematic that you have here is exactly the 

         18   same for Housing Units 2 and 3.  But this housing 

         19   unit is, really, we consider there's two housing 

         20   units here.  

         21             Like, for example, here there's 3-AB, 


                                                                      142

          1   is a housing unit; 3-CD is a housing unit; 2-AB 

          2   is a housing unit; 2-CD is a housing unit.  Then 

          3   we get over to 1; 1 has a different design, 

          4   because originally when the facility was built, 

          5   we were looking to do more programming over here.  

          6   And then there is some of that that goes on over 

          7   there.  But because of the resources and so 

          8   forth, it didn't necessarily come to complete 

          9   fruition.  But if you look at Housing Unit 1, 

         10   this is Housing Unit 1-AB.

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  

         12             FRED BRITTEN:  This part of Housing 

         13   Unit 1 is double-celled.  So, in that respect, 

         14   Housing Unit 1 has 128 units, just like the other 

         15   AB or CD does.  But then we go on from there, 

         16   though, it's different.  These cells in Housing 

         17   Unit 1, this is 1-AB, these are double-celled.  

         18   But here's Housing Unit 1-CD; it's single-celled. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

         20             FRED BRITTEN:  And then 1-EF, it is 

         21   also single-celled.  And so over here on 1-E, 


                                                                      143

          1   this is where our substance abuse unit is. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got you.  

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  And 1-F is where our 

          4   minimum-custody inmates are housed. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got it.  

          6             FRED BRITTEN:  Okay?  And so in each 

          7   building, in Building 3, Building 2, and Building 

          8   1, there's 256 beds.  It just happens to be that 

          9   over here, in 1-CD and 1-EF, those are all single 

         10   bunks. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got you.  So I've got 

         12   it right then, just doing the math, A and B are 

         13   double-celled in Unit 1, so that's 128.  

         14             FRED BRITTEN:  Correct. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  C and D are 

         16   single-celled; that's 64.  

         17             FRED BRITTEN:  Right. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  E and F are also 

         19   single-celled, so that is another 64.  

         20             FRED BRITTEN:  Correct. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And then 2-A, Housing 


                                                                      144

          1   Unit 2 has 128. 

          2             FRED BRITTEN:  2-AB has 128. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And CD has 128.  

          4             FRED BRITTEN:  Correct. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And the same with 

          6   3-AB is 128 and 128.  

          7             FRED BRITTEN:  Correct. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  

          9             FRED BRITTEN:  I wanted to point out 

         10   Housing Unit 1, it was a little bit different by 

         11   design -- oh, I'm sorry. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  No, no, go ahead. 

         13             FRED BRITTEN:  And so as you can see 

         14   from these control centers in Housing Units 1, 

         15   these control centers can see directly into the 

         16   shower.  Like, so here's the control center, 

         17   here's the showers.  You see what I mean? 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  In 1.  

         19             FRED BRITTEN:  In 1. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Unlike 2 and 3.

         21             FRED BRITTEN:  Unlike 2 and 3, that's 


                                                                      145

          1   correct. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

          3             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Are those the 

          4   special management units?  

          5             FRED BRITTEN:  Well, when the facility 

          6   was originally designed back in the late '90s, it 

          7   was anticipated that this whole building would be 

          8   somehow set up for programming, and some of it 

          9   is.  We just didn't have the programming staff to 

         10   do it all.  And so this was meant to be a 

         11   substance abuse unit, this was meant to be more 

         12   of a mental health area, and this was meant to be 

         13   some sort of a transition area.  

         14             And so ultimately, because of needs, we 

         15   used them as we needed them.  And so this is 

         16   general population, this is general population.  

         17   We typically house inmates in 1-CD that have 

         18   been, for example, they've been in segregation 

         19   for a long period of time so we're transitioning 

         20   them back into the general population.  Or if we 

         21   have some inmates that have some issues that make 


                                                                      146

          1   it difficult for them to have a roommate, we'll 

          2   put them in 1-CD.  And then, of course, you 

          3   already know about E and F as far as the 

          4   substance abuse and the minimum custody. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Where's the SHU?  

          6             FRED BRITTEN:  Pardon me? 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I'm sorry, the SMU?  

          8             FRED BRITTEN:  Oh, the special 

          9   management unit? 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, sir.  

         11             FRED BRITTEN:  That's down here in the 

         12   back part of the institution.  That 192-bed 

         13   special management unit, it's completely 

         14   separated from the rest of the institution.  

         15             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I see. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So there are 768 

         17   inmates, if you're at capacity. 

         18             FRED BRITTEN:  Right. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  In Housing Units 1, 

         20   2, and 3, and another 192 in SMU?  

         21             FRED BRITTEN:  Right.  We're a 960-bed 


                                                                      147

          1   facility. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got it.  

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  Okay? 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great, thank you.  

          5             FRED BRITTEN:  Thank you. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And what's the count 

          7   as of today, or yesterday?  

          8             FRED BRITTEN:  Well, when we left, it 

          9   was, I think, 915. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And was the Ad 

         11   Seg -- Mr. Hansen, is the Ad Seg filled?  

         12             BRAD HANSEN:  I wouldn't know that.  

         13   You'd have to ask Tony that. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, I'm sorry.  Tony? 

         15             ANTON SIMON:  Our count at Ad Seg has 

         16   been running about 170, 174. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  This is very helpful.  

         18   Thank you.  

         19             Oh, are there female officers who are 

         20   assigned to the housing units, either in the 

         21   control room or as unit caseworkers?  


                                                                      148

          1             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, there are. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And all shifts 

          3   have female officers in the residential units; is 

          4   that right?  

          5             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And is there 

          7   any -- are there any special restrictions or 

          8   rules that apply to female officers working in 

          9   the residential units?  

         10             ANTON SIMON:  Referring to just general 

         11   rules? 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  What they can or 

         13   can't do.  Can they do anything that a male -- 

         14   are they allowed to do anything that a male CO is 

         15   allowed to do?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  No.  Females are not 

         17   allowed to strip search an inmate, unless it's at 

         18   a time of emergency. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

         20             ANTON SIMON:  But females are permitted 

         21   to perform pat searches.  They can do cell 


                                                                      149

          1   searches. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  With a pat search, 

          3   can an officer touch genitalia, you know, private 

          4   areas?  

          5             ANTON SIMON:  Touch? 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Touch.  

          7             ANTON SIMON:  We instruct them, when 

          8   they place their hands on the legs, to go up, 

          9   have brief and incidental contact, and then go 

         10   down. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And incidental 

         12   -- brief, incidental contact with the groin area? 

         13             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And what about 

         15   the rectal area?  That would probably include -- 

         16             ANTON SIMON:  It's one area. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  It's one area?  Okay.  

         18   And you don't have any female inmates?  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  No, we do not. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  And so a 

         21   female officer may conduct a patdown that 


                                                                      150

          1   includes brief, incidental contact with the groin 

          2   area of a male inmate.  

          3             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Get any complaints 

          5   about that from the inmates?  

          6             ANTON SIMON:  Complaints about pat 

          7   searches? 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That a female can do 

          9   a patdown like that?  

         10             ANTON SIMON:  No, I have not. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Captain, did you ever 

         12   hear about any grief from inmates about that?  

         13             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Oh, I can't say 

         14   specifically a case, but I'm sure there has been, 

         15   where they're too thorough or something like 

         16   that. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  

         18             RICH BRITTENHAM:  But specifically, I 

         19   can't recall a situation, inmate or a staff 

         20   person. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I take it these 


                                                                      151

          1   inmates file a lot of grievances; is that fair?  

          2   You wouldn't see the grievances.  

          3             ANTON SIMON:  I don't normally see 

          4   grievances, correct. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Captain, do 

          6   you see the grievances?  

          7             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Not as a rule, I 

          8   don't see them. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  We'll say that 

         10   -- everybody is pointing at Ms. Hillman.  

         11             RICH BRITTENHAM:  They do have the 

         12   opportunity to file an emergency grievance which 

         13   Tony would have to deal with within 24 hours. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

         15             RICH BRITTENHAM:  So if they filed one 

         16   at 5:00 at night, it would go to Tony.  Now, 

         17   Tony, Lieutenant Simon, has the option of calling 

         18   what we have as ODs or something, for advice, or 

         19   to find out what is going on, you know, get a 

         20   report from staff or whatever the case may be. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  


                                                                      152

          1             RICH BRITTENHAM:  So they do have that 

          2   emergency grievance, which it has to be responded 

          3   to and back within 24 hours. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Do you want to 

          5   say something, Lieutenant?  Oh, okay.  

          6             What about the gender of the 

          7   correctional officers working in 1-F, the 

          8   minimum-security population; that includes women,

          9   as well?  

         10             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, it does. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And 1-C, 1-D, 

         12   1-E, and 1-F are all single-celled?  

         13             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Am I correct that a 

         15   correctional officer can enter a single cell?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Enter it for? 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  For any reason:  

         18   search, patdown. 

         19             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Strip search?  

         21             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, you are correct. 


                                                                      153

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  But a female 

          2   officer is not supposed to be in a cell doing a 

          3   strip search of an inmate; is that correct?  

          4             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, that is. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Has that ever 

          6   happened?  

          7             ANTON SIMON:  Not to my knowledge. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And when an 

          9   inmate -- I'm sorry, when a correctional officer 

         10   enters a cell, in the single -- in any of the 

         11   single-celled areas, which would be, I guess, all 

         12   in Unit 1?  

         13             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Are they supposed to 

         15   be accompanied by another officer, or is it 

         16   possible and permissible for a single officer to 

         17   approach and enter a cell by himself, a single 

         18   cell by himself?  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  It is possible and it is 

         20   permissible. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And the person 


                                                                      154

          1   at the control center could see that a single 

          2   officer went into a cell but wouldn't be able to 

          3   see what was going on in there; is that correct? 

          4             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And when an officer 

          6   enters a single cell, does the officer have to 

          7   document, tell anybody what he or she did or 

          8   didn't do?  There's no policy that says you've 

          9   got to write down, I entered Cell 1-E, 12:22, to 

         10   do the following?  

         11             ANTON SIMON:  No, there is not. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  And you 

         13   don't keep a tape of the video; is that correct? 

         14             ANTON SIMON:  That is correct. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  So it's 

         16   not going to be like there is any evidence of how 

         17   long the correctional officer went into the cell 

         18   and when he or she came out; is that correct?  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  Other than the control 

         20   center officer who would be working on that unit.

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And he's got, in the 


                                                                      155

          1   case of 1-E and F and 1-C and D, that control 

          2   officer is looking at 64 cells; is that right?  

          3             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, it is. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  At any one time.  And 

          5   these are single-tier; there's not two-story, 

          6   right?  

          7             ANTON SIMON:  These are double-tiered. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  They are 

          9   double-tiered?  

         10             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, they are. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  Now, is 

         12   it fair to say that the officer at the control 

         13   desk -- is that the name of it, control desk?  

         14             ANTON SIMON:  We call them control 

         15   centers.

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Control centers, that 

         17   officer has TV monitors; is that right? 

         18             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And has some line of 

         20   sight, as the warden has indicated, some line of 

         21   sight of the doors of their wing; is that 


                                                                      156

          1   correct?  

          2             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But not, except for 

          4   maybe -- it looks like someone sitting at the 

          5   control center might be able to see into 

          6   partially a couple of the cells in 1-E and F or C 

          7   and D, but generally he's not going to be able to 

          8   see either by camera or line of sight; is that 

          9   correct?  

         10             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, it is.

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And not going to be 

         12   able to see into the showers from the control 

         13   center; is that right?  

         14             ANTON SIMON:  In that unit they can. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  E and F you can.  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.  Housing Unit 1, 

         17   they can see in the showers. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  2 and 3 they cannot. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  2 and 3 you can't. 

         21   All right.  And, well, what's the line of sight 


                                                                      157

          1   from the control center up on the second tier; 

          2   can you see even less of that, or -- 

          3             ANTON SIMON:  No, they can see 

          4   everything on the upper tier.  Our tiers, the 

          5   upper tier only has a three- or four-foot walkway 

          6   in front of the cell doors. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So it's not a 

          8   whole lot of overhang -- 

          9             ANTON SIMON:  Correct.

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  -- to block your 

         11   view, okay.  

         12             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And I take it that 

         14   there's just a railing and not a half wall. 

         15             ANTON SIMON:  There is a railing, yes. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Captain, was 

         17   there ever any discussion when you were at 

         18   Tecumseh about keeping a tape of the video 

         19   surveillance, you know, for 30 days or 60 days?  

         20             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Oh, I'm sure there 

         21   was, but I can't recall.  I would think -- we had 


                                                                      158

          1   four VCRs, a rack which you had to access through 

          2   our central control into the armory to 

          3   accentuate, to start them.  And so it was a 

          4   little difficult.  Now, they were -- before I 

          5   left, they were working on an upgrade to put the 

          6   VCRs out into central control, which would be 

          7   easily accessible to push record. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  

          9             RICH BRITTENHAM:  But you had to go 

         10   into a sub-room off of the central control to the 

         11   VCRs to record.

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  To start it, I see.  

         13             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Yeah, exactly. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Mr. Director, did you 

         15   want to say something? 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  We now have a 

         17   full-time electronics person and -- specifically 

         18   working on cameras for the department.  And our 

         19   overall -- we have a proposal out there, which is 

         20   quite expensive and not something I think that 

         21   we're going to get right away, in which we want 


                                                                      159

          1   to have a front-end project on our large 

          2   facilities, expand the front entrance.  We want 

          3   to put in cameras, and we do some of the control 

          4   centers with the idea of having, A, more cameras 

          5   throughout all of our institutions.  Number two, 

          6   we want those to be continually recorded and 

          7   permanently hold those.  And number three, we 

          8   want to get to video visitation as an option.  

          9   Not to take away personal contact between the 

         10   inmates and their family, but to supplement that.  

         11   So that's where we're going. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's great.  That's 

         13   wonderful.  Mr. Director, before you go, you said 

         14   it's quite expensive and you're probably not 

         15   going to get it for a while.  Is there some plan 

         16   that if you got whatever money you could get 

         17   towards this purpose -- have you considered 

         18   starting with Tecumseh, given this report, rather 

         19   than waiting until you could do it to all the 

         20   facilities?  I mean, Tecumseh has got death row, 

         21   it's got your worst eggs, as you say, and you've 


                                                                      160

          1   got a really disastrous report about misconduct.  

          2   So could you start there?  

          3             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Tecumseh lends itself 

          4   to be the place where we would start because it's 

          5   got the latest and newest technology.  

          6             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Exactly. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great.  Thank you.  

          8             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Mr. McFarland, 

          9   Lieutenant Simon told me that central control 

         10   does have the ability to record in central 

         11   control.  I am not in there that often, so I 

         12   couldn't have told you that.  He could probably 

         13   answer better to that. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Lieutenant, 

         15   tell us about that.  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Well, it is a 

         17   touch-screen computer.  All they have to do is 

         18   hit a couple buttons to turn the camera on and 

         19   then hit another button to record that camera. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  

         21             ANTON SIMON:  A supervisor would have 


                                                                      161

          1   to remove the tape from the VCR, however.  The 

          2   staff working our central control don't have 

          3   access to the VCRs, but they do have the ability 

          4   to record. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And what's 

          6   your understanding of what they record and what 

          7   they don't right now?  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  Unless somebody tells 

          9   them to record something, unless certain staff 

         10   throughout the facility call them up and say 

         11   record this camera, they don't normally record. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  And 

         13   similarly, if somebody wanted to be sure that 

         14   something wasn't recorded, like the supervisor is 

         15   the only one that can change the VCR?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Mm-hmm. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is that logged in and 

         18   out, the tape, or do you know?  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, we do -- when we 

         20   change the tapes or if we remove a tape for a 

         21   certain reason, we do log that. 


                                                                      162

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But only supervisors 

          2   can do that.  

          3             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Namely, yourself.  

          5             ANTON SIMON:  Right. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got you. 

          7             ROBERT HOUSTON:  If I could add one 

          8   more thing to it? 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes. 

         10             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Also, we're putting 

         11   our cameras onto the Internet, so I can actually, 

         12   very shortly, in fact I can now with some of the 

         13   institutions, I can watch the cameras unbeknownst 

         14   to the institutional staff. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great. 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  And so that's the 

         17   technology.  And again, this person specifically, 

         18   their full-time job is to move that forward.  

         19   Also, the Tecumseh cameras --

         20             You have in your office?  

         21             FRED BRITTEN:  Correct. 


                                                                      163

          1             ROBERT HOUSTON:  So Warden can also, 

          2   and I know Fred does throughout the day, watch 

          3   the cameras as he goes about his other business. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  You know, just as, 

          5   for what it's worth, some systems that have 

          6   cameras, some prison systems have told us that 

          7   they can't afford to have staff just sitting 24/7 

          8   watching monitors, but that they felt that there 

          9   is a prophylactic or a preventative benefit of 

         10   having an eye in the sky in the residential 

         11   areas, where everyone knows it's being taped, so 

         12   you never know if someone is actually watching 

         13   but you know that it can be reviewed.  

         14             And so that's something you might want 

         15   to consider about the importance of taping it.  

         16   Even if -- it just might get the word around 

         17   among inmates:  We're always watching, and just 

         18   because you see that Joe at the control center 

         19   isn't looking at his monitor but he's being 

         20   distracted by somebody who's talking to him or 

         21   he's opening the doors over there, there's always 


                                                                      164

          1   visual -- it's being taped.  If he doesn't see it, 

          2   it's still being taped.  Somebody is going to 

          3   review it.  The warden might be watching it; the 

          4   director might be watching it.  Right now, I 

          5   suspect, everybody knows nothing is taped unless 

          6   Lieutenant Simon said so. 

          7             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Well, that's exactly 

          8   where we want to go. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes. 

         10             ROBERT HOUSTON:  And let me take it one 

         11   step further.  Before I became deputy director, I 

         12   was warden of our youth facility, where we do 

         13   have continuous recording, and the inmates would 

         14   go up to the staff member and say, I'd check out 

         15   A Wing from last night.  And they just keep on 

         16   walking.  They wouldn't say anything beyond that.  

         17   When we get those incident reports, those would 

         18   then follow the process that was described here 

         19   today at the youth facility, and then the 

         20   lieutenant and the, there, the captain, would 

         21   then pull out the video from the evening before 


                                                                      165

          1   and go through it.  And we've discovered fights, 

          2   or exchanges of contraband, or those types of 

          3   things that the officers might have missed.  

          4             And the inmates, they don't have any 

          5   particular interest in getting after the inmate, 

          6   but they want it to run calmly, and a lot of 

          7   misconduct reports and discipline came out of 

          8   that. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's great.  So you 

         10   might have more than five incident reports on 

         11   sexual assault in an entire year if you made it 

         12   that easy for somebody to give you a tip. 

         13             ROBERT HOUSTON:  It could be.  And 

         14   other types of misbehavior. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, sure.  

         16             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I do have several 

         17   questions, I think.  I'd like to find out about 

         18   those relationships between staff and inmates, 

         19   those infractions, misconduct.  Are they 

         20   generally between males and females?  Or might 

         21   they be homosexual relationships, as well?  


                                                                      166

          1             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I would estimate that 

          2   the majority of them would be between male and 

          3   female. 

          4             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Male and female.  

          5   Do you have any idea of the staff most likely to 

          6   commit infractions?  Have you kind of looked at 

          7   what might typify an individual who might cross 

          8   the line, in your experience?  You have 

          9   considerable experience along those lines, 

         10   Captain.  

         11             RICH BRITTENHAM:  It would be a best 

         12   guess or an educated -- I wouldn't say educated, 

         13   but a best guess.  

         14             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  We'll take your 

         15   best guess.  

         16             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Thank you.  I would 

         17   say somebody who has attention given to them, 

         18   maybe that they wouldn't get attention normally, 

         19   whether it's a physical characteristic or 

         20   whatever the case may be, but that would be my 

         21   best guess.  Somebody who would -- had some 


                                                                      167

          1   attention given to them. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  By an inmate?  

          3             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Yeah, by an inmate, 

          4   that they might not normally get by staff or 

          5   something, or at home or whatever the case may 

          6   be.  You know, that here's somebody who's 

          7   treating me special or something like that, that 

          8   they might not normally get.  

          9             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Lieutenant, you 

         10   mentioned that rumors fly around an institution 

         11   among staff, among inmates.  Is it your sense 

         12   that inmates are aware of these relationships 

         13   between staff and inmates?  Is it widely known?  

         14   Is it discussed?  Taken for granted?  Is it a 

         15   matter of, well, nice work if you can get it?  

         16   Just how do folks perceive, or is that an 

         17   atmosphere?  

         18             ANTON SIMON:  Well, I guess I don't 

         19   really know.  I would assume usually that the 

         20   inmate population would know, but at the same 

         21   time, if the whole inmate population would know, 


                                                                      168

          1   we'd end up having one inmate come forward and 

          2   say, this staff is doing this.  So I guess I 

          3   don't really know.  

          4             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  So somebody might 

          5   out that relationship?  

          6             ANTON SIMON:  Right.  

          7             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Use it in one way 

          8   or another.  

          9             ANTON SIMON:  Right.  

         10             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I see.  If I may, 

         11   I'd like to direct some questions to you, Mr. 

         12   Hansen.  

         13             BRAD HANSEN:  Sure.  

         14             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  You are our PREA 

         15   person.  

         16             BRAD HANSEN:  Correct.  

         17             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Concerned with 

         18   those issues related to sexual assault.  

         19             BRAD HANSEN:  Yes.  

         20             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Now, as I 

         21   understand it, you do have a SART team.  


                                                                      169

          1             BRAD HANSEN:  We do not have a SART 

          2   team, an official SART team.  What we do have is, 

          3   in each institution is members such as our 

          4   professional mental health.  We don't identify 

          5   them as SART, but that's who would be involved in 

          6   that.  We have our chaplaincy services, if we do 

          7   that.  We have our health services that would 

          8   respond initially if an inmate claimed that he or 

          9   she was sexually assaulted.  And eventually, 

         10   within a day or maybe the same day, our 

         11   investigators might become part of that team in 

         12   trying to piece together what is going on.  

         13             But in all cases, I think we've got the 

         14   professional staff in place to deal with the 

         15   emotional conflict that can happen to an inmate 

         16   if they were sexually assaulted, but we don't 

         17   specifically call them a SART team.  

         18             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I see, but you have 

         19   the components.  

         20             BRAD HANSEN:  We have the components.  

         21             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  You've got a team 


                                                                      170

          1   compiled of individuals who are knowledgeable 

          2   about sexual assault, have been trained, and have 

          3   the ability to respond in specific areas to the 

          4   needs of those inmates.  

          5             BRAD HANSEN:  That's correct.  

          6             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  In your experience, 

          7   can you recall any instances where the team went 

          8   into operation because there was a sexual 

          9   assault, that you can share with us?  

         10             BRAD HANSEN:  No.  Inmate-on-inmate, 

         11   there was -- we've only had -- since our Division 

         12   of Investigation -- let me give you a little 

         13   background on our investigative division.  

         14             We've been in existence for four and a 

         15   half years.  Up until that time, if an inmate 

         16   claimed that he was sexually assaulted, we would 

         17   automatically call the State Patrol.  They would 

         18   come in and do the investigation, or any criminal 

         19   activity.  Most of the time, State Patrol would 

         20   only show up if it was severe injury, sexual -- 

         21   something of a high nature. 


                                                                      171

          1             Any kind of contraband issue, letters 

          2   being sent between staff and inmates, and some of 

          3   those things would more than likely never get 

          4   charged, even though we have a law on the book -- 

          5   on the books, that we could charge them with a 

          6   felony.  A lot of times a staff were disciplined 

          7   or allowed to quit, and there was no pursuit 

          8   after that. 

          9              When we started our Division of 

         10   Investigation, we started with two -- we still 

         11   have two, but what we did was hire from within 

         12   our facility, so they'd have good ideas of how 

         13   the institutions worked, had good rapport with 

         14   not only staff, but I wanted to make sure that 

         15   they had good rapport with inmates, so that 

         16   inmates would view them as ethical and fair.  And 

         17   then we sent them to our Nebraska law enforcement 

         18   training so they're certified law enforcement 

         19   officers, so they could arrest and detain.  

         20             So our policy, as you were speaking to 

         21   Mr. Houston, it does require us in a staff -- any 


                                                                      172

          1   kind of staff criminal activity, we have to call 

          2   the State Patrol.  Practice is, State Patrol will 

          3   then talk to our investigators, start the initial 

          4   investigation, but fundamentally we're under 

          5   their jurisdiction of the investigation.  And 

          6   sexual assault, we will again be under the 

          7   jurisdiction of the State Patrol.  We would do a 

          8   lot of the leg work.  If we initially find, boy, 

          9   something's -- we got some initial evidence, 

         10   they'll come in really quickly and assist us and 

         11   we assist them on putting together the product to 

         12   turn in.  

         13             So since that time, I can remember 

         14   there has been two instances at other 

         15   institutions where an inmate claimed that they 

         16   were sexually assaulted.  We called the State 

         17   Patrol.  We sent them -- our policy is, an inmate 

         18   who claims that they were recently sexually 

         19   assaulted where there might be evidence still in 

         20   play, 24 to 72 hours, we would take them to our 

         21   local hospitals.  We have mutual aid agreements 


                                                                      173

          1   with our hospitals.  They have SANE nurses that 

          2   are qualified to do that.  And we immediately 

          3   take them out there under escort. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  By SANE, sexual 

          5   assault nurse examiners?  

          6             BRAD HANSEN:  Examiner, that's correct.  

          7   We don't -- and that's our policy in our 

          8   department.  I know some states will have their 

          9   own SANE nurses, but it's developed in our 

         10   department that it feels better to us that we get 

         11   an outside, objective person really taking a look 

         12   at it, and so that's why we haven't trained any 

         13   nurses that we have within our department.  

         14             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  How are the inmates 

         15   transported, in the company of two, three?  

         16             BRAD HANSEN:  It would depend on the 

         17   custody, but there's probably two staff with 

         18   them. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Well, folks coming to 

         20   Tecumseh, unless they were from the minimum GP, 

         21   Tecumseh inmates would be accompanied by how many 


                                                                      174

          1   to the hospital?  

          2             BRAD HANSEN:  At least two, yeah.  

          3             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Two staff and full 

          4   restraints is how we would send them out.  Even 

          5   the minimums, we --

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, is that right?  

          7             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Well, we did when I 

          8   was -- yeah, we did it that way. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is that still the 

         10   case, Lieutenant?  

         11             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, it is. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

         13             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Do you begin a 

         14   chain of custody before leaving and collecting 

         15   clothing and then offering the inmate a fresh 

         16   change of clothing, or how do you -- 

         17             BRAD HANSEN:  One of the things that 

         18   we've discovered -- you asked what have we 

         19   learned since the report came.  As I told Mr. 

         20   Houston, I don't know, a couple weeks ago, what 

         21   it's done is really focused us on a lot of the 


                                                                      175

          1   steps that we should be taking.  

          2             What would happen is, if in Tecumseh an 

          3   inmate came up to say, Lieutenant Simon, say, 

          4   I've just been sexually assaulted, they would 

          5   call my office, either myself, one of the 

          6   investigators, and they also know if they can't 

          7   get one of us they'd call the State Patrol 

          8   immediately, and the process would begin.  

          9             Our investigators or the State Patrol 

         10   would tell them or instruct them the proper 

         11   procedures to take, so that evidence is retained.  

         12   If the inmate has told us where the incident 

         13   occurred, that cell would be locked down.  And 

         14   then either the investigator or the State Patrol 

         15   would meet the -- go to the hospital and then 

         16   continue with the evidence collection there 

         17   through that.  

         18             So one of the things that I learned is, 

         19   I think that we could do a little better job on, 

         20   is provide some training with those -- that line 

         21   staff and shift supervisors, particularly about 


                                                                      176

          1   -- everybody knows to lock the cell down, but 

          2   particularly when we're going to do a strip 

          3   search before that inmate goes out, probably, or 

          4   medical -- if it just occurred and there's going 

          5   to be some medical injuries or something, we'll do 

          6   a medical.  And we need some initial instruction 

          7   for them on how to maintain that custody of 

          8   evidence.  

          9             Now, if they immediately got a hold of 

         10   an investigator, we could tell them that, but, 

         11   you know, there's sometimes gaps there, and I 

         12   think I need -- we need, as a department, to 

         13   cover that gap and provide a little training on 

         14   the evidence collection, from the inmate coming 

         15   up and telling us and maybe the doctor seeing 

         16   them, the nurse seeing them, and then something 

         17   has happened, and then out they go.  

         18             So there's -- I don't know; I think you 

         19   understand what I'm talking about; there's a gap 

         20   there.  

         21             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  You indicated that 


                                                                      177

          1   you prefer to use the independent nurses, and 

          2   that's fine; however, I would suggest that SANE 

          3   nurses are an excellent source for training.  

          4   They understand -- 

          5             BRAD HANSEN:  That's a good point.  

          6             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  -- the entire, 

          7   entire process, and are willing to do that.  

          8   That's part of their charter.  

          9             BRAD HANSEN:  Right.  

         10             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  So getting them on 

         11   board to provide training is an excellent idea.  

         12             BRAD HANSEN:  I attended some PREA 

         13   training, in 2006, I think, and one of the -- I 

         14   think it was for four hours; a SANE nurse came 

         15   in, provided a wealth of information to our 

         16   department.  So I agree with you.  

         17             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  And not only are 

         18   they on in terms of the medical portion and the 

         19   evidence and testifying in court, they also are 

         20   required to have a victim services track in their 

         21   training, so they're very, very much on top of 


                                                                      178

          1   the psychological impact of sexual assault on its 

          2   victims.  

          3             DAVE THOMAS:  Ms. Ellis, if I may?  

          4             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Yes, sir.  

          5             DAVE THOMAS:  Director Houston and 

          6   Warden Britten have both encouraged me to seek 

          7   some information on SANE nursing, which I have, 

          8   and I've got a couple articles, one from John 

          9   Hopkins School of Nursing on the clinical 

         10   requirements for SANE nurses.  And it's something 

         11   that they certainly have encouraged that we work 

         12   towards to continue to give our patients a 

         13   community standard of care.  It's certainly 

         14   something that will probably come out in the 

         15   recommendations from your committee here, and 

         16   it's certainly something that we will take a look 

         17   at and move forward towards SANE nurses.  

         18             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Excellent.  Now, 

         19   when that individual, when that inmate is being 

         20   transported, when do you begin to address the 

         21   emotional needs?  


                                                                      179

          1             BRAD HANSEN:  The institutional staff, 

          2   I have to talk to that, but we are very -- the 

          3   investigators can refer them to mental health, 

          4   and I know it's not uncommon, because I've worked 

          5   in the institution, too.  It's very common for 

          6   staff to refer inmates to mental health, make 

          7   sure mental health is notified that there's going 

          8   to be some issues.  Now, in that case, there's 

          9   always a mental health OD, if it happened at 

         10   night when they're not on staff, and they would 

         11   either come out or, depending on the time they 

         12   start, first thing in the morning, they're going 

         13   to bring that -- bring that inmate up and start 

         14   talking to them. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is that the usual 

         16   practice, or is that the required practice?  

         17             BRAD HANSEN:  I think it's required -- 

         18   I couldn't tell you whether it's in policy, but I 

         19   remember that it was required practice, that if a 

         20   staff member discovered an inmate having 

         21   problems, whether it be sexual assault or not, 


                                                                      180

          1   there's referrals always made to mental health, 

          2   for their safety and concern for the inmates.  

          3             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Do staff receive 

          4   any special cross-gender training?  Question for 

          5   anyone on the panel.  

          6             BRAD HANSEN:  I'm not sure about that. 

          7             RICH BRITTENHAM:  What do you mean by 

          8   cross-gender?  

          9             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  A training that 

         10   would deal with being able to address the issues 

         11   associated across gender.  

         12             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I'm not aware of any. 

         13             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Let me see if I can 

         14   respond to that.  We do have the cross-gender 

         15   training when it comes to searches and of that 

         16   sort, but as far as having cross-gender where we 

         17   discuss issues and so forth, in our department, 

         18   past or forward, as we developed and brought more 

         19   -- introduced more women into our agency, we did 

         20   have different pockets of addressing those 

         21   issues.  


                                                                      181

          1             We do have the staff, especially the 

          2   female staff, that are very mature, very good, 

          3   very seasoned at what they do, that really spend 

          4   a lot of time.  I think that's an area where we 

          5   can do better, and certainly will, because my 

          6   women employees tell me that the new women coming 

          7   into the department do need to have a little bit 

          8   more mentoring concerning the games that inmates 

          9   will play with them.  What I referred to earlier, 

         10   also, has to do with the training that we're 

         11   introducing into our academy about the things 

         12   that -- trying to redirect inmate comments.  A big 

         13   piece of that has to do with the gender-specific 

         14   comments.  

         15             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Absolutely, 

         16   absolutely.  For custody and noncustody staff. 

         17             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Absolutely.  

         18             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  How would you 

         19   generally compare the turnover rate of male and 

         20   female staff?  

         21             BRAD HANSEN:  I wouldn't know that.  


                                                                      182

          1             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I don't know if I 

          2   would say it's higher in females or males.  I 

          3   couldn't tell you which would be higher.  I would 

          4   think the numbers in itself would be higher for 

          5   males because there's more males in the custody 

          6   than females, but I wouldn't know percentages. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  We'll ask the warden 

          8   later when he's up.  

          9             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  And also, I will 

         10   zero in on questions regarding the 

         11   highest-ranking female.  

         12             BRAD HANSEN:  I'm sorry?  

         13             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  The highest-ranking 

         14   female.  

         15             BRAD HANSEN:  We do that.  Deputy 

         16   director.  

         17             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Oh, good, 

         18   excellent.  I had another question specific to -- 

         19   I suppose for your staff -- that you have an array 

         20   of resources in addressing the special needs of 

         21   staff, psychological needs, emotional needs.  


                                                                      183

          1   What's available for staff if they're getting a 

          2   little weary on duty and would just necessarily 

          3   like to talk with someone informally, as well as 

          4   someone is seeking something a little more 

          5   serious in terms of meeting their needs for 

          6   stress and burnout?  

          7             BRAD HANSEN:  We have an EAP program 

          8   that's available.  We advertise -- I mean, we get 

          9   that information in pre-service.  We have posters 

         10   out so that we really are assertive in making 

         11   sure staff are aware that they have those 

         12   services, as well as that it's appropriate to 

         13   seek those services when they need help. 

         14             Unfortunately, in corrections, 

         15   sometimes, we're like law enforcement sometimes; 

         16   we don't like to admit that we're having 

         17   troubles; and we're trying to break that kind of 

         18   cycle, I think.  In emergencies, we have a system 

         19   which we call emergency staff services, which we 

         20   would immediately deal with somebody who has been 

         21   injured or has witnessed somebody who's been 


                                                                      184

          1   injured or taken hostage.  We have a special 

          2   support function that has stood up to deal with 

          3   staff.  

          4             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Your support for 

          5   those -- 

          6             BRAD HANSEN:  Yes, CISM, stress 

          7   debriefing.  

          8             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Exactly.  Because 

          9   this is very difficult and highly stressful work 

         10   for staff in institutions of this nature.  

         11             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Classification 

         12   questions, is that going to be somebody else? 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Who does the risk 

         14   assessment and classification of potential sexual 

         15   predators and potential sexual victims?  Would 

         16   that be Michele?  

         17             (No audible response.) 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And how 

         19   about -- who does the classifications on change

         20   of security level, custody level?  And how about 

         21   housing assignments?  


                                                                      185

          1             (No audible response.)

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Anything else? 

          3             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  No, other than I 

          4   appreciate your candor.  Thank you. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I have some more, if 

          6   I may.  

          7             Mr. Thomas, who is -- you head up all 

          8   the health services for the whole department; is 

          9   that correct?  Or is it just Tecumseh? 

         10             DAVE THOMAS:  Just Tecumseh.

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And how many 

         12   staff do you have, how many nurses, physician 

         13   assistants, physicians at Tecumseh?  

         14             DAVE THOMAS:  I have 15 full-time 

         15   equivalent nurses, a mix of RNs and LPNs.  I have 

         16   four full-time pharmacy techs.  I have a 

         17   full-time physician's assistant; one full-time 

         18   medical director, doctor.  I have .5 FTE or a 

         19   half-time position of a psychiatrist.  I have a 

         20   full-time dentist, and a part-time optometrist. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And are you 


                                                                      186

          1   physically officed at Tecumseh?  

          2             DAVE THOMAS:  Yes, sir.

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And so you're 

          4   there during what period of time? 

          5             DAVE THOMAS:  I'm there typically from 

          6   6 a.m. in the morning till about 3 to 3:30 in the 

          7   afternoon, Monday through Friday. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

          9             DAVE THOMAS:  On call 24/7. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  

         11             DAVE THOMAS:  Thank you.  I also have, 

         12   besides myself as health service administrator, I 

         13   have a full-time director of nursing, also. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, okay.  When do 

         15   any of your medical staff have direct contact or 

         16   communication with inmates?  

         17             DAVE THOMAS:  We have a unique setup in 

         18   Tecumseh that's called open sick call, where our 

         19   inmates have immediate access every day to 

         20   medical providers.  From 8:00 in the morning till 

         21   11:30, open sick call runs.  And then also from 


                                                                      187

          1   12:30 till 3:00 in the afternoon, open sick call 

          2   runs.  That means while the inmates are out of 

          3   their housing units, they can walk over, they are 

          4   triaged immediately by a nurse in open sick call, 

          5   and the nurse will make the decision at that 

          6   point whether it can be handled by the nurse, 

          7   whether it needs to go to a physician's 

          8   assistant, or whether it needs to be elevated to 

          9   the doctor at that point.  

         10             They can also send health service 

         11   requests through the inter-institution mail 

         12   system and request any type of care, also, dental 

         13   care, eye care, to see Dr. Baker, the 

         14   psychiatrist, to see the chronic care nurse. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Where do they get 

         16   those forms to request a medical appointment?  

         17             DAVE THOMAS:  A couple places:  They 

         18   can get them at medical, or they're also 

         19   available on the housing units. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And would they have 

         21   to ask a CO for it?  


                                                                      188

          1             DAVE THOMAS:  I don't believe so.  I 

          2   think those are available just out in the open.  

          3   I can't answer that. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Lieutenant Simon?  

          5             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, they would.  They'd 

          6   have to ask the control center officer for that 

          7   form. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So it's not 

          9   like there's a pack of them hanging on the wall 

         10   and you can just walk by, grab a form, and so 

         11   forth.  

         12             ANTON SIMON:  There is a pack sitting 

         13   outside of our clinic door, where they can walk 

         14   by and take one, though. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  The clinic door is in 

         16   the medical clinic?  

         17             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So unless they 

         19   go by the medical clinic, they're going to need 

         20   to ask an officer to get a sick call request 

         21   form?  


                                                                      189

          1             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.  

          2             DAVE THOMAS:  Once again, that's just 

          3   one way that they can access medical. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  

          5             DAVE THOMAS:  There's a lot of 

          6   different ways you can access medical. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Any other ways they 

          8   could get the word to any of your staff that they 

          9   need to be seen?  

         10             DAVE THOMAS:  Absolutely.  I think they 

         11   have -- and you'd have to ask Ms. Hillman for 

         12   sure, but I think in each of the rooms they have 

         13   a call button where they can access if they're 

         14   having trouble.  Emergency response teams can 

         15   react to emergencies on the yard or in the 

         16   housing units.  Open sick call, again.  There's a 

         17   lot of different ways that they can access health 

         18   care at the facility.  

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And would they have 

         20   to be ready to leave during the five or ten 

         21   minutes that the doors are open in order to go to 


                                                                      190

          1   an appointment, or would you allow them to leave 

          2   a unit, Lieutenant, if they had an appointment or 

          3   wanted to go and get an appointment?  

          4             ANTON SIMON:  Okay.  For open sick 

          5   call, they would either have to go after 

          6   breakfast or at doors.  However, if they have a 

          7   scheduled appointment, they would be issued a 

          8   pass and would be allowed to leave at any time 

          9   that pass is for. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So if they had 

         11   got a form and didn't have to ask -- I'm trying 

         12   to explore with you -- if someone had been raped 

         13   by their cellmate or by an officer in the 

         14   residential unit, the victim might be fearful of 

         15   repercussions for reporting it, so he wants to be 

         16   rather discreet, and so I'm just wondering, if 

         17   you didn't want to ask an officer in the sight of 

         18   the perpetrator, officer, for a sick call, you 

         19   don't have an appointment, you didn't go -- you 

         20   don't have a stack of forms that you've picked up 

         21   from the medical clinic, how could you 


                                                                      191

          1   discreetly -- how could a victim discreetly get the 

          2   word out without the CO or the caseworker finding 

          3   out that I need to be seen, I need to be seen 

          4   now, and without the entire world and everybody 

          5   in the dorm knowing that something is going on, 

          6   and he's just snitched?  

          7             ANTON SIMON:  Well, there's other staff 

          8   on duty other than the one caseworker throughout 

          9   the day. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure, so he may be 

         11   off his shift.  

         12             ANTON SIMON:  Right. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  The perpetrator, 

         14   right?  

         15             ANTON SIMON:  Correct.  They could find 

         16   other staff.  They could -- maybe they have a 

         17   friend in the unit; they could have their friend 

         18   go tell staff.  They could make a legal call to 

         19   the ombudsman's office, which is the state 

         20   agency, kind of an oversight agency for the 

         21   Department of Corrections. 


                                                                      192

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  How many calls does a 

          2   maximum-security inmate get a month?  

          3             ANTON SIMON:  Legal calls? 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  

          5             ANTON SIMON:  Legal calls, I believe 

          6   legal calls are unlimited. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  Personal telephone calls, 

          9   they are allowed one a day. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  One a day?  

         11             ANTON SIMON:  One 15-minute time block 

         12   a day. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  But an inmate, 

         14   other inmates are going to know if you're asking 

         15   for a legal call?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.  The phone use for 

         17   the legal calls is in the day room, so -- 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And is it in a 

         19   place where the phone call could be overheard by 

         20   anybody, including officers?  

         21             ANTON SIMON:  Possibly. 


                                                                      193

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So it's not in 

          2   a closed office or something.  

          3             ANTON SIMON:  No, it's not. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  Is there 

          5   any kind of an office in your residential units 

          6   where you had plenty of line of sight for the 

          7   correctional staff to see an inmate so he 

          8   wouldn't be doing anything, but he would have 

          9   privacy to have a conversation with, on a legal 

         10   call or a nurse or the investigator, Mr. 

         11   Noordhoek?  

         12             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, there's a room. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  There is a room?  

         14             ANTON SIMON:  I think so.  If you'll 

         15   look at the schematic, there is a multipurpose 

         16   meeting room, which is generally secured from the 

         17   inmates; inmates don't normally go into those 

         18   rooms, unless they're escorted by staff.  So I 

         19   guess maybe I'm confused, but is that kind of 

         20   what you're looking for there? 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  I'm just 


                                                                      194

          1   wondering where somebody could make a private 

          2   phone call other than in a closet, where the CO 

          3   could not hear what he was saying and none of the 

          4   other inmates could hear who he was informing on.

          5             ANTON SIMON:  I suppose that could 

          6   work. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, there it is.  

          8             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  This is a 

          9   multipurpose room. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And that's within 

         11   line of sight of the command center, right?  The 

         12   multipurpose room?  

         13             ANTON SIMON:  No, it wouldn't be. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So, is it a solid 

         15   wall?  

         16             ANTON SIMON:  Yeah, that's a solid 

         17   wall. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, okay.  So it's a 

         19   stone's throw from the command center, but he 

         20   can't see through the wall, so you'd have to 

         21   punch some windows in there in order to use that 


                                                                      195

          1   for that purpose.  

          2             ANTON SIMON:  Correct. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  I'm just 

          4   curious on the multipurpose room, when is that 

          5   open?  Whenever the day room is open?  

          6             ANTON SIMON:  I'm going to stop for a 

          7   minute.  I guess I was confused.  I thought you 

          8   were wondering if we could possibly make a room 

          9   for --

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Well, I was.  

         11             ANTON SIMON:  And put a phone in it. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, you answered.  I 

         13   understand there isn't right now, but the phone 

         14   is somewhere in the day room where God and 

         15   everybody else could hear conversations; is that 

         16   right?  

         17             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  But without a 

         19   great deal of expense, you could put a window 

         20   into the wall of the multipurpose center so that 

         21   -- multipurpose room, so that the command center 


                                                                      196

          1   could see the inmate at all times, know that he 

          2   wasn't doing contraband or killing somebody, but 

          3   not hear the conversation; is that what you're 

          4   saying?  

          5             ANTON SIMON:  Yeah, it's possible.  

          6             DAVE THOMAS:  And I think there's 

          7   opportunities, too, and it's certainly something 

          8   that we'll take a look at, as far as a tip line 

          9   and that type of thing, that don't cost a lot of 

         10   money.  And so those are types of things, but I 

         11   don't think, you know, there's any way to 

         12   guarantee 100 percent anonymity either. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is anything secret in 

         14   a maximum-security prison? 

         15             MULTIPLE SPEAKERS:  Yes.  

         16             DAVE THOMAS:  So, I mean, it's 

         17   certainly -- once again, it's one of those things 

         18   that we've talked about, a tip line or those 

         19   types of things, and, you know, we have to look 

         20   at best practices from other facilities and see 

         21   what works in other facilities.  We're certainly 


                                                                      197

          1   looking out for the best possible medical, mental 

          2   health, and all types of care for our patient 

          3   population, so -- 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, that comes 

          5   through.  We really appreciate it.  

          6             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  It certainly does. 

          7             ANTON SIMON:  Mr. McFarland, I thought 

          8   of another possibility.  An inmate could file an 

          9   emergency grievance, seal it up, have it sent up 

         10   to the shift supervisor.  The staff carrying it 

         11   up aren't going to open it, so that way, only the 

         12   inmate and the shift supervisor would know what 

         13   it would say, so that's a possibility also. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Would everybody in 

         15   the dorm see him escorting an emergency 

         16   grievance?  I'm not poopooing idea; I mean that's 

         17   a good idea, but -- 

         18             ANTON SIMON:  Yes. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  If the perpetrator 

         20   was a staff member and he's on that shift, he's 

         21   going to know that an emergency grievance has 


                                                                      198

          1   been filed by the guy that he raped a few hours 

          2   ago.  

          3             ANTON SIMON:  Right. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And if the predator 

          5   is a cellmate, he's really going to be watching 

          6   and he's going to know that the guy, his victim, 

          7   just filed a grievance.  Is that true?  

          8             ANTON SIMON:  Yes.  

          9             RICH BRITTENHAM:  More than likely, I 

         10   think. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  More than likely.  

         12             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I would think that 

         13   they would see staff carrying a sealed -- yeah, 

         14   staff carrying a sealed envelope, wondering 

         15   what -- what's in there and what's going on or

         16   what happened.  

         17             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Of course.  

         18             RICH BRITTENHAM:  That could happen.  

         19   I'd like to say that, on times, I don't know if 

         20   it's regular, but they have made what they call 

         21   time and charges phone call from staff offices, 


                                                                      199

          1   where staff would dial the number, they wouldn't 

          2   leave them, they wouldn't leave them in the 

          3   office, but they would dial the number so that 

          4   they could have a phone call.  It's not a regular 

          5   occurrence, and they have to get authorization, 

          6   but it has -- at least it gets them off of the 

          7   day room to a more isolated place.

          8             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Discreet.  

          9             RICH BRITTENHAM:  A more discreet 

         10   place, but there still would be staff in there, 

         11   as a rule, so that they would hear and monitor 

         12   it, so they wouldn't hang up and call an 

         13   unauthorized number or something like that. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I want to ask each of 

         15   you this question, and this is -- as the director 

         16   indicated, we're just exploring ideas, and you 

         17   folks are on the front line.  So do you have any 

         18   ideas from your experience on how Tecumseh could 

         19   reduce staff sexual victimization of inmates, 

         20   assuming it's happening?  Any ideas that we 

         21   haven't touched on, procedures, buttons, you 


                                                                      200

          1   know, locking closets, changing procedures, 

          2   putting numbers on the incident reports, changing 

          3   the lockbox procedure, anything that we haven't 

          4   talked about that you thought about, you know, 

          5   that could make our life -- I mean, we could -- 

          6             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Change things. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  We could really 

          8   change things if we'd just do this.  Yes, Mr. 

          9   Hansen?  

         10             BRAD HANSEN:  A couple of things that, 

         11   and Mr. Noordhoek could speak to this, too, that 

         12   we've talked about this quite a bit over the last 

         13   couple of years, and some of the things that we 

         14   see from the investigations just recently we had, 

         15   this was not at Tecumseh but this was at another 

         16   institution:  An individual who had been left 

         17   alone at long times with inmates, who supervised 

         18   inmates, and it was not sexual but a friendship 

         19   occurred, and this individual ended up bringing 

         20   contraband in because of that friendship.  So I 

         21   think one thing, you have to take a look at those 


                                                                      201

          1   individuals that are left in long periods by 

          2   themselves without camera, maybe moving them out, 

          3   those kinds of things.  

          4             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Staffing issues.  

          5             BRAD HANSEN:  Yes, staffing issues.  

          6   And I forgot what -- I had another thing in mind, 

          7   and I forgot.  

          8             But, yeah, that's one thing.  Another 

          9   thing is, maybe we can do things like posters, 

         10   just to get the word out.  I guess it's my 

         11   thought that, you know, I had supervised 

         12   investigations but that's kind of the 

         13   end-of-the-road kind of thing.  It would be nicer 

         14   not to have to investigate any of those kinds of 

         15   things.  So more training and those kinds of 

         16   things are what we look at. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Are there any posters 

         18   or other advertising that make it clear that 

         19   there's zero tolerance for any staff-on-inmate 

         20   sexual activity?  

         21             BRAD HANSEN:  I don't think so.  


                                                                      202

          1             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Pre-service training. 

          2             BRAD HANSEN:  Well, for staff there 

          3   are. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  For staff there is.  

          5   But I'm talking in terms of having it -- inmate 

          6   housing units would break the -- I've seen some 

          7   recently that they break the code of silence, 

          8   something like that, where you're encouraging 

          9   inmates to speak up.  

         10             BRAD HANSEN:  To speak up, yeah.  That 

         11   it doesn't have to happen. 

         12             DAVE THOMAS:  Once again, I think 

         13   you're encouraging, and we're certainly going to 

         14   take a look at the recommendations you make, but 

         15   some of the examples that you're trying to bring 

         16   us are encouraging things that -- and we've 

         17   talked about expensive things right off the bat, 

         18   but there's some inexpensive things that we can 

         19   do, and a couple of the things that I wrote down 

         20   as we've been talking and a couple of them we've 

         21   already talked about, you know, is the tips line.  


                                                                      203

          1   You know, is that a type of thing that we can 

          2   initiate pretty inexpensively?  Yeah, I think so.  

          3   I certainly don't have control over the budget, 

          4   but it's certainly a recommendation that I think 

          5   we could go forward with.  

          6             The SANE nurse, to have a couple nurses 

          7   that are trained onsite as SANE nurses.  Is that 

          8   important?  Absolutely.  I think even though we 

          9   aren't involved in the forensics part of it, just 

         10   to have a SANE nurse that understands the 

         11   situation, other than the basic training that we 

         12   get in medical school or nursing school, I think 

         13   that would be really important, and that's 

         14   something inexpensively we can do.  

         15             Can we increase all staff training for 

         16   staff-inmate communication?  Do we not do a good 

         17   job sometimes of communicating, or do we not know 

         18   the techniques to communicate effectively with 

         19   the inmate population?  And I think that's a 

         20   point we can take a look at.  

         21             Are there classes out there where we 


                                                                      204

          1   can communicate better with the inmate population 

          2   so maybe they respect us a little more and we 

          3   respect them a little bit more, and so 

          4   communication becomes an easier process between 

          5   them, where they feel better about coming to us? 

          6             Education is a pretty inexpensive tool 

          7   that we can use.  

          8             Is there an opportunity for a specific 

          9   inmate victimizations rep, either within the 

         10   department or at our facility?  And I think 

         11   that's a possibility, too, where we have a 

         12   specific person that is just dedicated -- and 

         13   maybe it can be an outside person that's not 

         14   necessarily hired by the brass or Department of 

         15   Corrections that can come in and work with 

         16   inmates that have been victimized.  I think 

         17   that's a possibility, too.  

         18             So those are the four things that I 

         19   wrote down from the short time that I've spent 

         20   with you guys, and hopefully there will be more 

         21   recommendations that we can take a look at.  


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          1             But as professionals in the medical 

          2   arena, which is a part of the whole big picture 

          3   of the Department of Corrections, you know, we're 

          4   dedicated and professional medical staff that 

          5   treat these gentlemen as patients, and so there's 

          6   not a big difference in how we treat these 

          7   patients.  They're patients to us, and we 

          8   certainly are concerned about their medical and 

          9   mental health, and their spiritual and their 

         10   emotional and physical needs.  And so I take a 

         11   look at this whole Panel thing as a real learning 

         12   experience, and what can we do better. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great.  Mr. Thomas, I 

         14   wanted to ask you about Operational Memo 

         15   115.23.02, which is about mental health services, 

         16   and the confidentiality section has nothing about 

         17   the confidentiality of communications with 

         18   inmates.  

         19             What is your understanding of what your 

         20   staff is supposed to do if an inmate is being 

         21   seen and indicates that they've been abused 


                                                                      206

          1   sexually or they've had a, quote, consensual 

          2   relationship going with a staff member or with 

          3   another inmate; does that staff member have an 

          4   obligation to report that communication and 

          5   breach the confidentiality of the medical 

          6   relationship?  

          7             DAVE THOMAS:  Absolutely.  And there 

          8   are -- I mean, I think maybe what it's directed 

          9   at is the HIPAA laws, which require 

         10   confidentiality.  But there are areas of HIPAA 

         11   that can be breached when it concerns custody 

         12   issues, so, absolutely.  My staff is fully aware 

         13   that if somebody comes to them with a sexual 

         14   assault, sexual victimization, or rape, that that 

         15   absolutely goes up the chain immediately. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And what happens if 

         17   they don't?  

         18             DAVE THOMAS:  I would imagine, if I 

         19   find that out, there would be corrective action 

         20   taken.  I'm not aware of that ever happening.  

         21   And my staff is acutely aware.  Once again, it's 


                                                                      207

          1   no different -- a nurse that is reported in the 

          2   community has a responsibility, and this is once 

          3   again a nursing or a medical issue; this isn't 

          4   necessarily because they're inside a prison 

          5   issue, so that the reaction from a nurse would be 

          6   exactly the same. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, unless the nurse 

          8   was the predator.  

          9             DAVE THOMAS:  If the nurse was the 

         10   predator, I would imagine that that nurse 

         11   would --

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Probably not report 

         13   it.  

         14             DAVE THOMAS:  -- probably not report 

         15   it. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And do you have 

         17   female nurses?  

         18             DAVE THOMAS:  Yes, sir.  The majority 

         19   of my nursing staff is females.  I do have male 

         20   nurses, too. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And in the clinic, 


                                                                      208

          1   are there any areas that are not visible from the 

          2   hallway?  

          3             DAVE THOMAS:  In the clinic, in 

          4   hospital areas, they're all visible by either 

          5   staff or custody staff.  There are some 

          6   restricted areas to the inmate population that 

          7   would not be visible to staff. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So, I'm not trying to 

          9   be salacious, but if some of your medical staff 

         10   was involved in a relationship, quote, consensual 

         11   or otherwise, with an inmate, there would be 

         12   places where he or she could take the inmate in 

         13   the clinic and have some sexual activity without 

         14   clearly being seen; is that correct? 

         15             DAVE THOMAS:  That's a possibility. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  They'd have access, 

         17   have keys to closets or some other windowless 

         18   area where they could take that inmate and there 

         19   wouldn't be any cameras, there wouldn't be any 

         20   logs that are indicating where that person was 

         21   or -- 


                                                                      209

          1             DAVE THOMAS:  Yes, sir, that's a fair 

          2   statement.

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And when somebody has 

          4   an appointment and they go to the nurse, do they 

          5   log in the time that the inmate came to the 

          6   clinic and the time they came out?  

          7             DAVE THOMAS:  Yes, sir. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And does the 

          9   nurse have to describe what the activity was?  

         10             DAVE THOMAS:  The inmate, whether he 

         11   comes to open sick call or comes over on a pass 

         12   or comes over on an emergency, he is logged in by 

         13   the officer.  There's custody staff in the clinic 

         14   and hospital 24/7. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got you.  

         16             DAVE THOMAS:  So they do log in.  The 

         17   nurse writes a note in the inmate medical record 

         18   of every occurrence that, you know -- 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  Does the 

         20   custodial staff, say, have to record anything 

         21   about what was done during that 22 minutes that 


                                                                      210

          1   this inmate was behind closed doors with the 

          2   nurse?  

          3             DAVE THOMAS:  No, sir.  There's no 

          4   reason for the custody staff to know. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's right.  So the 

          6   nurse, hypothetically, if he or she was the 

          7   predator, would be able to just come out and say, 

          8   thank you very much, you know, take one of these 

          9   and call me in the morning, and she doesn't have 

         10   to explain to anybody what she did with or to the 

         11   inmate; is that right?  Doesn't have to tell the 

         12   custodial staff, doesn't have to record a log; 

         13   the nurse would just write down as medical 

         14   services provided, or even if that; is that 

         15   true?  

         16             DAVE THOMAS:  The custody staff, once 

         17   again, documents what time the inmate comes into 

         18   medical and documents what time he leaves. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But not what went on? 

         20             DAVE THOMAS:  No, sir.

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And unless the nurse 


                                                                      211

          1   -- I mean, and the only person that is recording 

          2   what was going on is the nurse in the medical 

          3   file; is that right?  

          4             DAVE THOMAS:  Correct.  

          5   Hypothetically --

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So if she's the 

          7   predator, she's probably not going to write down 

          8   that we had intimate activities going on; is 

          9   that correct?  

         10             DAVE THOMAS:  No, sir. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, sir, Mr. Warden? 

         12             FRED BRITTEN:  Could I just try to 

         13   clarify something?  When you're doing sick call 

         14   and the inmates are in the clinic rooms, are 

         15   those doors to the clinic rooms open or closed?  

         16             DAVE THOMAS:  And that was a point I 

         17   was going to make, that always an officer in that 

         18   area that can see into the clinic rooms.  The 

         19   clinic rooms are set up where the officer can see 

         20   each clinic room.  The emergency room, if an 

         21   inmate has to go into the emergency room for a 


                                                                      212

          1   procedure, there's always an officer in that.  We 

          2   do try to protect the privacy of the -- of our 

          3   patients, but at times there may have to be a 

          4   shield that's put up that somebody can still see 

          5   or hear into that without compromising --

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  A shield as in a 

          7   curtain?  

          8             DAVE THOMAS:  As a curtain-type, yes, 

          9   sir. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  And is 

         11   there anywhere where a nurse can examine an 

         12   inmate without the correctional officer seeing 

         13   what she's doing?  I assume that the CO could be 

         14   a female, and so as a matter of privacy, this 

         15   inmate doesn't have to strip in front of the 

         16   correctional officer and everyone else, but 

         17   there's some place where he could be out of 

         18   sight.  Is that right?  

         19             DAVE THOMAS:  That's certainly true.  

         20   That's where we would use a shield. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  


                                                                      213

          1             DAVE THOMAS:  That is still accessible 

          2   within hearing range or over the top or bottom of 

          3   the shield without compromising --

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  What's the shield?  

          5   Are we talking about a partition, a movable -- 

          6             DAVE THOMAS:  We're talking about a 

          7   folding partition that you can unfold and put in 

          8   the doorway. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is there anywhere 

         10   where the nurse could take them that would not be 

         11   audible?  

         12             DAVE THOMAS:  There could be behind a 

         13   closed or locked door. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And is that 

         15   true of any shift?  Well, I assume they can't go 

         16   to sick call, unless it's an emergency, after 

         17   what time?  

         18             DAVE THOMAS:  Basically, our clinic and 

         19   hospital close down about 4:30 or 5:00 after the 

         20   diabetics have come and done their diabetic 

         21   checks.  The hospital is an acute care licensed 


                                                                      214

          1   hospital that's open 24/7, so there's always 

          2   staff and custody staff in the hospital. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  The BJS survey 

          4   -- and we're just about done, I think.  The BJS 

          5   survey indicates a profile of where the -- 

          6   according to the inmates at Tecumseh, what 

          7   happened, where it happened, by whom, when, and 

          8   under what circumstances.  And the singlemost 

          9   prevalent profile of staff-on-inmate 

         10   victimization indicates that the incident 

         11   occurred afternoon, but before six in the evening, 

         12   though it happened elsewhere, all the other 

         13   shifts as well, but the most prevalent, in the 

         14   afternoon, in the inmate's cell room or sleeping 

         15   area, and as the result of a bribe or blackmail, 

         16   threatening with harm or a weapon.  It resulted in 

         17   no injury to the victim, and the perpetrator was 

         18   typically a female staff member, and only one 

         19   perpetrator was typically involved.  

         20             Assuming that's true, how could it 

         21   happen, given your front-line experience, how 


                                                                      215

          1   might this happen that a female officer could use 

          2   -- could blackmail or bribe an inmate to engage 

          3   in sexual activity, let's say, during the 

          4   afternoon?  Any ideas?  

          5             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Are you talking like 

          6   threatening to write the inmate up? 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Right.  

          8             RICH BRITTENHAM:  To have him lose good 

          9   time? 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Right.  

         11             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I think that's a 

         12   possibility that could exist. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  If the 

         14   predator has something on the inmate, knows that 

         15   the person has contraband, knows that he screwed 

         16   up or assaulted, you know, he's got something to 

         17   hold over that perpetrator -- that inmate.  Isn't 

         18   it fair to say that that's the kind of blackmail 

         19   that could -- say, look, I just might forget what 

         20   I saw last week if we just have a little fun in 

         21   the closet?  


                                                                      216

          1             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I think that's a 

          2   possibility. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And I'm not asking -- 

          4   I'm just asking, exploring with you, given your 

          5   experience, is this a reasonable possibility?  

          6   I'm not trying to say is it -- can you conceive 

          7   of it.  Do you think that that is a reasonable 

          8   explanation that you need to consider?  

          9             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I think we should 

         10   consider everything, but I think that is a 

         11   reasonable possibility. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Lieutenant, what do 

         13   you think?  

         14             ANTON SIMON:  Well, being as most of 

         15   them are occurring in the afternoon, it's kind of 

         16   worrying me because it would be happening on my 

         17   shift.  So, what's obvious to me is, I need to 

         18   start varying my routine and conducting area 

         19   checks at different times throughout the day so 

         20   that I can check to make sure staff are doing a 

         21   proper job. 


                                                                      217

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And what about -- I'm 

          2   just thinking out loud here, but what might you 

          3   do to eliminate the leverage that one of your 

          4   staff might have, one of your female staff might 

          5   have, to blackmail inmates?  In other words, can 

          6   you think of some way that you could make it 

          7   absolutely required for staff to report, under 

          8   penalty of disciplinary action against the staff 

          9   person, report anything they've got on an inmate 

         10   when it happens?  

         11             ANTON SIMON:  Yeah, it's certainly 

         12   possible that we could -- the department could 

         13   make a policy stating what you just said. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  Is that your 

         15   understanding of the policy?  Is there anything 

         16   that requires a CO to report any misconduct by an 

         17   inmate, and if he fails to report or she fails to 

         18   report, she's going to be disciplined?  

         19             ANTON SIMON:  No, I'm unaware of any 

         20   policy.  But I think most staff have the 

         21   integrity when something fairly serious has 


                                                                      218

          1   occurred, they're going to report it. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I would assume so.  

          3             ANTON SIMON:  I know that people say, 

          4   passing and receiving, for instance, some staff 

          5   might just verbally counsel the inmates and send 

          6   them on their way, and that's fairly minor if 

          7   they're handing a book from one inmate to other, 

          8   but I think staff are honorable enough to report 

          9   serious incidents. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  Any other 

         11   ideas?  Mr. Thomas, do you have any ideas on how 

         12   we might -- let's see, you gave us four, I'm 

         13   sorry.  

         14             Mr. Hansen, anything occur to you that 

         15   might reduce the possibility for staff misconduct 

         16   sexual-wise?  

         17             BRAD HANSEN:  Yeah, I gave you a 

         18   couple.  And the other one that I didn't remember 

         19   that I thought of --

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, yes, yes.  

         21             BRAD HANSEN:  And this is in some of 


                                                                      219

          1   the PREA training, so this is not some light bulb 

          2   going off in my head, but really, and we've done 

          3   this, really taken a long look at our hiring 

          4   practices, and what we find -- and again Mr. 

          5   Noordhoek and I and the other investigator, we 

          6   take a look at this because we do the 

          7   investigations, and I think Captain Brittenham 

          8   said the same thing when you asked him about the 

          9   staff -- a lot of times we have inmates who have 

         10   emotional needs, who have emotional problems, and 

         11   sometimes because of the nature of our work we 

         12   hire staff who have the same kind of needs and 

         13   the same sort of problems, and when the two mix, 

         14   it cannot be a good thing.  So, but that's in the 

         15   PREA training, too; you'll get that there, too. 

         16             So I think that's the other thing, is 

         17   maybe taking a look at hiring -- our hiring 

         18   practices and things like that, even though we, I 

         19   think, since Mr. Houston has got here, we've 

         20   looked at it 100 percent.  We've really, really 

         21   worked hard at trying to improve that, so that 


                                                                      220

          1   would be the only other one.  

          2             If I could just make one clarification 

          3   before we break? 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Please.  

          5             BRAD HANSEN:  So I don't forget this.  

          6   You had asked Mr. Houston earlier about a case 

          7   about an inmate filing suit against an employee 

          8   for sexual assault. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, sir.  

         10             BRAD HANSEN:  Well, there was a case in 

         11   2006.  And I should tell you, the numbers that we 

         12   submitted to BJS had five, and what we -- and you 

         13   requested that we write down an explanation of 

         14   each one. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  

         16             BRAD HANSEN:  We sent you four; we 

         17   didn't send you that fifth one.

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, I was going to 

         19   bring that up.  

         20             BRAD HANSEN:  Were you?  I didn't know 

         21   if we were coming back after lunch or what.


                                                                      221

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay, good.  

          2             BRAD HANSEN:  I just wanted to make 

          3   sure that you knew that we did have that.  We 

          4   found out about this, an inmate filed civil suit 

          5   against an employee in 2006, the employee gets 

          6   served with a civil suit, gives it to his 

          7   supervisor, and that's when we were called; 

          8   that's the first we were notified of it.  The 

          9   case itself, we did do an investigation on that, 

         10   and there was -- we couldn't place them together 

         11   at the same time, couldn't get witnesses, which 

         12   is sometimes difficult. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  

         14             BRAD HANSEN:  One of the things that we 

         15   have changed in investigations, we just don't -- 

         16   just because we can't get something that day or 

         17   the next day, we don't close the case.  We let it 

         18   sit and go back and talk and -- because even on 

         19   consensual sex, we get notified.  Now, you're not 

         20   going to charge somebody downtown for consensual 

         21   sex. 


                                                                      222

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Right.  

          2             BRAD HANSEN:  But it may not be 

          3   consensual, so we've elongated the investigation.  

          4   We'll go back and talk to them again when they 

          5   may be more apt to say, look, I was pressured, or 

          6   something like that.  So we've elongated that. 

          7             In this particular one, what happened 

          8   is we ended up closing it.  The inmate should not 

          9   have went through civil court, should have went 

         10   through the tort claims, according to Nebraska 

         11   law.  It was dismissed in early -- April 3rd, 

         12   2007, and because the inmate did not refile a 

         13   tort claim and because we haven't got any other 

         14   evidence or say-so, we eventually ended up 

         15   closing that case, but we just couldn't come up 

         16   with anything. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And what was the 

         18   allegation?  

         19             BRAD HANSEN:  The allegation was that 

         20   the inmate said that this particular employee was 

         21   in a conference room, I think it was in the 


                                                                      223

          1   conference room on a unit that has a window on 

          2   it, and the employee approached him, grabbed his 

          3   penis and said -- this particular inmate was 

          4   having canteen; several inmates were 

          5   complaining about canteen process at that time, 

          6   and this inmate was one of them -- and said that 

          7   this staff member said, well, you know, if you go 

          8   along with what I have in mind, I'll help you 

          9   with your canteen process.  

         10             Well, we do know that several inmates 

         11   were complaining about the canteen process, and 

         12   Mr. Noordhoek can talk more about it because he 

         13   did the investigation, but generally speaking, we 

         14   couldn't place them together, we couldn't get any 

         15   witnesses, and then there was some testimony that 

         16   said this particular inmate, the reason he was 

         17   doing this was because he wanted to get to our 

         18   Lincoln Correctional Center and needed sex 

         19   offender programming to get paroled down the 

         20   road.  We didn't have any evidence that that was 

         21   true or not true.  


                                                                      224

          1             We try to take things at face value and 

          2   then try to judge the evidence as best we can, if 

          3   there is any. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And this was a male 

          5   or female correctional officer?  

          6             BRAD HANSEN:  This was a male 

          7   correctional officer.  Actually, a caseworker, 

          8   I'm sorry.  A male caseworker. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And by conference 

         10   room, did you mean the multipurpose room?  

         11             BRAD HANSEN:  That's how I took it.  I 

         12   think -- Benny?  That's -- yeah, he's shaking his 

         13   head. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  We'll ask 

         15   Mr. Noordhoek.  

         16             BRAD HANSEN:  But I wanted to let you 

         17   know that, because I knew that you had a letter 

         18   from the attorney general's office indicating 

         19   that, so. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Thank you.  

         21             BRAD HANSEN:  You bet. 


                                                                      225

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Anything else?  

          2             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  No. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, sir?  

          4             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I'd just like to add, 

          5   I think Brad touched on it, but I think one of 

          6   the things we could do is start mapping a little 

          7   bit at the institutional level:  frequency of 

          8   where the allegations are; where they're at; the 

          9   time of day; the staff, you know, so you can get 

         10   a history.  Maybe it's always in the library and 

         11   that becomes an isolated post or something of 

         12   that nature, and we can go back and look at where 

         13   we have a formal mapping.  

         14             I think right now it's, you know, two 

         15   or three of us thinking, okay, do you remember, 

         16   didn't something similar about this happen in the 

         17   past with this person or at this post or 

         18   whatever -- and I think a more formalized  

         19   process -- I know Mr. Hansen has started that with 

         20   the investigative services, but I think on the 

         21   institutional level it might help.  They do for 


                                                                      226

          1   all the institutions, but if we had some kind of 

          2   a running thing so we know, and it would help the 

          3   lieutenants, whether it's first, second, or 

          4   third, alternate their time out and about within 

          5   the institution.  You know, off times or the 

          6   times that this always comes up at 4:00 or 5:30 

          7   in the afternoon, maybe let's have the area 

          8   checked so that the supervisors are there or 

          9   something of that. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Mr. Hansen -- 

         11             Thank you for that, Captain.  

         12             Mr. Hansen, I just want to be clear.  

         13   You said that before your division was created 

         14   four and a half years ago, that the usual 

         15   practice would have been to call the State Patrol 

         16   if it was a high-nature problem and that if it 

         17   involves staff, they would be allowed to resign 

         18   in lieu of discipline and not getting written up? 

         19             BRAD HANSEN:  Not in lieu of 

         20   discipline.  What has been the practice, because 

         21   the State Patrol is extremely busy, they would 


                                                                      227

          1   identify what they would take from us or not take 

          2   from us. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  

          4             BRAD HANSEN:  What has happened in the 

          5   past -- since we got our own investigators, we're 

          6   very aggressive on -- even if they quit, resign, 

          7   if they committed the act while they were on 

          8   duty, they're going to get prosecuted if we can 

          9   get the evidence. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  

         11             BRAD HANSEN:  Before that time, what 

         12   had happened, a lot of times, the State Patrol 

         13   wouldn't see that a relationship between a staff 

         14   and inmate was that high a priority, and it was 

         15   difficult to get some of that prosecuted.  And 

         16   what usually happened is the inmate -- or the 

         17   staff member knew they should quit, and that kind 

         18   of would be the end result of it.  Not in lieu of 

         19   discipline.  If they wouldn't quit, they'd be 

         20   disciplined, and if there was evidence, they'd be 

         21   fired for that, too. 


                                                                      228

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got you.  All right.  

          2   Well, I want to thank all of you for your time 

          3   and candor and ideas, testimony, and we'll 

          4   adjourn for an hour and start the next panel at 

          5   2:00.  Thank you.  

          6             (Recess taken.)

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Good afternoon.  

          8             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Good afternoon. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Would you please 

         10   raise your right hand, Mr. Noordhoek and Ms. 

         11   Hillman.  You're already sworn, Captain.  

         12             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I was going to do it 

         13   again. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Unless you need it 

         15   again.  

         16             RICH BRITTENHAM:  No.  

         17             (The witnesses were placed under oath.)

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Ms. Hillman, could 

         19   you give us your full name and your title, 

         20   please.  

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Michele Lynn Hillman, 


                                                                      229

          1   and I'm the unit administrator of the Tecumseh 

          2   State Correctional Institution. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Unit administrator?  

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Of TSCI. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Of TSCI.  And as unit 

          6   administrator, what does that mean you do? 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I'm over -- or 

          8   overall responsible for all the unit staff and 

          9   the inmate classification, the training of the 

         10   staff for basically the daily activities on the 

         11   unit, and a couple other things that you 

         12   mentioned earlier. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Also including the 

         14   sexual victim and predator assessment?

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Mm-hmm.  Yes. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And housing 

         17   assignments and reassignments?

         18             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes.

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay, great.  And how 

         20   long have you been there, Ms. Hillman?

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I've been at TSCI for 


                                                                      230

          1   five years, and then I worked at a facility we 

          2   had in Lincoln for five years prior to that.

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So ten years in the 

          4   corrections industry?

          5             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes.

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Five of it at TSCI.  

          7   All right.  Mr. Noordhoek.  

          8             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Bernard Lee 

          9   Noordhoek, II.  I'm currently the criminal 

         10   investigator for the Nebraska Department of 

         11   Corrections.

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And by criminal 

         13   investigator, that would also include 

         14   administrative noncriminal investigations, as 

         15   well?

         16             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That's correct. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And how long 

         18   have you had that position?

         19             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I've been an 

         20   investigator since September of '03, a certified 

         21   investigator, law enforcement officer.  I've been 


                                                                      231

          1   with the department since 1989. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And how long have you 

          3   been at TSCI?

          4             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I was captain at 

          5   TSCI when we opened, from '01 to '03.  Before 

          6   that I was at the penitentiary in Lincoln, the 

          7   diagnostic center in Lincoln, and Lincoln 

          8   Correctional Center. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay, great.  Well, 

         10   Ms. Hillman, let me just ask you to identify some 

         11   documents so I know -- and we're not going to 

         12   walk through all these documents because I assume 

         13   they mean what they say, so I wanted to just make 

         14   sure we have the latest stuff.  

         15             Administrative Regulation 201.05, an 

         16   11-page document with some attachments, and it's 

         17   last revised October 8, 2007.  Is this the latest 

         18   version of this?

         19             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Is it the inmate 

         20   classification? 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Inmate Classification 


                                                                      232

          1   and Assignment, hyphen, Special Management 

          2   Inmates. 

          3             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe so. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  By the way, do 

          5   you have anything to do with the special 

          6   management unit?

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I was the unit 

          8   manager down there for two years before I was 

          9   promoted to unit administrator, so I'm quite 

         10   familiar with the unit. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And does this 

         12   document govern how the SMU is run?

         13             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes.

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And there's no -- 

         15   hasn't been revised since October 8 of last year? 

         16             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I don't believe so. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Who runs the 

         18   SMU now? 

         19             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Unit manager Jason 

         20   Hurt. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  How do you spell 


                                                                      233

          1   Hurt? 

          2             MICHELE HILLMAN:  H-u-r-t. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, Hurt, okay.  And 

          4   document dated December 13, 2007, prepared by Dr. 

          5   Patricia Hardman, from a Connecticut think tank, 

          6   and it's entitled Nebraska Department of 

          7   Correctional Services, Aggression and 

          8   Vulnerability Attentional Risk Assessment Manual.  

          9   And it also has, with attachments, it's about 24 

         10   pages long.  Have you ever seen that document 

         11   before? 

         12             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes, I have.

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And do you use 

         14   this in the course of your duties? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Not so much that 

         16   actual document, but the forms that were 

         17   generated out of that and the training that was 

         18   generated out of that, I use in my daily 

         19   activities. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay. 

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  And my staff also use 


                                                                      234

          1   that. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  By the way, how many 

          3   staff do you have as unit administrator? 

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Approximately 55.  

          5   Those include unit caseworkers and then the unit 

          6   case managers. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  What's the difference 

          8   between a unit caseworker and a unit case 

          9   manager?

         10             MICHELE HILLMAN:  The caseworkers are 

         11   on the floor, on the housing unit with the 

         12   inmates, and that's their primary responsibility, 

         13   is to have contact with those inmates throughout 

         14   the day.  And then the case manager also is on 

         15   the floor, but they hold most of the caseload -- 

         16   or unit staff -- or the unit workers also have a 

         17   small caseload, but then they're responsible for 

         18   the majority of the classification of the 

         19   inmates, and then also the supervision of the 

         20   unit staff.  And then we also have a unit manager 

         21   on each unit who, obviously, then would supervise 


                                                                      235

          1   the unit, case manager, and then the unit 

          2   caseworkers. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I'm sorry -- okay, I 

          4   see.  So there's a unit caseworker, who's on the 

          5   floor? 

          6             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes, that's our

          7   entry-level position. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Entry level.  And 

          9   then over him or her is a unit case manager?

         10             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes.

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Who would also be on 

         12   the floor but have responsibilities for 

         13   classifying and supervising.

         14             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes.

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And by classifying, 

         16   we're talking about what? 

         17             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Job changes.

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Job changes. 

         19             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Good time 

         20   restorations, promotions, demotions, and custody, 

         21   and then they're also involved in their 


                                                                      236

          1   personalized plans.  They help complete those, 

          2   which they receive recommendations for mental 

          3   health, and from education; they help complete 

          4   those papers, also.

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Personal plans, are 

          6   those the reentry? 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  No.  The 

          8   personalized plans are -- when they first come to 

          9   the department, they're evaluated, and based on 

         10   their crime and their history we determine what 

         11   programming that they would need as far as mental 

         12   health is concerned and education and substance 

         13   abuse.  And then from that, it's like a goal 

         14   sheet for the inmate.  So the inmate knows that 

         15   we expect you to complete, say, these three 

         16   things before you're discharged or you reach a 

         17   certain level in your custody. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great.  

         19             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Goal setting. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And then over the 

         21   unit case manager is a unit manager? 


                                                                      237

          1             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And I assume that 

          3   means that that person is over the entire, all 

          4   four wings of a unit; no? 

          5             MICHELE HILLMAN:  No.  Each unit 

          6   manager -- like we were talking before, Housing 

          7   Unit 1-AB is considered a different unit. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's right. 

          9             MICHELE HILLMAN:  So we would have a 

         10   unit manager for each one of those units.  And 

         11   then the SMU unit that we talked about before, 

         12   that is Jason Hurt, and he's responsible for that 

         13   entire unit. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  So with 

         15   three buildings, residential buildings, each 

         16   having two units, we've got six unit managers 

         17   plus Mr. Hurt, so a total of seven unit managers? 

         18             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got it.  All right.  

         20   And you mentioned that you don't work so much 

         21   with this manual as you do with the -- with some 


                                                                      238

          1   unnamed forms, and I'm wondering if these --

          2   Appendix A to this manual, do you work with this 

          3   aggression, predation, and vulnerability 

          4   assessment instrument? 

          5             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Most generally, 

          6   that's completed by our mental health staff when 

          7   they evaluate them in the institution at TSCI.  

          8   When they first come into our intake center, they 

          9   complete a detailed psychological evaluation.  

         10   They kind of go through and see what the needs of 

         11   the inmates are.  And that's the first time that 

         12   that instrument is used. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Who's the most 

         14   knowledgeable of the folks that came with you 

         15   today about the risk assessment for aggressors, 

         16   predators, and vulnerability, sexual 

         17   vulnerability?  Would you be, or would Mr. Hansen 

         18   be? 

         19             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I would say I 

         20   probably would be. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Do you know 


                                                                      239

          1   how this works, I mean, how you use these 

          2   instruments to assess the potential for somebody 

          3   being a predator or a victim? 

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  As far as the scoring 

          5   levels? 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes. 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe I'm fairly 

          8   familiar with those. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So can you 

         10   just tell us how you use these instruments?

         11             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, like I said, 

         12   when they came into our intake center, that's 

         13   completed, and depending on any past 

         14   victimization that they've reported or, you know, 

         15   if they would report that they were a predator in 

         16   some nature, obviously depending on their crime, 

         17   if they're in there for a sexual assault, all 

         18   that's evaluated and any type of documentation 

         19   that we can get previous before their 

         20   incarceration.  

         21             And then I guess the biggest part I 


                                                                      240

          1   play, with my role, is, then once they come to 

          2   the institution, if we have reports that they're 

          3   pressuring somebody or if we believe that they're 

          4   being victimized as far as canteen or for sex or 

          5   in any way, we keep -- it's kind of like on a 

          6   continuum, we keep updating that and reevaluating 

          7   them.  

          8             And most recently, we're going to start 

          9   April 1st, we're going to complete a test 

         10   instrument or victimization instrument every time 

         11   we do their classification, so, depending on their 

         12   sentence structure, we could review their victim, 

         13   predator potential every six months or annually, 

         14   or it could be event-driven, also.  So if there 

         15   was an event that staff reported or another 

         16   inmate reported that we can substantiate, then 

         17   that could be generated and we can also complete 

         18   the form then.

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So custody level is 

         20   reevaluated every six months or twelve months? 

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Mm-hmm.


                                                                      241

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Unless there was some 

          2   event that required you to trigger it earlier. 

          3             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right.  And then I 

          4   believe the mental health staff, every time 

          5   they're transferred from one institution to 

          6   another institution, they do another complete 

          7   assessment there.  They go off the past 

          8   information, but then obviously they look to see 

          9   if there's anything that would, an event that 

         10   would cause you to label them as a victim or a 

         11   predator at that time. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So you use, 

         13   not you, but staff in the intake center use this 

         14   instrument to do an initial score of the 

         15   potential risk for them to be a sexual aggressor 

         16   or a sexual assault victim; is that right? 

         17             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And then the mental 

         19   health folks do their own interview, and they 

         20   might use this or some other instrument? 

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right.  I believe the 


                                                                      242

          1   actual instrument they use at D&E is an initial 

          2   instrument, obviously, since we haven't had 

          3   contact with them if this was their first 

          4   incarceration.  And then the one that we do with 

          5   our classification is fairly similar to that, 

          6   that we're going to start here soon, that we'll 

          7   do every six months or annually. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  And do you or 

          9   whoever administers these in the intake center 

         10   get any particular specialized training to know 

         11   how to complete this assessment? 

         12             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, our mental 

         13   health staff, I believe they have particular 

         14   training that they take in order to complete the 

         15   instrument.  And then the instrument that we're 

         16   going to start using in April with the 

         17   classification, we're individually training the 

         18   unit staff to complete that. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great.  And is there 

         20   a different assessment instrument for female -- 

         21   you're not going to have any female inmates.  


                                                                      243

          1             Do you administer this assessment, you 

          2   or anyone else that you know at TSCI, do you 

          3   administer this ever to any staff? 

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  No, I don't believe 

          5   so. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Captain, have you 

          7   ever had occasion to suggest or know of any staff 

          8   that needed -- somebody suspected that they might 

          9   be involved in misconduct and they used an 

         10   assessment as a tool?  

         11             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I've never seen that 

         12   used on staff. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Might be something to 

         14   consider.  You know, I'm not a psychologist, but 

         15   it seems like if it works for inmates, you might 

         16   want to think about it for certain staff.  

         17             Yes, Mr. Director? 

         18             ROBERT HOUSTON:  A developing approach 

         19   we're taking to dealing with both law enforcement 

         20   issues, rules and regulations, is we have a 

         21   full-time person that does what's called data 


                                                                      244

          1   mining, and what we do is we take different 

          2   indicators, such as visitor lists, checks going 

          3   out, misconduct reports, other types of things 

          4   that are indicators when putting together data 

          5   mining -- take data and turn it into information.  

          6   And we're doing a very good job of that, our 

          7   investigators; as we go along it's going to get 

          8   better.  

          9             Now, the reason I bring that up is, is 

         10   we also have a professor by the name of Sam 

         11   Walker at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, 

         12   and what he does is he consults nationwide on 

         13   early warning indicators concerning law 

         14   enforcement, and we've worked with him.  As we 

         15   get down the line and get more things 

         16   computerized and more indicators, we may do the 

         17   same thing when it comes to staff -- not as a way 

         18   to punish staff or anything, but to generate 

         19   information so that the number of misconduct 

         20   reports that a person writes, for example, the 

         21   nature of those misconduct reports, the geography 


                                                                      245

          1   we talked about and so forth, where all that data 

          2   could come together as information and tell us 

          3   more about staff as well as the inmates. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's great.  

          5             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  That sounds good.  

          6   And I would add, as well, that there are a number 

          7   of tests that could be, you know, from the 

          8   standpoint of making determinations about 

          9   personality and staff -- that are not quite as 

         10   intense as this one that you might want to 

         11   consider, as well. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Ms. Hillman, there's 

         13   a document entitled Internal Classification, 

         14   Initial Screening Instrument Manual, and it 

         15   discusses presenting characteristics for someone 

         16   with a potential for sexual violence and 

         17   presenting characteristics for someone with a 

         18   potential for sexual victimization, and notes 

         19   that it's revised -- it was revised on June 26, 

         20   '06.  Are you familiar with this six- to 

         21   eight-page document? 


                                                                      246

          1             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And do you ever use 

          3   that? 

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Again, it's mainly 

          5   used by our mental health staff, but it's 

          6   available to all the unit staff, also. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

          8             MICHELE HILLMAN:  It just helps them 

          9   complete the initial instrument when they come 

         10   in, and then the updated evaluations as they are 

         11   transferred from institution to institution. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Now, this manual that 

         13   we're talking about now helps them fill out a 

         14   different document, which is numbered AR, I 

         15   assume Administrative Regulation, 203.11, 

         16   Attachment E, revised on June 26, '06, a little 

         17   over two pages -- a little over one page.  Is 

         18   that separate? 

         19             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes.  That's the one 

         20   that most generally our unit -- or our mental 

         21   health staff use at TSCI. 


                                                                      247

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And so the 

          2   mental health staff, do they also use this for 

          3   offenders, this earlier one? 

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe that's the 

          5   initial instrument they use at the intake 

          6   facility. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Ah, okay.  Great.  

          8   All right.  So the Aggression and Vulnerability 

          9   Potential Risk Assessment Manual is used in the 

         10   intake center, and the Internal Classification, 

         11   Initial Screening Instrument Manual and the 

         12   accompanying form, 203.11, is used by mental 

         13   health staff for a subsequent classification? 

         14             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe so, yes. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And this is a

         16   helpful document; it lists a number of questions 

         17   that appear to be deemed important for 

         18   establishing whether someone has a certain risk 

         19   level in this area.  Do you have any -- have you 

         20   received any training in how to use and fill out 

         21   this document, other than this manual? 


                                                                      248

          1             MICHELE HILLMAN:  No, I have not. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  How about the 

          3   folks in mental health; we don't have them here 

          4   so I can't ask them.  What training other than 

          5   the six-page manual do they have in filling out 

          6   this profile of victims and predators? 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe they were 

          8   initially trained when we started the instrument. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And I note 

         10   that among the factors that it lists as sexual 

         11   victimization potential, they list: naive to the 

         12   prison environment, yes or no; physical 

         13   condition or weakness makes him or her 

         14   vulnerable; slight physical stature;  

         15   unassertive; lacks self-confidence; timid or 

         16   withdrawn; projects fear or nervousness.  

         17   Expresses concern about sexual pressuring or 

         18   victimization; vulnerable to sexual 

         19   victimization due to the nature of his or her 

         20   crime; comprehension difficulties.  

         21             Then, among other factors: some special 


                                                                      249

          1   ed placement; difficulty asking -- I mean 

          2   answering, questions or speech processing; reports 

          3   a history of sexual victimization; a history of 

          4   difficulty living independently; passively 

          5   acknowledges homosexuality; or has a drug problem 

          6   that would increase vulnerability.  

          7             Are there any other factors that you 

          8   understand are relevant to potential sexual 

          9   victimization in prison? 

         10             MICHELE HILLMAN:  No.  I believe that 

         11   basically covers all the indicators that we use. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And, similarly, 

         13   there are only about six or -- there are six 

         14   questions, seven questions, and then another five 

         15   factors for sexual violence potential.  Are there 

         16   any other factors that you use to assess who 

         17   might be a predator? 

         18             MICHELE HILLMAN:  When they come into 

         19   our intake center, part of the psychological 

         20   evaluation -- we have their victim -- their victim 

         21   potential, basically, and we use that a lot for 


                                                                      250

          1   housing unit assignments.  They report it 

          2   initially in the first classification, and has an 

          3   indicator whether we believe they're a low, 

          4   moderate, or high victim.  And we use that to 

          5   also match up inmates for housing unit 

          6   assignments.  And then you can glance at that, 

          7   it's a really good information piece, in their 

          8   initial workup, where you learn some of their 

          9   background, and you can kind of judge, from what 

         10   category they put them in at that time, where 

         11   they would be successful at. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Could you just 

         13   describe for us how you do your work in 

         14   determining housing assignments or reassignments? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  When they're 

         16   transferred to TSCI, we do initial intake on 

         17   them, basically, and that's mental health and 

         18   medical and housing unit staff all meet 

         19   individually with the inmate, privately, and then 

         20   we come together as a committee and basically 

         21   decide what housing would be appropriate for 


                                                                      251

          1   them.  We use mental health's input from the 

          2   updated form that they do at that time. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  The June 26, '06? 

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Mm-hmm.  But 

          5   primarily, before they even reach the 

          6   institution, we look at that low/moderate/high 

          7   that I was talking about earlier, and based on 

          8   that and just their sentence structure, and any 

          9   type of information we can pull off their initial 

         10   workup, we use that to determine who we believe 

         11   they should be paired up with. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  And when 

         13   you're making those classifications, what 

         14   information do you have on their medical history, 

         15   what information do you have other than what 

         16   you've got from the intake, the initial intake 

         17   interviews? 

         18             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Medical, I wouldn't 

         19   have any information.  As far as, usually when 

         20   they arrive at the institution, if you can't see 

         21   -- like if they would need a bottom bunk pass or 


                                                                      252

          1   if there's some type of medical condition that we 

          2   wouldn't be familiar with, that wouldn't be 

          3   documented in their file, because the file in, 

          4   what we call the reporter classified, is on the 

          5   computer, where we can -- other people can view 

          6   it.  So a lot of times the medical information 

          7   isn't on the computer, so we rely on our medical 

          8   staff that does the initial evaluation to tell us 

          9   if there's any concerns at that time. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  How would you know if 

         11   somebody had been raped before, either in or out 

         12   of incarceration? 

         13             MICHELE HILLMAN:  It would be 

         14   self-reported by the inmate.  Otherwise, we would 

         15   -- well, I guess when they complete that initial 

         16   instrument in the mental health -- like I said, 

         17   they're off to the side by themselves, so 

         18   hopefully at that time they would report that to 

         19   the mental health staff.  Otherwise, if they were 

         20   at another institution, I would hope that they 

         21   would inform staff and seek protective custody, 


                                                                      253

          1   perhaps. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Do you get any 

          3   information from jails or from other 

          4   incarcerating agencies about inmates that you're 

          5   receiving? 

          6             MICHELE HILLMAN:  It just varies.  Like 

          7   the Douglas County Jail, we have a very good 

          8   rapport with them, and also Lancaster County, 

          9   which is located in Lincoln, where most of our 

         10   facilities are.  So -- 

         11             Oh, thank you.  

         12             And then the actual PSI, the 

         13   post-sentence investigation, is part of their 

         14   file, and we usually have that when they arrive 

         15   at the institution.  And then it's also 

         16   documented, I believe, on the computer where we 

         17   can review that. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Is the PSI all 

         19   self-reported information, or would there be some 

         20   official reference from the jail that, yeah, this 

         21   person reported that he was raped the night 


                                                                      254

          1   before we put him on the bus to Tecumseh? 

          2             MICHELE HILLMAN:  The majority of it is 

          3   self-reported.  But then they can also speak to 

          4   them.  It just kind of varies between inmate.  

          5   And obviously, if this isn't their first time in 

          6   prison or the jail, we have more history that we 

          7   can evaluate them on. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Just as a for what 

          9   it's worth, we have seen that the level of 

         10   information forwarded to prisons from jails is 

         11   spotty at best, and it sounds like your 

         12   institution you used to head up is good about 

         13   providing more information than most.  

         14             MR. HOUSTON:  Yes. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Mr. Director. 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  If I could make a 

         17   couple comments about the future.  Also, we hope 

         18   to go to electronic records-keeping of our 

         19   medical, mental health records, and also 

         20   substance abuse.  And we want to give that to 

         21   every county in the state.  We have 93 counties 


                                                                      255

          1   in Nebraska and 78 county jails.  We have an 

          2   excellent rapport with those county jails.  

          3   Should we get to the point where we can get the 

          4   resources to do that, we want to give that 

          5   program -- we make a part of that program, so 

          6   it's up to every jail in the State.  

          7             What the idea is, is that when an 

          8   inmate rolls into a county jail, that the medical 

          9   checks that they do, any pharmacy, psychiatric, 

         10   substance abuse information that's generated 

         11   there would then go into that electronic records- 

         12   keeping.  Then when they come to us, our selfish 

         13   interest is that there's some basic checks that 

         14   might have just been done three months before in 

         15   the county jail that we wouldn't have to repeat.  

         16   But more selfishly, we would then get the records 

         17   that you're talking about, and then that becomes, 

         18   before they even arrive at jail, in our prison 

         19   system, we would already know any victimization 

         20   or medical conditions or anything such as that. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's great.  


                                                                      256

          1             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Yes. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Ms. Hillman, what are 

          3   you doing differently, if anything, in your job 

          4   at Tecumseh in the way of orientation or 

          5   classification to address sexual abuse since, 

          6   say, PREA was passed? 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  At the initial intake 

          8   at the facility, at TSCI, when the mental health 

          9   staff evaluate the inmate, they also go through 

         10   kind of a checklist of the sexual assault 

         11   victimization.  And then after that, usually the 

         12   following Friday, we have -- they may schedule an 

         13   orientation class where we also talk about it 

         14   there openly.  And then just day-to-day, we count 

         15   on the relationships that we have with the 

         16   inmates, the professional relationships, so we 

         17   have that rapport with the inmate so they would 

         18   feel comfortable coming to the staff if they 

         19   would have any of those problems. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Anything else that 

         21   you've changed of late to address or prevent 


                                                                      257

          1   sexual abuse as far as your procedures? 

          2             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, basically, 

          3   we've been addressing the staff and inmate more 

          4   frequently, making sure that our staff know what 

          5   our expectations are, that there's zero tolerance 

          6   for that, and just making other staff aware that 

          7   they need to feel comfortable talking to us about 

          8   that -- if they would recognize some of the red 

          9   flags we talked about earlier, about other staff 

         10   spending too much time with the inmates or 

         11   becoming too familiar with them, that they need 

         12   to feel comfortable with us to report that.  And 

         13   that we'll investigate that properly. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Are you familiar with 

         15   the orientation in the intake center?  I mean, do 

         16   you know --

         17             MICHELE HILLMAN:  The orientation, we 

         18   actually do --

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  With the new inmates. 

         20             MICHELE HILLMAN:  At TSCI, so they're 

         21   familiar with the facility and the different 


                                                                      258

          1   programs that we offer? 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes. 

          3             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right, yes, I've 

          4   completed that before. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And are you 

          6   familiar with the way it's done now?  Because I'm 

          7   not hearing that that's part of your present 

          8   responsibilities. 

          9             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right.  I believe 

         10   it's still the same.  We follow the same --

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Who is -- 

         12   forgive me if you've already answered, but who is 

         13   the person who is most directly involved in 

         14   orienting the new inmates? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  That would be all my 

         16   unit managers.  We all cycle through there and 

         17   take turns, so everybody is familiar with it and 

         18   we're on the same page. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  All right.  

         20   There is a brochure, is there not, about sexual 

         21   assault that's given to new inmates?


                                                                      259

          1             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes, there is. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And it doesn't 

          3   contain much information, if any, on staff sexual 

          4   misconduct.  Is that your recollection? 

          5             MICHELE HILLMAN:  It clarifies that 

          6   staff sexual assault and sexual victimization of 

          7   an inmate is inappropriate.  But, right, it's the 

          8   majority inmate-on-inmate sexual assault. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Inmate-on-inmate.  Is 

         10   there anything in that about -- and I can't put 

         11   my hands on it if we have it.  Is there anything 

         12   about the fact that staff cannot pressure inmates 

         13   for sex? 

         14             MICHELE HILLMAN:  As in the pamphlet? 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  In the pamphlet. 

         16             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I don't believe so. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is there anything in 

         18   your lesson plan that your unit managers who do 

         19   the orientation are supposed to talk about in 

         20   regards to staff sexual misconduct? 

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, they speak of 


                                                                      260

          1   it when they give the orientation, and also 

          2   mental health also addresses that, and they just 

          3   -- they make it very aware to the inmate that 

          4   it's unacceptable and that we don't tolerate it, 

          5   and that they need to feel free to report that to 

          6   staff or however means they can. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is there some lesson 

          8   plan or whatever, a checklist that documents the 

          9   fact that your unit managers do go over, not just 

         10   inmate-on-inmate, but staff sexual activity as 

         11   well, or is that just something that they're 

         12   supposed to remember to do but there's no 

         13   curriculum or checklist? 

         14             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, when they do 

         15   the initial intake at TSCI and then the 

         16   orientation, there's a page that we go over with 

         17   the inmate, and it's basically bullet points of 

         18   the brochure that they cover.  And then at the 

         19   end of that session, both the intake and then the 

         20   orientation, the inmate actually signs a form 

         21   that he received that information, so we have the 


                                                                      261

          1   documentation from the inmate showing that the 

          2   staff actually spoke to them about these issues, 

          3   so we have the documentation so we know it's 

          4   getting completed. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  There's this -- 

          6             Did you want to jump in?  

          7             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I did have a few 

          8   questions.  In that information provided to the 

          9   inmates, are there precautions to inmates about 

         10   how to avoid being sexually abused? 

         11             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, the staff will 

         12   talk to them about the different triggers.  You 

         13   know, like if somebody wants to buy you canteen 

         14   or if they're giving you contraband, tobacco, 

         15   whatever, doing you favors, gambling debts, 

         16   there's a variety of things that they speak about 

         17   to kind of -- especially the naive inmates, it 

         18   kind of gives them an idea of what to expect 

         19   that, you know, they're not doing that just 

         20   because they're a really nice person.  You know, 

         21   there's other reasons for them offering those 


                                                                      262

          1   services.  

          2             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  And during that 

          3   information collection period, the intake period, 

          4   are inmates asked to identify their sexual 

          5   orientation?  I note the question in the 

          6   information that you provided, that one of the 

          7   ways for identifying vulnerable inmates is that 

          8   they don't readily admit or are hesitant 

          9   admitting their sexual orientation.  Is that an 

         10   official question that's asked? 

         11             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I honestly -- I don't 

         12   know.  I would think that part of the 

         13   psychological evaluation maybe at the intake 

         14   facility, they might cover that, but I'm not sure 

         15   if it's actually on a sheet where they check 

         16   whether they ask them what their sexual 

         17   preference is.  

         18             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Do you think that's 

         19   important information for you? 

         20             MICHELE HILLMAN:  It would be helpful. 

         21             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  What about staff, 


                                                                      263

          1   are there homosexuals on staff at Tecumseh? 

          2             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I would imagine.  

          3             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  What about race, 

          4   does race play a role in housing classification, 

          5   in that process at all? 

          6             MICHELE HILLMAN:  We take that into 

          7   consideration, but it's not a definite.  We don't 

          8   house inmates of the same race, like an absolute.  

          9   It doesn't mean that we'll have two white people 

         10   together or two black people together.  We just 

         11   -- we use it as a consideration, but it's not a 

         12   definite way that we cell inmates. 

         13             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Is there racial 

         14   tension in your facility? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I don't believe so. 

         16             I guess I'd like to clarify that.  I 

         17   was just thinking, with the gangs, obviously we 

         18   have gang activity, and so I believe that would 

         19   be some type of -- I don't know if I'd call it 

         20   racial tension, but we do have the gang activity 

         21   in the institution, so --   


                                                                      264

          1             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Is there anything 

          2   associated with the gang, the gangs, that impacts 

          3   sexual abuse in any way?  Do the gangs seem to 

          4   take a stance against it?  Do they engage in it?  

          5   What is the relationship with gangs regarding 

          6   sexual abuse? 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  As far as I know, we 

          8   don't have any documentation saying one way or 

          9   the other whether that would play a role in that. 

         10             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Do you have a sense 

         11   or kind of an unwritten law or ruling or 

         12   knowledge? 

         13             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I don't -- there's 

         14   nothing that I can think of where like a 

         15   particular gang participates in that, or -- 

         16             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Maybe a particular 

         17   gang frowning on it or having strong feelings 

         18   about predators, sexual predators? 

         19             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I'm sure they do, but 

         20   I'm not -- as far as -- I'm not too -- obviously 

         21   I work with the inmates, but I'm not sure what 


                                                                      265

          1   the expectations of some gangs are over the 

          2   other. 

          3             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I don't believe we 

          4   asked the question regarding the general culture 

          5   within the institution.  What is the culture like 

          6   in terms of its values related to sexual issues?  

          7   Is there a lot of joking, open conversation about 

          8   it?

          9             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I personally don't 

         10   believe so.  Obviously, we've had staff in the 

         11   past who made poor decisions and engaged in that 

         12   type of activity.  But, as a general rule, I 

         13   believe the majority of our staff are 

         14   professional.  They come to work and they're 

         15   respectful to the inmates, and I believe, 

         16   overall, we have a really good institution.  

         17             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Do you have any 

         18   peer education programs?  Are there ever times 

         19   when more experienced inmates who may be on the 

         20   way out of the door are helpful in mentoring or 

         21   sharing information with inmates who are newly 


                                                                      266

          1   arrived? 

          2             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Occasionally, I 

          3   believe most of the time, that works in a 

          4   negative manner.  That they'll -- 

          5             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Explain.  Tell me a 

          6   little more. 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, if an inmate is 

          8   part of a gang, usually the newer inmates, 

          9   depending on -- they'll try to recruit the inmate 

         10   for that gang.  

         11             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I see. 

         12             MICHELE HILLMAN:  But, I mean, we have 

         13   some inmates who, you know, they're in doing 

         14   their time, they've done the program, they have 

         15   seen that it doesn't pay to go through life that 

         16   way, and occasionally they'll take a younger 

         17   inmate aside and kind of show them the ways, I 

         18   guess.  And then we also have different clubs 

         19   that they belong to; they kind of bring them into 

         20   that.  We have the religious activities, too, 

         21   that they can participate in.  


                                                                      267

          1             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  What type of clubs 

          2   do you have? 

          3             MICHELE HILLMAN:  We have the stamp 

          4   club. 

          5             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Are these stamp 

          6   collectors? 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  They are.  Pretty 

          8   good collections.  We have a few inmates that 

          9   have some pretty outstanding collections in 

         10   there.  

         11             You're going to have to help me out on 

         12   this one.  

         13             RICH BRITTENHAM:  There's a Harambee 

         14   club, which -- African culture awareness.  I can't 

         15   think what the H stands for.  There's the MADA, 

         16   Mexican awareness, Mexican awareness.  There's -- 

         17   they have AA.  There's a vets -- a vets club, a 

         18   veterans club of inmates who are incarcerated who 

         19   were in the military, whatever branch it was, and 

         20   that they have document.  I think the form is -- 

         21   I don't know what the form is called, but they 


                                                                      268

          1   have to have documentation that they were 

          2   actually in the military.  

          3             They just started a club, Seventh Step, 

          4   which it was new when I was leaving; I couldn't 

          5   tell you -- I think it's about like helping 

          6   Toastmasters.  Toastmasters, Seventh Step, 

          7   Toastmasters. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  The warden just gave 

          9   you something?  

         10             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Yeah, he did.  He has 

         11   Toastmasters, and NASCO, Native American, Seventh 

         12   Step, Vets, AA, MADA, and Harambee.  And 

         13   Toastmasters, I know, is public speaking. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  

         15             RICH BRITTENHAM:  But Seventh Step, I 

         16   really couldn't tell you all what that's about.  

         17   But those are the clubs that -- there's a club 

         18   counselor who deals with them and helps set up 

         19   their symposiums and banquets and et cetera, like 

         20   that.  

         21             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Thank you. 


                                                                      269

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Let me just ask, Ms. 

          2   Hillman, there's a document entitled Inmate 

          3   Orientation Information Regarding Sexual 

          4   Abuse/Sexual Assault.  It's one page, has five 

          5   paragraphs.  Are you familiar with it?

          6             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes.

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And how do your folks 

          8   use it? 

          9             MICHELE HILLMAN:  That's when they 

         10   review with the inmate during the initial intake 

         11   and during, then, the orientation process. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is this the thing the 

         13   inmate signs that they received, or is it 

         14   something else? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  The second page of 

         16   that would be the, where they indicate that they 

         17   signed that.  And then we keep a copy of that in 

         18   their treatment file and also in their 

         19   institutional records, so that will go with them 

         20   from institution to institution. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay. 


                                                                      270

          1             MICHELE HILLMAN:  So we have 

          2   documentation of that. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  There's nothing -- 

          4   there's not a whole lot on this form about staff 

          5   sexual activity with an inmate.  Almost all of it 

          6   is about what inmates shouldn't be doing.  

          7   There's one line in the whole page.  It says:  

          8   Staff volunteers and contractors who engage in 

          9   the above cited prohibited acts are subject to 

         10   appropriate administrative action.  

         11             But the list, the bullet point list of 

         12   zero tolerance is:  physical sexual assault; 

         13   physical sexual pressuring; extortion; physical 

         14   sexual intimidation or manipulation; or 

         15   retaliation or retribution.  There's nothing 

         16   about, quote, consensual, willing activity.  So 

         17   it would lead a new inmate to believe that if a 

         18   staff -- if you're willing and the staff is 

         19   soliciting sex, if it's all right with the 

         20   inmate, the staff person is not engaging in any 

         21   of those five prohibited acts and it's okay and 


                                                                      271

          1   the zero tolerance doesn't apply. 

          2             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, that's one 

          3   thing that they cover in the brochure then, with 

          4   the inmate.  And then in preparation to come out 

          5   here, obviously, that's one thing that we 

          6   recognized that we could do a little bit better 

          7   on, that we need to revise both the pamphlet and 

          8   the information so it has more detail explaining, 

          9   so the message to the inmate is that we do not 

         10   tolerate that, and then obviously more detail in 

         11   how we expect them to report that to staff.  So 

         12   that's one of the things that we recognized. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's great.  There 

         14   was also another document, it's a five-page 

         15   document entitled NDOC Internal Classification 

         16   Manual.  Are you familiar with that?

         17             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And where does this 

         19   get used? 

         20             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Is that with the PREA 

         21   assessment? 


                                                                      272

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  No.  PREA doesn't get 

          2   mentioned here. 

          3             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Oh, sorry.  Oh, this 

          4   is similar to what we spoke about earlier.  I 

          5   believe this is what mental health also uses, I 

          6   believe, at our intake center.  Just some of the 

          7   examples of the questions they can use to 

          8   determine their level of violence, or if they're 

          9   a predator or victim. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And there's also, 

         11   there are a couple more documents that are 

         12   attachments to the sexual assault policy.  One is 

         13   Attachment F, Potential Perpetrator/Victim 

         14   Monthly Tracking Form.  Who uses this? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  That's what the unit 

         16   staff complete.  We recognize when they come into 

         17   the institution, if they have a high -- if 

         18   they're rated as a high potential for a victim or 

         19   a high potential for a predator, we track them 

         20   monthly.

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's great. 


                                                                      273

          1             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Then we complete 

          2   those, and then we report them to our mental 

          3   health staff.  And so they can gather that 

          4   information, and they have -- they can add that 

          5   to their mental health file, just so we can make 

          6   sure that we're paying attention and tracking the 

          7   inmate through his incarceration.  

          8             And then any time during that, if we 

          9   determine -- say if I come in and I'm considered 

         10   a low victim, if there's some activity that would 

         11   happen, they can be generated onto that monthly 

         12   list, so we're evaluating them monthly and then 

         13   potentially changing what category they fit in.  

         14   So if they were a low victim, if we believe 

         15   they're being pressured or being targeted, we can 

         16   up their level to moderate or high and possibly 

         17   track them monthly. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That is great.  I 

         19   notice that Item 10 on the perpetrator review 

         20   criteria is sexual activities with a staff 

         21   member -- yes, no, suspected, unconfirmed.  That's 


                                                                      274

          1   good to know.  How would your staff be expected 

          2   to address that particular criteria?  I mean, 

          3   they can ask the inmate, are you having sex with 

          4   any of the staff; and I'm not trying to be 

          5   flippant. 

          6             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right.  I mean, they 

          7   could ask them that.  And I believe most 

          8   generally, staff are going to know if the inmate 

          9   is too familiar with somebody.  Especially the 

         10   unit staff, they're on the unit eight hours a 

         11   day, they're working with those inmates, they're 

         12   building that rapport.  You're going to notice if 

         13   somebody is consistently going to another 

         14   employee or, you know, if they're shying away, if 

         15   you feel like maybe they're, you know, there's 

         16   not the same character that they were the day 

         17   before or the week before, and just little 

         18   triggers like that. 

         19              Obviously, they're not going to have 

         20   the documentation if the major's office is 

         21   investigating an employee or, you know, another 


                                                                      275

          1   inmate for something, perhaps, but that at least 

          2   gives us a tool to use.  And then possibly, like 

          3   if the inmate would report that, obviously, that 

          4   would give us information and details to report 

          5   to the major's office for review. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, this is great.  

          7   Because at the bottom, you have a place for -- a 

          8   blank for:  complete each item for either the 

          9   potential perpetrator or victim assessment.  All 

         10   items checked yes or suspected or unconfirmed 

         11   require explanation and recommendations.  That's 

         12   great.  So you expect your staff, if they know of 

         13   sexual activity or they suspect it, they're 

         14   supposed to give some details about this. 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Most definitely, and 

         16   then follow up immediately.

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And then what do they 

         18   do with it?

         19             MICHELE HILLMAN:  They should follow up 

         20   immediately with me if they suspect any of that,  

         21   and then we'll talk to the major's office.  And 


                                                                      276

          1   then if there was some type of activity, 

          2   obviously, it would go to investigation, but then 

          3   mental health would also be notified immediately. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  It would go to Benny, 

          5   to Mr. Noordhoek? 

          6             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right.  I would turn 

          7   it into the major's office, and the major's 

          8   office is our contact with Benny, so he would 

          9   contact Benny immediately then. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Has this ever 

         11   happened:  Have you ever -- any of your staff 

         12   ever brought to you one of these tracking forms 

         13   and said, hey, check this out; I think inmate Joe 

         14   has something going with female or male staff X? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Not from the form.  

         16   But just general observation, staff have came to 

         17   me and expressed concern that an inmate and a 

         18   staff seem too familiar. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  But they 

         20   haven't used this form?  In other words, --

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, they use the 


                                                                      277

          1   form.  I don't believe it's been generated, you 

          2   know, the discussion has been generated from 

          3   completing the form.  

          4             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I see. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  I'm just 

          6   wondering if -- I mean, the verbal is great, but 

          7   I'm wondering if there's documentation anywhere 

          8   or could be documentation anywhere about 

          9   follow-up? 

         10             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Or with 

         11   investigations. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  In other words, has 

         13   anybody ever written anything on the bottom of 

         14   this form, Attachment F, relating to Item 10 

         15   about perpetrators or Item 6 about victims, both 

         16   of which is sexual activities with a staff 

         17   member?  Would be there any document that you're 

         18   aware of that has ever addressed those criteria 

         19   in writing? 

         20             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Since I've been the 

         21   unit administrator, I don't believe anybody has 


                                                                      278

          1   flagged that on their form. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  How about when you 

          3   were unit manager yourself, did you ever fill out 

          4   one saying, I think somebody's got something 

          5   going with a staff member? 

          6             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Not a staff member; I 

          7   have with another inmate. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Another inmate, which 

          9   is Item 9 and 5. 

         10             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Do you think there's 

         12   a reluctance to put in writing something about 

         13   one of your fellow staff members having sexual 

         14   activities with an inmate? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I personally don't 

         16   believe so, because we have staff -- staff are 

         17   very quick to report that.  There hasn't been a 

         18   lack of staff willingness to report that, or at 

         19   least I don't believe so, that somebody is being 

         20   too close with an inmate.  Or even inmates, 

         21   really; I mean, they're usually our first 


                                                                      279

          1   indicator.  And then we tend to pay more 

          2   attention, I believe, to that and see if we can 

          3   find any other indicators. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And this looks like 

          5   another mental health document, and it's great 

          6   that this is being addressed.  This is 

          7   Attachment G, a Potential Perpetrator/Victim 

          8   90-Day Mental Status Examination.  One of the 

          9   assessment questions, not upper behavioral 

         10   observations, but one of the ten assessment 

         11   questions is:  Pressured or pressuring others for 

         12   sexual favors -- yes, no, or suspected.  And 

         13   again, there's a place for elaborating on it.  Is 

         14   this something that your unit staff use? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe that form 

         16   is utilized by our mental health staff. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Just the mental 

         18   health staff? 

         19             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right.  And I know 

         20   they've often reported concerns.  I don't believe 

         21   they've actually, like, photocopied the paper and 


                                                                      280

          1   gave it to staff.  But obviously I know they've 

          2   reported concerns that they may -- like I said, 

          3   usually inmate-on-inmate.  I can't think of any 

          4   examples where they reported that they believed 

          5   there's an inappropriate staff with staff and 

          6   inmate. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  What's the 

          8   90-day deal?  Is this 90 days after their initial 

          9   mental health examination? 

         10             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe that's 90 

         11   days after their arrival at Tecumseh, TSCI.

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay, which is one 

         13   and the same, right?  I mean, they get a mental 

         14   health examination. 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Now, I believe 

         17   the inmate grievances go to you and the potential 

         18   disciplinary cases go to Mr. Noordhoek; is that 

         19   right? 

         20             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Potential staff 

         21   discipline? 


                                                                      281

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Potential -- any 

          2   investigation, any case investigation goes to Mr. 

          3   Noordhoek, right? 

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But all grievances 

          6   first go to you? 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, the grievances 

          8   would be logged on the unit, and then, depending 

          9   on what level, they would be responding.  But, 

         10   yeah, I'm responsible for tracking all the inmate 

         11   grievances. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And we asked 

         13   for all the inmate grievances relating to sexual 

         14   harassment or assault for calendar '06, and there 

         15   were just two that were produced.  Does that 

         16   sound right? 

         17             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe so, yes.  

         18   We went through the whole log of 2006 and 

         19   reviewed them all. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Would you have 

         21   expected more grievance forms to be relating to 


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          1   sexual harassment and sexual touching and so 

          2   forth, for a 12-month period? 

          3             MICHELE HILLMAN:  For our institution, 

          4   typically, no.  

          5             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  For your 

          6   institution, typically, no, did you say? 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Correct. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Not just generally 

          9   but Tecumseh? 

         10             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, I believe -- I 

         11   mean, I've worked in Tecumseh for the last five 

         12   years, so, I mean, obviously --

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And now let me just 

         14   ask you briefly about these two grievances.  One 

         15   is an attempt to be an emergency grievance, which 

         16   we heard about. 

         17             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Right. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Do you remember one 

         19   being filed by -- is it all right to mention the 

         20   inmate's name? 

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Probably not. 


                                                                      283

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right. 

          2             MICHELE HILLMAN:  If I could just look 

          3   at them real quick. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, April 3, '06, is 

          5   when it was filed. 

          6             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Okay.  (Reviewing 

          7   documents.)  Okay.  Thank you. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Do you remember this 

          9   one? 

         10             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Not -- no, I do not. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  The inmate was 

         12   asking to speak to the lieutenant, said that he 

         13   is filing a sexual harassment charge against the 

         14   facility and against a sergeant, that we'll leave 

         15   unnamed.  "He violated me, made me feel stupid, 

         16   and made me do things that were very hard to do 

         17   because I have a bad foot.  He came into my unit, 

         18   strip-searched me in my room, even though I told 

         19   him that" -- I can't quite figure out what the 

         20   next is.  The case number, I don't know whether 

         21   that's UA or WA, 061557, and 591. 


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          1             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Oh, there we go.  

          2   Okay.  

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And he has 

          4   handwritten "emergency" and underlined on the top 

          5   of the grievance form.  And the response dated 

          6   the same day and signed by the chief executive 

          7   officer, who I assume would be the warden? 

          8             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Actually, that's our 

          9   deputy warden's signature.  In the absence of 

         10   him, the deputy warden can sign for that. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got you.  And who's 

         12   that? 

         13             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Deputy Warden Brian 

         14   Gage. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And the response to 

         16   the grievance is:  "The information contained in 

         17   your grievance does not meet the criteria which 

         18   governs the emergency grievance procedure, as you 

         19   are in no immediate danger of being subjected to 

         20   a substantial risk of personal injury or serious 

         21   or irreparable harm.  You may resubmit via the 


                                                                      285

          1   routine grievance procedure outlined in DCS 

          2   Rule 2.  According to rules and regulations, all 

          3   employees, inmates, and property within the 

          4   Department of Correctional Services are subject 

          5   to search any time, with or without reason.  

          6   Staff are not required to justify as to why you 

          7   or your cell are being searched at any given 

          8   time." 

          9             The inmate doesn't indicate in 

         10   particular why he thinks there was a sexual 

         11   harassment charge aspect to this strip search.  

         12   But evidently, he received it back and 

         13   immediately wrote another one, wrote "emergency" 

         14   at the top, and said:  "You didn't understand what 

         15   I meant.  Sergeant so-and-so sexually harassed 

         16   me.  What proper channels should I go through?" 

         17             And the typed response, also the same 

         18   day, is:  "The information contained in your 

         19   grievance does not meet the criteria which 

         20   governs emergency grievances, as you are in no 

         21   immediate danger of being subjected to a 


                                                                      286

          1   substantial risk of personal injury or serious or 

          2   irreparable harm.  Your comments are noted, and 

          3   sergeant so-and-so is not present for comment.  

          4   The proper grievance procedure is outlined in DCS 

          5   Rule No. 2.  You may resubmit via the routine 

          6   grievance procedure as outlined in DCS Rule 

          7   No. 2."  

          8             And evidently, it was handed back to 

          9   him by another officer, and receipt acknowledged, 

         10   and it appears that on that receipt the inmate 

         11   wrote that the subject was sexual harassment.  

         12             So all that is to say, it looks like 

         13   this inmate tried twice the same day, using 

         14   grievance procedure and trying to invoke the 

         15   emergency grievance procedure, and got it bounced 

         16   back twice because he wasn't deemed to be in 

         17   immediate danger of a substantial risk of 

         18   personal injury or irreparable harm.  

         19             Is that the way this should be handled, 

         20   according to your understanding of procedure? 

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Usually when we 


                                                                      287

          1   receive grievances like this, the lieutenant 

          2   would call him up there immediately.  And then 

          3   they would --

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Call who? 

          5             MICHELE HILLMAN:  The inmate. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  And then they would 

          8   interview him, and provide more details.  I don't 

          9   know if the sexual harassment was just because he 

         10   was strip-searched in his cell.  I'm not sure 

         11   what the level of harassment he received.  But --

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Would anything else 

         13   be done besides the lieutenant calling up the 

         14   complainant? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  He would contact the 

         16   employee. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  The sergeant. 

         18             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Mm-hmm.

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And --

         20             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I don't know if that 

         21   happened or not in this particular situation.  I 


                                                                      288

          1   don't know if he called him at home and received 

          2   more details on the complaint. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Would you expect 

          4   anything further to be done beyond -- by the 

          5   lieutenant or anybody else, in response to this 

          6   grievance? 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Any time we have 

          8   contacts or allegations of that, we notify the 

          9   major's office, because he logs all the sexual 

         10   assault and sexual victimization complaints, so 

         11   usually the major would be notified. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So by log, does that 

         13   mean he would have a log, a written log of the 

         14   case number and his disposition of it? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe the major's 

         16   office notifies each time they're contacted about 

         17   that, yes. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So it keeps some 

         19   physical log -- 

         20             Well, you used to do it, so --  

         21             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Yeah, I was going to 


                                                                      289

          1   say, the log I keep is my contact with the 

          2   departmental investigators about that, not 

          3   actually --

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Not about grievances. 

          5             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Not about grievances, 

          6   not a log, a running log of sexual victimization.  

          7   It's a log book I have where I contact 

          8   Investigator Noordhoek or Mr. Hansen stating we 

          9   have this issue. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Mr. Noordhoek, do you 

         11   remember -- 

         12             If you wouldn't mind passing that down 

         13   to him.  

         14             Have you ever seen any documentation 

         15   regarding this emergency grievance or sexual 

         16   harassment claim?  

         17             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Not that I can 

         18   recall, no. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  In preparation for 

         20   your testimony today, did you review your files 

         21   looking for any and all cases that involve sexual 


                                                                      290

          1   harassment or sexual misconduct?  

          2             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  In calendar year 

          3   '06, yes. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  How about '07?  

          5             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  No, I did not. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Ms. Hillman, 

          7   should anything else have been done, as you 

          8   understand procedure, with this attempt for an 

          9   emergency grievance alleging sexual harassment 

         10   other than what you've described? 

         11             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, I would hope in 

         12   the future that they wouldn't use that first.  

         13   This is not an emergency response.  And then 

         14   basically, just inform the inmate whether or not, 

         15   you know, they were in fear for their safety, and 

         16   then we would give the option to go to 

         17   segregation if they were to report that.  And 

         18   then when they responded to the grievance, just 

         19   say, you know, your allegations are being 

         20   investigated, and basically we'll report back to 

         21   you once we can determine whether they are true 


                                                                      291

          1   or not. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And then there 

          3   is, the second grievance that you produced is one 

          4   dated -- it's typewritten and it's dated, 

          5   date-stamped November 3, 2006, unit 

          6   administrator's office.  That would be you, 

          7   right? 

          8             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Unit administrator.  

         10   And you were unit administrator at that point, 

         11   right, November 3 of '06? 

         12             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe so.  Right 

         13   around there.  I don't know my exact date. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Do you have this?  Do 

         15   you want me to show it to you? 

         16             MICHELE HILLMAN:  No, is it the -- it 

         17   was received what date?  Right on the bottom on 

         18   the left-hand side.

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  10-31-06. 

         20             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yep, I have that one. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  Is that 


                                                                      292

          1   your signature under -- no, that's the chief 

          2   executive officer -- again, is Mr. Grant or  

          3   Brent?  What was it? 

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  On the first page? 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Or that looks like 

          6   Mr. Britten. 

          7             MICHELE HILLMAN:  That's, yeah, Mr. 

          8   Britten's signature. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay. 

         10             MICHELE HILLMAN:  It looks like it 

         11   originally started from the housing unit, though, 

         12   the informal grievance.  And then actually looks 

         13   like he initially started with the inmate 

         14   interview request form. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  You must have 

         16   something I don't.  Do you have a handwritten 

         17   grievance that's not typewritten? 

         18             MICHELE HILLMAN:  From the same inmate 

         19   or different inmate? 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Same inmate.  I just 

         21   have an inmate interview request form, which 


                                                                      293

          1   looks like the inmate says, "Please send this 

          2   case law to be added with my grievance which 

          3   applied to the Department of Correction." 

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes, I do.  I have 

          5   that in the packet. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  You say you think 

          7   there was a grievance that went before this 

          8   typewritten one, or --

          9             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Well, I seen the 

         10   inmate interview request form.  I just thought he 

         11   generated this first and then went to the 

         12   grievance. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Looks like it's the 

         14   other way around, right? 

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Correct. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  He's saying stick 

         17   this statute on sexual -- he includes the sexual 

         18   abuse statute in Nebraska, and he wants it to 

         19   stick in his grievance file. 

         20             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Mm-hmm.  

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  So are 


                                                                      294

          1   you aware of any other documentation of his 

          2   particular complaint, this grievance? 

          3             MICHELE HILLMAN:  No, I don't believe 

          4   so.  I think that's all of it. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And what do you 

          6   remember -- this one in a nutshell:  I filed a 

          7   complaint with my unit counselor the same day I 

          8   was sexually assaulted by officer so-and-so 

          9   during a routine pat search.  Officer blank 

         10   grabbed my buttocks and put his hands between my 

         11   legs and fondled my genital and penis.  I pulled 

         12   away from him and told officer so-and-so out 

         13   loud, you cannot put your hands on me like that.  

         14   You're not allowed to grab my genital and penis 

         15   like that.  And then there's an exchange.  I told 

         16   officer so-and-so a pat search was brief and 

         17   incidental.  I disagreed with the officer, et 

         18   cetera.  

         19             So it's about a pat search and an 

         20   allegation of sexual assault.  And the response 

         21   is, your comments are noted.  However, I concur 


                                                                      295

          1   with the response set forth in the informal 

          2   grievance.  

          3             There must have been an informal 

          4   grievance that preceded this, right? 

          5             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But we didn't get it.  

          7   You don't have one, right?  You don't have the 

          8   informal grievance? 

          9             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Oh, yes, I do.  I 

         10   have it right here. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Does he say 

         12   anything that I didn't just read in typewritten? 

         13             MICHELE HILLMAN:  In the initial -- 

         14   yeah.  You might want to look -- I believe it's 

         15   not as descriptive as the grievance that you 

         16   have, but there's other information.  Usually the 

         17   inmate will start out with an informal grievance.

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes. 

         19             MICHELE HILLMAN:  And then that's 

         20   resolved on the unit.  Then if they don't believe 

         21   that the answer was appropriate enough or 


                                                                      296

          1   addressed their concerns, then they can take it 

          2   to the next level, which the warden ultimately 

          3   will answer.  Or they can also do the Step 2 

          4   grievance, which goes directly to our central 

          5   office, and then they formulate their response 

          6   for that. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  The initial informal 

          8   grievance, which is typewritten and dated and 

          9   signed October 15, '06, the response 12 days 

         10   later -- who's the -- all right, I'll give this 

         11   back to you. 

         12             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe it's unit 

         13   manager Joel Conratti.

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes:  Inmate, your 

         15   comments are noted.  However, pursuant to 

         16   such-and-such, this grievance is being returned 

         17   to you unanswered due to this informal grievance 

         18   was not filed within three calendar days of the 

         19   incident of concern.  

         20             Is that true, that if somebody is 

         21   sexually assaulted in the form of, especially 


                                                                      297

          1   like this, where there's an allegation of sexual 

          2   -- intimate sexual contact, that if the guy 

          3   doesn't report it in three days, tough luck? 

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Part of our -- one of 

          5   the responses they give you is, they're supposed 

          6   to file it within three days.  However, if it was 

          7   something of that serious of a nature, we would 

          8   still investigate the matter. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So despite Mr. 

         10   Conratti's response that it's being returned to 

         11   you unanswered, are you saying that it could have 

         12   been investigated anyway? 

         13             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe, if you 

         14   look at the next one, it was investigated, the 

         15   one that the warden signed off, that we did 

         16   complete the investigation.  Unfortunately, Mr. 

         17   Conratti didn't indicate that in his response.  

         18   He chose to put a different response on there. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So the 

         20   response -- so he refiled three days after 

         21   getting this initial response, October 30, he 


                                                                      298

          1   repeats it in more detail, and then six days 

          2   later the warden replies:  Mr. so-and-so, your 

          3   comments are noted.  However, I concur with the 

          4   response set forth in the informal grievance.  In 

          5   addition, this incident was investigated.  TSCI 

          6   is currently awaiting the results from this 

          7   investigation.  Your patience in this matter is 

          8   greatly appreciated.  

          9             What was the result of the 

         10   investigation? 

         11             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe it was 

         12   unfounded. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Were you involved in 

         14   that investigation?  

         15             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I believe I was.  

         16   Could I review the grievance? 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes. 

         18             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Just so I know who 

         19   we're talking about.  Thank you.  (Reviewing 

         20   documents.)  Yes, I was involved with this. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And would 


                                                                      299

          1   there be any documentation of your involvement in 

          2   it? 

          3             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Do you happen 

          5   to have that? 

          6             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Did you get a copy 

          7   of all of my investigations for '06? 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes. 

          9             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I believe that 

         10   would be Case No. 200602TSC461, if I'm not 

         11   mistaken.  I don't have a copy of it.  

         12             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Do you have a copy 

         13   of it?  

         14             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Well, not the whole 

         15   investigation, just a synopsis is what he has. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, I just have -- 

         17   what have you got? 

         18             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Would you like to 

         19   see a copy of my synopsis? 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, could I please?  

         21   Thanks.  


                                                                      300

          1             All right.  So this summarizes five 

          2   cases. 

          3             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That's correct. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  In '06, and one of 

          5   them is, is it the third one? 

          6             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I believe so. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Inmate claimed 

          8   that a male officer grabbed his genitals and 

          9   buttocks area while conducting a search.  The 

         10   incident occurred while leaving the dining room 

         11   during the noon meal.  Staff and inmate were 

         12   male.  And the disposition was unfounded. 

         13             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That's correct. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  What do you remember 

         15   about your investigation? 

         16             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I remember speaking 

         17   with the inmate.  He was upset over the search.  

         18   He felt staff went too far up into the genital 

         19   area and searched his buttocks.  There was three 

         20   or four other staff members present.  When 

         21   inmates are exiting the kitchen, normally there's 


                                                                      301

          1   a group of officers there.  There was a senior 

          2   corporal who was interviewed that witnessed this 

          3   incident and confirmed the officer's report, that 

          4   it was a routine pat search and nothing 

          5   inappropriate occurred. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And so you took the 

          7   word of the correctional officers; is that right? 

          8             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  There was three or 

          9   four different correctional officers, yes.  And 

         10   this incident happened out on the yard, plain 

         11   view of the tower and anyone else who had been 

         12   out there. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  While leaving the 

         14   dining room. 

         15             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Now, 

         17   grievances only get to you if -- who decides that 

         18   they rise to the level of something that's worth 

         19   your time? 

         20             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Normally, it's the 

         21   major who contacts me. 


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          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay. 

          2             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  But, you know, the 

          3   deputy warden or the warden also could, if it was 

          4   brought to their attention. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So of the -- as long 

          6   as we're talking about the cases, there aren't 

          7   any other grievances in '06 related to sexual 

          8   harassment other than those two; is that right? 

          9             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe so.  I 

         10   believe those are two that I have. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  So then 

         12   turning to investigations related to sex in '06, 

         13   you list five cases. 

         14             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That's correct. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Four of them were 

         16   found to be unfounded, one substantiated. 

         17             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes, sir. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And what does it take 

         19   for a case investigation to be substantiated?  

         20   What level of certainty or what level of review, 

         21   what measuring stick do you use? 


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          1             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Well, if there's 

          2   physical evidence, obviously, we substantiate off 

          3   that.  In this case, the employee admitted guilt.  

          4   If it's observed by other staff members and 

          5   substantiated that way. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay, I don't want to 

          7   cut you off. 

          8             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  No. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  If there's physical 

         10   evidence, if there are other staff witnesses? 

         11             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That's correct. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  How about inmate 

         13   witnesses, would that be important? 

         14             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  We consider that, 

         15   but we don't base our findings just off the 

         16   inmates' statements, no. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  No, I don't mean the 

         18   victim's statement.  But if it was corroborated 

         19   by another prisoner? 

         20             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  We still wouldn't 

         21   base our findings just off of inmates. 


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          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  But you could 

          2   find it unfounded on the basis of a correctional 

          3   -- one correctional officer's denial; is that 

          4   correct? 

          5             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That's correct. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  So some 

          7   witnesses are more credible than others; is that 

          8   the idea? 

          9             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  The accused is going 

         11   to trump any number of inmates, eyewitnesses? 

         12             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  If there's no 

         13   physical evidence, we're just going by 

         14   statements, yes. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And any other 

         16   evidence that you would want to consider? 

         17             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Like a video. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Video.  Of course, 

         19   not many of them are taped, are they? 

         20             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  No. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Do you have any -- 


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          1   can you tell me how often you've ever had video 

          2   recording of, that has helped you in any 

          3   investigation; in other words, just fortuitously 

          4   somebody pressed the right buttons and got the 

          5   VCR started? 

          6             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  During physical 

          7   assaults, if there's a response team en route, a 

          8   lot of times the main control staff will start 

          9   recording a physical assault that's in progress, 

         10   and we'll use that video.  We have a VCR camera 

         11   on planned uses of force; we use that video also 

         12   for prosecution during assaults and things. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And anything 

         14   else besides physical evidence, eyewitnesses of 

         15   inmates, albeit that's not enough in itself, 

         16   witness, if the witnesses are inmates, a 

         17   videotape, anything else that you would want to 

         18   look at? 

         19             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes.  We also 

         20   listen to the phone calls on the inmate calling 

         21   system.  If an inmate is talking to a family 


                                                                      306

          1   member, we'll take that into consideration, as 

          2   well as monitor the mail in some situations to 

          3   see if they're writing home. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Just so I understand 

          5   what the process is, do you have anything that 

          6   says in writing what are the -- lists the kinds 

          7   of evidence that you can consider, should 

          8   consider, kind of the way your investigation 

          9   should proceed, and what the standard of -- that 

         10   is necessary to prove in order for something to 

         11   be substantiated?

         12             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  To substantiate?  

         13   Nothing that I'm aware of in writing.  Normally 

         14   what I do on most of my cases is, I confer with 

         15   county attorney and our legal counsel, we sit 

         16   down, we talk periodically, several times a 

         17   week, I would say.  I'll contact the county 

         18   attorney and say, this is what I've got, this is 

         19   what the allegations are, this is what I have, 

         20   and seek advice from county attorney. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure. 


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          1             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  And also with the 

          2   State Patrol, we speak with them daily, the 

          3   sergeant in charge of the investigators.  Usually, 

          4   we bounce most of our cases off him every day.  

          5   And sometimes he'll send someone to assist us or 

          6   he'll monitor our reports, and we stay in contact 

          7   and seek guidance from him. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay, now, how many 

          9   other investigators are there in the department? 

         10             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Besides myself, 

         11   there's one other. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And male or female? 

         13             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Male. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And do you ever use 

         15   any third-party outsiders to help with 

         16   investigations? 

         17             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  The State Patrol. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And do they 

         19   have any female investigators? 

         20             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  They do.  Any 


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          1   accessible to Tecumseh, if you thought it was a 

          2   good idea? 

          3             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Normally, we've got 

          4   such a good working relationship with the State 

          5   Patrol, if we would request a female or any kind 

          6   of assistance, we get it the same day. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And who does the 

          8   training of investigators?  Is there any ongoing 

          9   in-service training for you all? 

         10             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Myself and Jeff 

         11   Britain, the other department investigator, we've 

         12   got to go through our annual training like 

         13   everyone else, and we also went to the law 

         14   enforcement academy and got certified. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  The other 

         16   investigator is Jeff Britain? 

         17             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes, sir. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Any relation to the 

         19   warden?  

         20             FRED BRITTEN:  Spells it differently 

         21   and no relation. 


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          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So have you ever been 

          3   briefed by the county attorney or anybody else on 

          4   the legalities of conducting an investigation 

          5   that might lead to a criminal prosecution? 

          6             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Briefed as in? 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Like your standard of 

          8   review or your standard for substantiation should 

          9   be more likely than not or preponderance of the 

         10   evidence or clear, cogent, convincing evidence, 

         11   or beyond a reasonable doubt or something like 

         12   that; do you have any legal buzzwords or some 

         13   kind of a standard so that it doesn't depend on 

         14   which side of the bed you got out of?  And I'm 

         15   not being disrespectful; I'm just saying so that 

         16   you have some kind of an even, consistent 

         17   standard every time? 

         18             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yeah.  We meet 

         19   weekly and discuss all our cases with either our 

         20   legal counsel, which is more often than not, and 

         21   if I'm not in the office to speak with our 


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          1   counsel, then I speak with the county attorney. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And does Mr. Britain 

          3   join you in those weekly meetings with the county 

          4   attorney? 

          5             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Well, Mr. Britain 

          6   and myself, we're responsible for all the 

          7   institutions, so we're never usually in the same 

          8   place at the same time.  But I know he meets with 

          9   county attorneys just as much or more than I do, 

         10   as well as our general counsel. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay, but when you're 

         12   discussing something out of Tecumseh, he wouldn't 

         13   be there as well, right? 

         14             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  No. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But does he ever go 

         16   to Tecumseh? 

         17             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Not very often. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But he could be the 

         19   investigator for Tecumseh? 

         20             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes, he could. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So if you were 


                                                                      311

          1   unlucky, you might have an investigator who has 

          2   not had the benefit of weekly meetings with the 

          3   county attorney about Tecumseh and might not get 

          4   the same shake that you would give it; is that 

          5   fair? 

          6             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  The same -- you 

          7   mean the same consideration from the county 

          8   attorney? 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  No, no, no.  Might 

         10   not be applying the same standards because he 

         11   hasn't had the benefit of focusing on Tecumseh 

         12   and talking with the same county attorney who 

         13   would be prosecuting Tecumseh rapes as you have. 

         14             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  We have weekly 

         15   meetings, Jeff Britain, myself, and Brad Hansen, 

         16   our supervisor, and we discuss our cases. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

         18             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Staff meetings. 

         19             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  And what's going 

         20   on, yeah. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Well, in this one 


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          1   substantiated investigation, it says that a 

          2   female staff member admitted having sex with an 

          3   inmate who had been recently paroled and that 

          4   this occurred off premises. 

          5             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That's correct. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Because he was still 

          7   on paper, that's why it was --

          8             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  A parolee, yes, 

          9   sir. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So that's why it was 

         11   a disciplinary matter, because she was -- I 

         12   assume she was off duty? 

         13             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  This occurred on a 

         15   dirt road outside of Lincoln.

         16             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes.  She picked 

         17   him up at the community center when he paroled. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see, okay. 

         19             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  But she was also 

         20   guilty of a felony violation by taking phone 

         21   calls, bringing him in letters, I believe.  She 


                                                                      313

          1   was in possession of some of his property in her 

          2   car that was reported to us, so she was charged 

          3   with two felonies. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So one felony is 

          5   having sex with a parolee? 

          6             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes.  And the other 

          7   was for introducing contraband, 83-417, Nebraska 

          8   statute. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Was this individual 

         10   -- what was the ultimate disposition? 

         11             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I believe the 

         12   county attorney struck a plea bargain with her, 

         13   where the sexual assault of an inmate parolee was 

         14   dismissed, she pled guilty to the Class 4 felony, 

         15   the 83-417, received two years' probation and 50 

         16   hours' community service.

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Isn't it true that by 

         18   dropping the first felony, that she didn't have 

         19   to register as a sex offender? 

         20             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That would be true. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Would this person be 


                                                                      314

          1   eligible for rehire by the department? 

          2             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  No. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Because of any 

          4   felony?  

          5             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Because of the 

          6   felony, and we also in these situations place a 

          7   letter in their file that they're not eligible 

          8   for rehire. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Have you ever heard 

         10   or suspected of similar explicit sexual activity 

         11   between an off-duty CO or staff member and a 

         12   parolee? 

         13             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Have I heard of it? 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Heard of it. 

         15             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is it pretty common 

         17   knowledge, that after they get out of corrections 

         18   and are still on paper, that some correctional 

         19   officers might be hooking up with them? 

         20             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  It's not common 

         21   knowledge.  That is something we would pursue, if 


                                                                      315

          1   we had the information to start an investigation.  

          2   But obviously you hear things, so I had heard 

          3   that before. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And you've got two 

          5   investigators to cover how many institutions?  

          6   Juvenile, female, and male, how many total would 

          7   you have on your plate? 

          8             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Does anybody know 

          9   exactly?  

         10             MULTIPLE SPEAKERS:  Ten. 

         11             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I wanted to say 

         12   ten, but -- 

         13             FRED BRITTEN:  No juvenile. 

         14             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  No juvenile. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  No juvenile, all 

         16   right.  So you've got ten prisons, between the 

         17   two, Mr. Britain and you, to cover.  So you 

         18   probably don't have a whole lot of time to follow 

         19   rumors and innuendos and suspicions, right? 

         20             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That's correct. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  You might want to 


                                                                      316

          1   have more.  That's just unsolicited advice. 

          2             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Well, I've already 

          3   talked to the judiciary about it and told to come 

          4   back if we need to add some more.  We also have 

          5   internal investigators at each one of the 

          6   institutions, and we have trained investigators.  

          7   They're not law enforcement trained to the level 

          8   of Benny and Jeff, but they are trained 

          9   investigators. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, okay. 

         11             ROBERT HOUSTON:  So we have that, in 

         12   addition. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, thank you.  All 

         14   right.  Who else could do investigations at 

         15   Tecumseh? 

         16             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  The captains, in 

         17   some cases the major would, unit administrator, 

         18   unit managers.  They initially begin the 

         19   investigations, a lot of times, and then as they 

         20   progress, they get bumped up to ourselves.

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So maybe I'm slow 


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          1   here, but the way it often could work is, 

          2   informal grievance is filed by an inmate and they 

          3   get bounced back, go through a formal grievance 

          4   and they get bounced back, it eventually winds up 

          5   with the major in the lockbox?  

          6             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Or she could hand it 

          7   directly to me, if she received the formal 

          8   grievance. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Or if it's an 

         10   emergency grievance procedure, somebody walks it 

         11   up in a sealed envelope.  

         12             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Something like that, 

         13   it could, yeah. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  It gets to you.  And 

         15   then you exercise some judgment as to whether 

         16   this sounded -- whether, A, it had been filed 

         17   within the three days unless there's irreparable 

         18   harm, or what -- 

         19             RICH BRITTENHAM:  I would read it, and 

         20   if it had the word "sexual harassment" or 

         21   something like that, I normally would call Mr. 


                                                                      318

          1   Noordhoek.

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And you would -- 

          3   okay.  

          4             RICH BRITTENHAM:  As far as the three 

          5   days, you know, how often -- I'm not that well 

          6   versed, to be honest with you, on their time 

          7   frames of the grievances. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Do you have 

          9   anything?  

         10             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I do, sir.  I would 

         11   like to ask, is there any training on sexual 

         12   assault and victimization that you and your 

         13   partner have experienced, undergone? 

         14             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  At the law 

         15   enforcement academy, yes. 

         16             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  To what extent? 

         17             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Just the same as 

         18   all the law enforcement in Nebraska go through, 

         19   the curriculum through the academy.  

         20             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Okay.  And you had 

         21   some training regarding post-traumatic stress 


                                                                      319

          1   disorder and how trauma impacts the investigation 

          2   regarding sexual assault? 

          3             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Not that I can 

          4   think of.  

          5             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Would you be open 

          6   to some training of that nature? 

          7             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Absolutely.  

          8             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Can you recognize 

          9   the need for such training as you interview 

         10   sexual assault victims? 

         11             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes, ma'am.  

         12             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Very good. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Ms. Hillman, is this 

         14   the brochure that's given at orientation on 

         15   sexual assault? 

         16             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes, I believe so. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Is there 

         18   anything on this that informs the inmate that 

         19   staff are not supposed to have willing, 

         20   consensual sexual activity with an inmate? 

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  I believe it is 


                                                                      320

          1   mentioned as one -- (Reviewing documents.)

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right, there it 

          3   is on Item 3 in the column --

          4             MICHELE HILLMAN:  You did find it? 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sexual assault, yes.  

          6   All sexual acts involving staff, volunteers, or 

          7   contractors are considered misconduct.  Now, this 

          8   is much clearer than the lesson outline that we 

          9   talked about earlier, so this is good. 

         10             MICHELE HILLMAN:  We still talked about 

         11   expanding that, though, to be more clear and to 

         12   discuss it a little bit more detail. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's great.  And 

         14   you have it in Espanol.  

         15             MICHELE HILLMAN:  Yes.  

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I think we'll take a 

         17   break now.  And I thank you both very much, or 

         18   all three of you, for your input.  

         19             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Thank you very 

         20   much. 

         21             MICHELE HILLMAN:  You're welcome. 


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          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  We'll break for 15 

          2   minutes and start at twenty of four with the 

          3   warden. 

          4             (Recess taken.)

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I have a couple more 

          6   questions for Benny.  And both of you have been 

          7   sworn.  

          8             Mr. Noordhoek, I just realized that 

          9   someone had told us earlier this morning that a 

         10   fifth case had been left off what had been 

         11   produced to us, and you were great about telling 

         12   us that there was a fifth one, and I just noticed 

         13   at the bottom of the page that you sent up, so I 

         14   wanted to ask you about this case because it's 

         15   pretty significant. 

         16             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes, sir.

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And this is one 

         18   involving an inmate who claimed he was sexually 

         19   assaulted by a male caseworker, claims the staff 

         20   member grabbed his genitals through his gym 

         21   shorts, staff member -- and stated that the staff 


                                                                      322

          1   member could help him with his canteen account if 

          2   he, the inmate, participated in this activity. 

          3             The inmate claims this incident 

          4   occurred when the inmate was called to the 

          5   conference room to receive clothing issue from a 

          6   caseworker.  TSCI learned about this situation 

          7   after the caseworker received court documents 

          8   indicating inmate was civilly suing the 

          9   caseworker.  An investigation ensued and there 

         10   was no corroborating evidence obtained.  The 

         11   inmate was offered protective custody but said 

         12   was -- did not have a problem with anyone at 

         13   TSCI.  The case was closed as unfounded.  

         14   Caseworker was terminated from employment in May 

         15   2007 due to a securities procedure violation.  

         16   The civil suit was dismissed due to the inmate 

         17   not filing first a tort claim with the tort 

         18   claims court.  

         19             Do you remember investigating this 

         20   case? 

         21             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I do remember that. 


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          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And is this summary 

          2   accurate of the facts? 

          3             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And by 

          5   conference room, is that the equivalent of the 

          6   multipurpose room in each of the housing units? 

          7             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes, that is. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And so do you 

          9   remember what time of day this occurred?  What 

         10   shift? 

         11             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I don't.  I would 

         12   have to look at the roster to see when that 

         13   particular caseworker was on duty.  I want to say 

         14   in the afternoon. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And what was the 

         16   result of your investigation? 

         17             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  There was not 

         18   enough evidence to substantiate the inmate's 

         19   allegations.  I spoke with him on, I believe, two 

         20   different occasions about his allegations.  Spoke 

         21   with the staff member.  Received a report from 


                                                                      324

          1   him.  He denied the allegations.  There were no 

          2   other witnesses to the incident. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  No video? 

          4             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  No, sir.

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And the multipurpose 

          6   rooms, do they have any windows? 

          7             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes, there's a 

          8   window in the doorway. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But it's not visible, 

         10   there's not a line of sight, I recall, from the 

         11   control center into the multipurpose room; is 

         12   that correct? 

         13             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  No, maybe a little 

         14   bit. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Command center, I'm 

         16   sorry. 

         17             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  It would depend on 

         18   where the table -- usually they set up a table to 

         19   hand out clothing issue and things, so it would 

         20   depend on where they were located in the room.  

         21   It's a fairly large room. 


                                                                      325

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Suffice to say is 

          2   that if there was truth to this allegation, the 

          3   caseworker would have been alone with the inmate? 

          4             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  If it was true, he 

          6   probably wouldn't have placed the table in line 

          7   of sight with the command center; is that right? 

          8             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I wouldn't think 

          9   so. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Do you remember any 

         11   evidence in that regard about where things were 

         12   situated, and did that play any role in your 

         13   investigation? 

         14             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  You know, from my 

         15   experience at TSCI, the table is usually -- we 

         16   hold disciplinary committee and some other things 

         17   in there, so I didn't go out to the housing unit 

         18   and specifically look.  I just assumed the table 

         19   was where it always is. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And am I 

         21   understanding this correctly, that the caseworker 


                                                                      326

          1   was later terminated?  How much longer after this 

          2   incident was the May 2007 -- 

          3             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I would have to 

          4   look at the date of my report.  I would say 

          5   several months. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And who makes 

          7   the decisions on terminations?  Would that be -- 

          8   well, who? 

          9             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Well, it was based 

         10   off an investigation I did which was probably 

         11   more likely than not.  He would have received a 

         12   statement of charges and had a hearing before Mr. 

         13   Britten and a committee, and they would have 

         14   recommended termination to be approved by the 

         15   director. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And, Mr. 

         17   Britten, do you remember this case?  

         18             FRED BRITTEN:  I remember the case in 

         19   general.  I don't recall all the details and 

         20   specifics.  But in general, I do remember that. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  You remember firing 


                                                                      327

          1   the guy?  

          2             FRED BRITTEN:  Well, as Mr. Noordhoek 

          3   was saying, there's a process we go through, the 

          4   employee disciplinary process, and so we create 

          5   what we call a statement of charges, which we 

          6   give to the employee to make them aware of the 

          7   allegations that have been lodged against them.  

          8   And then we have an administrative hearing, and 

          9   typically the warden will chair that 

         10   administrative hearing, have some other staff in 

         11   there, typically the associate warden or deputy 

         12   warden, major or captain, or depending on if it 

         13   was a unit staff member, probably the unit 

         14   administrator would be in the office, too.  

         15             We would review the information 

         16   available to us, and we would obviously talk with 

         17   the employee, get some feedback from the employee 

         18   with regards to the situation.  And then 

         19   ultimately I would make a recommendation to the 

         20   -- if it was going to be for termination, I would 

         21   make a recommendation to the director, because at 


                                                                      328

          1   that time the director was the only one that 

          2   could terminate an employee.  That authority 

          3   didn't fall within the purview of the warden at 

          4   that time. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Does it now?  

          6             FRED BRITTEN:  For new-hire employees 

          7   that are on new-hire probation, it would. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And this was 

          9   not a new hire?  

         10             FRED BRITTEN:  No. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And did the 

         12   previous allegation of sexual molestation by this 

         13   same caseworker, did that play any part in your 

         14   recommendation that he be terminated?  

         15             FRED BRITTEN:  No, it couldn't.  

         16   Because, unless the behavior that was in front of 

         17   us being reviewed was similar, that history 

         18   wouldn't be there.  And typically when we deal 

         19   with employee discipline, we're going to deal 

         20   with the situation that's immediately in front of 

         21   us and the documentation surrounding that 


                                                                      329

          1   situation that's immediately in front of us. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  So, Mr. 

          3   Noordhoek, this allegation of molestation was 

          4   unfounded because there wasn't any video, there 

          5   wasn't any -- there weren't any corroborating 

          6   witnesses, there was just the victim's word 

          7   against the correctional officer's word; is that 

          8   right? 

          9             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That's correct. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And is it fair to say 

         11   that, whether it's regarding sex or anything 

         12   else, usually or frequently your cases are "he 

         13   said, he said" or, I mean, it's just a swearing 

         14   contest, right? 

         15             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Most of the time, 

         16   yes. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Especially if you 

         18   don't record and keep the tapes, there's never 

         19   going to be any visual evidence? 

         20             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Unless they were 

         21   caught up in a situation where we happened to be 


                                                                      330

          1   recording.

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  You happened to hit 

          3   the button, yes. 

          4             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Exactly.  In this 

          5   specific case, I do recall during my interview 

          6   speaking with this inmate.  When I investigate 

          7   these kind of allegations, obviously we do a lot 

          8   of talking about what led up to it, you know, 

          9   what's there to gain.  When I'm finished with the 

         10   interview, I'll speak with the major and the 

         11   warden or the deputy warden, whoever is 

         12   available.  We'll go through the case and see, 

         13   you know, is there another motive here?  What's 

         14   this allegation about?  And my follow-up 

         15   interview with this inmate, he demanded 

         16   repeatedly to go to another facility, into a 

         17   program. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  To any facility or to 

         19   a particular facility? 

         20             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Particular.  The 

         21   Lincoln Correctional Center.  He wanted in, I 


                                                                      331

          1   believe it was a sex offender program.  He was on 

          2   a waiting list, and it was kind of my 

          3   understanding after speaking with him several 

          4   times that he was angling towards getting out of 

          5   the institution by making this allegation. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  And was he a 

          7   sex offender himself? 

          8             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I believe so. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So he wanted to get 

         10   into this program so he wouldn't be a registered 

         11   sex offender when he got out? 

         12             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  It was part of his 

         13   sentencing guideline.  Mr. Britten could probably 

         14   tell you more about that; I haven't worked on 

         15   that side.  But I believe he had to complete this 

         16   program before he was parole eligible or he could 

         17   be released. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Just as a suggestion 

         19   as we're discussing here, I may be naive, but you 

         20   had earlier said that it doesn't matter how many 

         21   offenders are witnesses, they can never be enough 


                                                                      332

          1   to overrule a denial by a correctional officer, 

          2   that they're never enough to substantiate a 

          3   claim.  Did I understand that right? 

          4             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  I hate to use the 

          5   word "never," but so far, we don't take inmates' 

          6   word over a staff's statement. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So to use an 

          8   exaggerated example, it wouldn't matter if half 

          9   the dorm said, "Sergeant Smith inappropriately 

         10   touched this guy at this time and I saw it," if 

         11   it's not on the video and if Sergeant Smith says, 

         12   "No, I didn't," end of investigation, unfounded? 

         13             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  There would be some 

         14   serious discussion with my boss and the warden 

         15   and other people about the number of inmates 

         16   making allegation; and we also keep track of how 

         17   many times the staff member has been accused of 

         18   this.  So there would be some other 

         19   considerations.  But to answer your question, at 

         20   this time, I would have to say we would go with 

         21   the staff's statement. 


                                                                      333

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And so you ordinarily 

          2   do inquire about previous allegations against COs 

          3   or staff that are being accused? 

          4             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes.  Mr. Hansen 

          5   keeps track of that, and since I'm at Tecumseh 

          6   most the time, I would say I know. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  By the way -- 

          8             Mr. Hansen, did you have something you 

          9   wanted to say?  

         10             BRAD HANSEN:  Yeah, I just wanted to 

         11   help clarify what Mr. Noordhoek is saying.  If 

         12   you had three or four inmate testimony, two 

         13   inmate testimony, depending on what they're 

         14   saying and what they saw, we would certainly 

         15   discuss that with our county attorney or State 

         16   Police and go, what do you think?  What do we got 

         17   here?  Could we do something further?  Could we 

         18   -- even though you can't introduce this, but we 

         19   have requested polygraph tests, things like that. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, I was just going 

         21   to ask.  


                                                                      334

          1             BRAD HANSEN:  We could move into 

          2   something like that to give us a direction on and 

          3   give us some sense if they saw what they saw.  So 

          4   while, you know, what Mr. Noordhoek said is 

          5   probably not exactly correct, you do kind of go 

          6   in that extra step.  But we certainly would 

          7   listen and take the extra step to try to verify 

          8   what they're saying. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  

         10             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  So it isn't a total 

         11   close-out for the inmate in terms of 

         12   believability; there would be some way that you 

         13   possibly would believe the inmate.  

         14             BRAD HANSEN:  Right, there could be.  

         15             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Over the staff.  

         16             BRAD HANSEN:  Yeah.  And I think what 

         17   Mr. McFarland says, it is true if we -- and what 

         18   Mr. Noordhoek said, too, is if we had some sort 

         19   of other evidence that would suggest, that would 

         20   give it a lot of credibility there, too. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Thank you.  Mr. 


                                                                      335

          1   Noordhoek, just a couple other questions.  In 

          2   response to our document request, you all 

          3   responded that there were no reported 

          4   inmate-on-inmate investigations at Tecumseh in 

          5   '06; is that right? 

          6             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  That's correct. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And did you check 

          8   with Mr. Britten; he didn't happen to have any 

          9   investigations? 

         10             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Mr. Hansen keeps a 

         11   database and we checked the database. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got you, okay.  Is 

         13   that unusual?  I mean, do you have any other 

         14   institutions of this range of custody level that 

         15   can go a whole year without an inmate-on-inmate 

         16   investigation related to sexual assault or 

         17   touching or harassment? 

         18             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yes.  That doesn't 

         19   seem unusual to me. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  And then 

         21   finally, one of the other attachments is an 


                                                                      336

          1   investigative flowchart, Attachment H to the 

          2   earlier document we talked about.  Is this an 

          3   accurate description of how your office works, 

          4   how an investigation proceeds?  Do you want me to 

          5   show it to you? 

          6             BERNARD NOORDHOEK:  Yeah, could I have 

          7   a look at that?  Thank you.  (Reviewing 

          8   document.)  Yes, that looks pretty accurate.  

          9   Thank you. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Mr. Britten, 

         11   thanks for your patience and we appreciate your 

         12   interjection.  

         13             Thank you, Mr. Noordhoek; appreciate 

         14   your interjections during the course of today.  

         15             I don't think we've asked you about 

         16   your professional history, or did we?  

         17             FRED BRITTEN:  Okay.  No.  

         18             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  No, we haven't.  

         19             FRED BRITTEN:  No, you swore me in 

         20   when I was trying to interject something, and so 

         21   I didn't have a chance to do that. 


                                                                      337

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's right.  

          2   Alrighty.  How long have you been in corrections; 

          3   how long have you been with the department?  

          4             FRED BRITTEN:  Okay.  I started with 

          5   the Nebraska Department of Corrections in 1977 as 

          6   a correctional officer at a facility that no 

          7   longer exists.  It was a men's reformatory.  And 

          8   when we closed that facility down, I went to the 

          9   Lincoln Correctional Center, which just replaced 

         10   the men's facility that closed, and I was 

         11   assistant unit manager there.  They call them 

         12   case managers now; it's the same, basically the 

         13   same job.  I was unit manager there.  

         14             And then I was a unit manager on the 

         15   protective custody unit at our, at the time, the 

         16   Diagnostic and Evaluation Center in the Lincoln 

         17   Correctional Center; we were combined under one 

         18   leadership.  And so, technically, I was working 

         19   for LCC but it was in the Diagnostic and 

         20   Evaluation Center Building.  

         21             And then I transferred to the Nebraska 


                                                                      338

          1   State Penitentiary as a unit manager in the 

          2   control unit there.  Then I became unit 

          3   administrator at the Nebraska State Penitentiary 

          4   and an associate warden and deputy warden, and 

          5   finally I became a warden at the Tecumseh State 

          6   Correctional Institution in July of 2000.  And I 

          7   was appointed at that point in time in an effort 

          8   to help prepare for the opening of the facility.  

          9   We received our first inmates at TSCI in the 

         10   first week of December in 2001. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So you are the one 

         12   and only warden that Tecumseh has seen.  

         13             FRED BRITTEN:  That's correct. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And how many staff 

         15   are you responsible for there?  

         16             FRED BRITTEN:  We have -- well, it 

         17   would be about 450 TSCI employees, and then we 

         18   have additional staff that we work with under 

         19   medical, under education, and mental health and 

         20   substance abuse.  So all totaled, there's about 

         21   500 staff that work at TSCI. 


                                                                      339

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And they're looking 

          2   after 700-some-odd -- 

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  Our total -- our 

          4   facility capacity --

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Nine hundred fifteen. 

          6             FRED BRITTEN:  Yeah, our facility 

          7   capacity is 960, and in more recent months we've 

          8   been averaging in the upper 890s, the low 900s, 

          9   and in more recent weeks we've been in the 

         10   nine-teens pretty consistently. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And where do you see 

         12   it going?  Is it going to get more crowded or 

         13   less?  

         14             FRED BRITTEN:  Well, I anticipate that 

         15   our count at TSCI will stay pretty consistent.  

         16   Based on the nature of the inmate population and 

         17   the flow of inmates in our institution, I would 

         18   anticipate that our count would stay pretty 

         19   consistent with what it is right now, in the 

         20   nine-teens to the 920 range. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  If you had the money 


                                                                      340

          1   to add a dozen more video cameras, where would 

          2   you want to put them?  

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  Well, in the areas where 

          4   there's probably the highest inmate activity, and 

          5   typically that's going to be on the housing unit 

          6   and in the yard area; although we have cameras 

          7   out there, they're not as plentiful as they could 

          8   be.  And then areas where there's a higher 

          9   likelihood of being blind spots.  Maybe like the 

         10   kitchen prep, the food prep area in the kitchen, 

         11   or maybe in our industries building.  Those would 

         12   be the things that would initially come to mind.  

         13   Obviously, we would identify with a group of 

         14   staff what we thought were the most critical. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yesterday we were 

         16   talking to a system, and you may have been here 

         17   at that time, talking about it, but their 

         18   associate warden does a walk around the facility 

         19   at least quarterly for the express purpose of 

         20   finding blind spots and identifying them to all 

         21   the staff, and with an eye to, hey, at a minimum 


                                                                      341

          1   we've got to be conscious of this and check these 

          2   places, and maybe we need cameras there.  Is that 

          3   something that you've ever had a chance to do?  

          4             FRED BRITTEN:  Well, we have executive 

          5   staff and another supervisor staff that are 

          6   routinely in the facilities, and obviously we'll 

          7   look at all kinds of things.  Security issues and 

          8   concerns, safety issues and concerns, sanitation 

          9   issues and concerns, and those sort of things.  

         10   So I can't sit here and tell you, okay, we made a 

         11   specific tour through the facility to look 

         12   exclusively for blind spots.  Although early on, 

         13   before we opened that, that was one of the things 

         14   that we did take a look at:  Okay, where are our 

         15   issues and concerns, and we wanted to be aware of 

         16   that.  

         17             And so it's not like there hasn't been 

         18   any discussion about where the potential blind 

         19   spots are in the facility, because there has 

         20   been.  But as far as having this being an ongoing 

         21   part of a discussion about, after we do tours or 


                                                                      342

          1   after we make our rounds, that, okay, well, let's 

          2   talk about the blind spots, I wouldn't be 

          3   completely forthright if I said, yeah, that's a 

          4   typical topic of discussion, because it's not. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  Can you expand 

          6   at all on the blind spots?  You mentioned food 

          7   prep area, the industry building.  Where is the 

          8   industry building relative to the housing units? 

          9             FRED BRITTEN:  Yeah, the map that has 

         10   just the layout of the facility.  Right there.  I 

         11   think you just had your hands on it.  This right 

         12   here is the industries building, okay? 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Great.  So 

         14   that's --

         15             FRED BRITTEN:  It's in the far 

         16   southwest part of the institution. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  What about the 

         18   gym, is that someplace you'd consider a blind 

         19   spot?  

         20             FRED BRITTEN:  We do have cameras in 

         21   the gym. 


                                                                      343

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, you do?  

          2             FRED BRITTEN:  Yes.  And of course, we 

          3   have staff in the gym at all times when the gym 

          4   is open, so there aren't necessarily a lot of 

          5   blind spots.  Now, it's hard to be in any kind of 

          6   area where there's absolutely no blind spots.  

          7   That would be almost impossible, unless you just 

          8   had a perfectly square room and there's no way 

          9   that anybody could --

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  

         11             FRED BRITTEN:  But obviously, there are 

         12   areas that would lean towards more issues and 

         13   concerns regarding blind spots than others, and 

         14   with appropriate supervision, the gymnasium is a 

         15   relatively blind-spot-free area.  That doesn't 

         16   mean we haven't had incidents there, but that had 

         17   nothing to do with them trying to take advantage 

         18   of a blind spot.  That just happened to be with 

         19   some inmates in the right place at the wrong time 

         20   or vice versa. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  And how many 


                                                                      344

          1   staff have keys to the gym?  

          2             FRED BRITTEN:  Well, typically it would 

          3   be the corporal that's assigned there, and the 

          4   A&R, the recreation staff, the activities and 

          5   recreation staff that are there.  

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

          7             FRED BRITTEN:  And if that's wrong, I 

          8   would encourage the major or lieutenant to 

          9   correct me.  If that's not correct. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Captain?  

         11             RICH BRITTENHAM:  When those staff are 

         12   not there, those keys are kept on a key caddy in 

         13   central control.  So, like third shift, if we 

         14   tell them we need to shake down the gym to look 

         15   for any contraband or something, they can check 

         16   out those keys. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

         18             RICH BRITTENHAM:  So if somebody has 

         19   them on their person, they're in use; but if not, 

         20   they're hanging on a rotation key caddy in the 

         21   central control that could be checked out for a 


                                                                      345

          1   reason. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Have you thought 

          3   about, Warden, keeping closer tabs perhaps on who 

          4   has access to keys in areas that would be not -- 

          5   that might be vulnerable to sexual assault and 

          6   keeping a log of who took them and when, and 

          7   whether they were authorized and when they were 

          8   brought back?  Is that something you already do? 

          9             FRED BRITTEN:  Yeah, we have a key 

         10   checkout system, and for staff to have keys to 

         11   certain areas, they have to turn in key chips, 

         12   and those key chips are put on the key caddy, and 

         13   then in turn the keys are given to the staff 

         14   person.  And when they come back, then of course 

         15   the keys are put back on the key caddy and the 

         16   chips are given back to the staff person.  I 

         17   don't know if that's what you're asking, but 

         18   that's --

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes, no, that's part 

         20   of it.  I wonder about how many folks have access 

         21   to those keys?  I mean, provided they put in 


                                                                      346

          1   their chip, can any staff person get the keys to 

          2   the gym or to a conference room or some other 

          3   place that might be accessible for assault?  

          4             FRED BRITTEN:  No. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

          6             FRED BRITTEN:  The staff that are 

          7   assigned to those areas are the ones that are 

          8   able to check out the keys.  And, typically, 

          9   there's going to be some exception to that; 

         10   they're going to have to make a request either 

         11   through some sort of a supervisor that would 

         12   authorize it to happen --

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  Have you 

         14   thought -- 

         15             Lieutenant, did you have something to 

         16   add?  

         17             ANTON SIMON:  Yes, sir, I do.  I'd like 

         18   to add that we use a color-coding system for the 

         19   keys, and staff not assigned to the gym, they 

         20   would be -- only the staff -- only the corporal 

         21   assigned to the gym can check out those keys.


                                                                      347

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Got you.  

          2             ANTON SIMON:  When they're done, they 

          3   turn them back in.  From that point on, they 

          4   would need the shift supervisor's authority to 

          5   check them out. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great.  

          7             ANTON SIMON:  And it is documented at 

          8   that point. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Great.  That's great.  

         10   Going back for a second to the "he said, he said" 

         11   nature of most of the investigations that Mr. 

         12   Noordhoek discussed, we heard testimony yesterday 

         13   that sometimes when there's been that kind of an 

         14   impasse between what the victim says and what the 

         15   staff says, that they'll give a CVSA, a voice 

         16   stress analysis test, to one or both of the 

         17   individuals, and that usually -- in one case, 

         18   that led to somebody confessing and resolved the 

         19   matter.  

         20             Have you given any thought to or do you 

         21   have any access to either lie detectors or voice 


                                                                      348

          1   stress analysis to determine whether an inmate is 

          2   being honest about a sexual assault?  

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  I'm not aware of any 

          4   voice analysis equipment or tests that we've ever 

          5   done.  In my recollection, I can't come up with 

          6   any.  And as far as lie detectors, the inmate 

          7   always has the option of requesting to take a lie 

          8   detector test, but the onus of responsibility 

          9   falls on the inmate.  It's not like Inmate A can 

         10   say I want a lie detector test, and then the 

         11   Department of Corrections goes out and lines up a 

         12   lie detector test for them.  If the inmate 

         13   requests to take a lie detector, they can notify 

         14   on their own a polygrapher, who in turn can make 

         15   the arrangements to perform a lie detector test. 

         16             STEVE MCFARLAND:  What, for free?  

         17             FRED BRITTEN:  No, the inmate would 

         18   have to pay for it.  

         19             Rich, is that right?  

         20             RICH BRITTENHAM:  Yeah.  The last time 

         21   I knew, it was about $350. 


                                                                      349

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Three hundred fifty 

          2   bucks, and what's the top hourly rate for one of 

          3   your inmates in work?  

          4             FRED BRITTEN:  For general, for the 

          5   general laborers, the high rate of pay is 3.78 a 

          6   day, $3.78 a day. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So he's going to have 

          8   to really want a polygraph to pay 100 days' wages 

          9   for it.  

         10             FRED BRITTEN:  Obviously, that would be 

         11   a substantial investment on the part of any 

         12   inmate; that's correct. 

         13             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  Again, Mr. 

         14   Director, just a suggestion, because you were 

         15   asking for any ideas:  One would be, maybe it 

         16   would be a good investment to have a voice stress 

         17   analysis test that -- so that there isn't a normal 

         18   course of practice to summarily discount the 

         19   credibility of any inmate's testimony. 

         20             ROBERT HOUSTON:  We'll so note, and 

         21   we'll talk with our general counsel.  Our concern 


                                                                      350

          1   -- well, that's not a concern, because we'll 

          2   check into it.  We tried to make our correction 

          3   officers certified law enforcement by law about 

          4   nine years ago. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Certified? 

          6             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Law enforcement 

          7   officers.  And the reason for that was, part of 

          8   the reason -- a lot of it had to do with pay, but 

          9   part of the reason also had to do with use of a 

         10   polygraph.  At that time in Nebraska, it was 

         11   decided the corrections officers are not law 

         12   enforcement officers and therefore they could not 

         13   forcibly be given a lie detector test. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I see.  

         15             ROBERT HOUSTON:  So we don't have the 

         16   ability to force to do that.  We can ask them to 

         17   volunteer, as we do investigations, but we can't 

         18   force them.  But as far as the other technology, 

         19   we will certainly check into it and see if 

         20   there's some viability to it. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And maybe the 


                                                                      351

          1   legislature could amend that with respect to 

          2   correctional officers. 

          3             ROBERT HOUSTON:  We're allowed every 

          4   year to offer laws, so that's one we could offer.  

          5   So, thank you. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Thank you very much, 

          7   Mr. Director.  You can sit wherever you want, if 

          8   you'd like to stay. 

          9             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Okay. 

         10             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Warden, just a couple 

         11   of other things.  We haven't talked about death 

         12   row, and I believe you have capital defendants 

         13   there?  

         14             FRED BRITTEN:  Correct.  The inmates 

         15   sent by the court to capital punishment are 

         16   housed at the Tecumseh State Correctional 

         17   Institution. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And where are they 

         19   housed?  

         20             FRED BRITTEN:  They're housed in our 

         21   special management unit.


                                                                      352

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  In the SMU.  

          2             FRED BRITTEN:  Correct.  

          3             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Do you perform the 

          4   executions there?  

          5             FRED BRITTEN:  No.  The executions, if 

          6   they were to take place, would take place at the 

          7   Nebraska State Penitentiary.  However, recently 

          8   the Nebraska Supreme Court made a decision that 

          9   the methodology, which is the electric chair, 

         10   utilized by the State of Nebraska is cruel and 

         11   unusual punishment, and so, subsequently, while 

         12   Nebraska still has a death penalty on the books, 

         13   we don't have a methodology in place that's been 

         14   authorized to be used.  

         15             Director Houston, is that correct? 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  That summarizes it, 

         17   yes. 

         18             STEVE MCFARLAND:  How many inmates are 

         19   under death sentence at Tecumseh?  

         20             FRED BRITTEN:  Ten, I believe. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And so that accounts 


                                                                      353

          1   for ten of the 192 cells in Ad Seg?  

          2             FRED BRITTEN:  Correct. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And how many have 

          4   life without parole?  

          5             FRED BRITTEN:  There are a hundred-plus 

          6   inmates at TSCI that have a life -- I don't know 

          7   the exact number; I didn't bring that with me. 

          8             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  

          9             FRED BRITTEN:  But I know it's 

         10   100-plus. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And are they all in 

         12   Ad Seg, or are they in GP as well, some of them? 

         13             FRED BRITTEN:  Most of them are in 

         14   general population. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Really?  Okay.  How 

         16   do you enforce discipline against a lifer who has 

         17   nothing to lose from getting another incident 

         18   report?  

         19             FRED BRITTEN:  Oh, I don't agree they 

         20   have nothing to lose. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  


                                                                      354

          1             FRED BRITTEN:  They do have something 

          2   to lose. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  What do they have to 

          4   lose?  

          5             FRED BRITTEN:  They have to lose their 

          6   access to daily activities. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

          8             FRED BRITTEN:  If you're doing time in 

          9   prison, and especially if you're doing life in 

         10   prison, but whether you're doing life or not, 

         11   your routine that you have in prison is what 

         12   helps you get through the day.  You have a 

         13   routine, and every day that routine helps sustain 

         14   you.  

         15             And so if you're doing life in prison 

         16   and you have this routine that you go through 

         17   every day and -- you don't want that routine to be 

         18   interrupted by going through the inmate 

         19   disciplinary process, where they give you extra 

         20   duty, they give you room restriction, they could 

         21   ultimately result in disciplinary segregation 


                                                                      355

          1   being imposed and you being displaced from 

          2   general population into the special management 

          3   unit.  So they do have something to lose.  Maybe 

          4   not as far as their sentence structure goes, but 

          5   as far as their daily activities and daily 

          6   routine, and that means a great deal to them, 

          7   because at that point in time, that is what they 

          8   have. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's huge, yes.  

         10             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  That's all they 

         11   have, yes. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's their life, 

         13   yes. 

         14             ROBERT HOUSTON:  If I could add one 

         15   thing to that.  Also, the parole board stipulated 

         16   almost two decades ago that, unless you bring five 

         17   years of no misconduct reports to them, they will 

         18   not consider you for recommendation to 

         19   commutation.  And then also, we have several 

         20   lifers whose crime partners have been paroled 

         21   years ago that, because of a walkaway or serious 


                                                                      356

          1   incident, got left in the institution and now 

          2   have very little chance of ever paroling.  So 

          3   lifers really know what's at stake, and I think 

          4   actually, as a group, they know they have more to 

          5   lose than the rest of the inmates. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  Warden Britten, 

          7   you've heard the testimony of all your staff as 

          8   well as the director this morning, and you heard 

          9   the director's comment that he has no reason to 

         10   doubt the accuracy of the BJS survey.  Do you 

         11   agree that the evidence seems to indicate that 

         12   there's a serious problem, especially staff 

         13   sexual misconduct, at Tecumseh that you need to 

         14   look at?  

         15             FRED BRITTEN:  Yes.  I think that -- 

         16   the report was, to be quite honest with you, very 

         17   disheartening, because we take a great deal of 

         18   pride in what we do at TSCI, and because, as I 

         19   noted in my prepared statements that were sent to 

         20   you, this strikes at the very core of who we are 

         21   and what we do in corrections.  And if you pride 


                                                                      357

          1   yourself in being a corrections professional, to 

          2   look at a report that says what this report says 

          3   is indeed very disheartening.  

          4             And so I guess one of the things I was 

          5   thinking about as I was thinking about my 

          6   testimony today and about what this all means to 

          7   us -- earlier today, Director Houston had mentioned 

          8   our former director, Harold Clarke, and one of 

          9   the things that Director Clarke introduced years 

         10   and years ago was our quality initiative, 

         11   continuous quality improvement we called it, CQI, 

         12   and that's still alive and well today in many 

         13   respects, because all the facilities have quality 

         14   councils and we have an executive steering 

         15   council with the department and so forth.  

         16             But I tell you this because one of the 

         17   things -- the whole backbone behind CQI was to 

         18   continue to learn and get better at what we do.  

         19   We want to look at processes that we use and we 

         20   want to get better at it.  And so, subsequently, 

         21   when you see this report, initially to me it's 


                                                                      358

          1   disheartening, but also, I guess, reemphasizes 

          2   the need to continue what was started years ago, 

          3   and that's to continue to improve and get better 

          4   at what we do.  And so while I'm disappointed in 

          5   the report, it will not -- and in fact not only 

          6   will it not deter us, it will give us more drive 

          7   to do better at what we do.  

          8             And so, you know, if you're in charge 

          9   of an area, like if you're running a facility, 

         10   you're in charge of a facility and you see 

         11   something like this, and I heard your comments 

         12   earlier, well, folks want to be in denial, and I 

         13   do understand that, because you put all your 

         14   heart and your soul and your energy into an area 

         15   and then you get these kind of allegations, it 

         16   really touches you.  And so I don't think that's 

         17   all that unusual.  

         18             But so I know that we can do better, 

         19   and I know that the results of this survey will 

         20   prompt us to do some things.  I didn't like the 

         21   results of the survey.  When I walk around TSCI, 


                                                                      359

          1   when I talk to the staff and inmates at TSCI, 

          2   there's a part of me -- the survey doesn't 

          3   necessarily reflect what I see, but that doesn't 

          4   mean that I'm disregarding what the survey has to 

          5   do.  And so, subsequently, I'm taking it very 

          6   much to heart. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  That's great.  Well, 

          8   I'm sure I speak for Ms. Ellis to say that, for 

          9   what it's worth, all of your staff and, not 

         10   surprisingly, the director at the top, have just 

         11   displayed such a tremendously constructive, 

         12   proactive attitude that I have no doubt that we 

         13   won't ever see Tecumseh on any lists, at least 

         14   any bad lists.  So if there's anything that we 

         15   can do -- I mean, we'll obviously provide you, 

         16   for what it's worth, what we gleaned from these 

         17   hearings, and there are more hearings to come, 

         18   and we don't have all the answers, but we just 

         19   want to really affirm you for all the things 

         20   that -- the attitude and the ideas and your candor, 

         21   no defensiveness; it's been really refreshing.  


                                                                      360

          1             My last, I was going to -- 

          2             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I have a few more 

          3   questions before we go to our last issue. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Go right ahead.  

          5             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  I didn't get an 

          6   answer to what is the highest-ranking female in 

          7   Tecumseh.  I know about the system.  What about 

          8   in your facility, Warden?  

          9             FRED BRITTEN:  Okay.  We have -- 

         10   obviously, Michele Hillman is our unit 

         11   administrator.  We have our business manager, 

         12   which is one of our executive staff.  We have our 

         13   human resources staff, which is one of our 

         14   executive staff.  Those are the three highest 

         15   ranking female staff we have in our facility.  

         16             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Okay.  

         17             FRED BRITTEN:  And then we have a unit 

         18   manager that's a female staff person.  

         19             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Also go through the 

         20   managers.  

         21             FRED BRITTEN:  And then we have a unit 


                                                                      361

          1   manager that's a female staff person.  But as far 

          2   as the highest-ranking ones, those are the ones 

          3   that are female.  

          4             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Okay.  The other 

          5   question has to do with family members of 

          6   inmates.  What kind of a program do you have in 

          7   terms of having, not necessarily an open door, 

          8   but certainly a listening ear to complaints that 

          9   they may share with you that they've received 

         10   from their family members?  Are those complaints 

         11   taken seriously, with high regard?  Do you follow 

         12   up on them?  

         13             FRED BRITTEN:  Yes and yes.  We take 

         14   those -- we get calls on a regular basis from 

         15   family members sharing concerns, issues, ideas, 

         16   asking questions.  I receive a lot of calls.  I 

         17   know that Ms. Hillman receives a lot of calls. 

         18             Like I said, I've worked in this 

         19   business for 30 years, and so I've worked with 

         20   lots and lots of inmates over the years and I 

         21   receive lots and lots of phone calls from 


                                                                      362

          1   families and friends of inmates over the years, 

          2   wanting to talk about their loved one that's in 

          3   prison and the impact of them being in prison has 

          4   had on their lives.  

          5             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Of course.  

          6             FRED BRITTEN:  And, of course, them 

          7   sharing their concerns about their loved one 

          8   that's in prison.  And so we do take those calls 

          9   very seriously.  We do follow up on them.  We do 

         10   get back to them.  It's essential that we do.  I 

         11   want them to have a sense that if they call, it 

         12   means something.  

         13             Now, that doesn't mean we're always 

         14   going to agree with all those calls, and 

         15   sometimes we get calls that -- where they've been 

         16   given misinformation by their loved one that's in 

         17   prison.  And there are times that we have to 

         18   explain that to them, and, of course, that's 

         19   always kind of a tough situation to be in.  

         20             And I know there's even been times over 

         21   the years where the inmate will say something to 


                                                                      363

          1   their family member and the family member will 

          2   call us, and we'll say, well, no, that's not 

          3   true.  And there have been occasions where we'll 

          4   simply call the inmate up to the deputy warden's 

          5   office and we'll get the relative that the inmate 

          6   called and inmate and we're all in the same room 

          7   together, and we'll clarify to that loved one 

          8   that's concerned, okay, inmate so-and-so told you 

          9   this, and we're sitting in front of you telling 

         10   you -- and basically, it may not seem fair, but 

         11   then ultimately the inmate is on the spot.  They 

         12   have to clarify to their family member, well, 

         13   yeah, it wasn't exactly true; it really wasn't 

         14   exactly what the situation was.  

         15             And so even though the inmates have a 

         16   great deal of love and care for their family 

         17   members, unfortunately there are still times when 

         18   they try to take advantage of them.  They'll want 

         19   them to send them money.  They'll want them to do 

         20   something for them.  They'll want them to come 

         21   visit them.  They'll want them to do whatever.  


                                                                      364

          1   And so they'll, on occasion -- there have been 

          2   situations where they've shared some situation 

          3   with their family or loved one that wasn't 

          4   exactly correct and it caused some concern on 

          5   their part, and so, subsequently, they give us a 

          6   call, they write us a letter.  Sometimes, when 

          7   they come down to visit the inmate, I've gotten 

          8   calls from staff saying visitor so-and-so wants 

          9   to talk to you about inmate so-and-so because 

         10   they have a concern.  

         11             So, yes, they do have avenues to 

         12   communicate with us.  And I know that the 

         13   director's office and other individuals, other 

         14   staff get letters and calls from family members, 

         15   and we follow up on those.  And so it's part of 

         16   our routine.  It's not something that's some 

         17   out-of-the-ordinary thing.  It's just built into 

         18   how we do business.  

         19             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Okay.  All right.  

         20   Thank you very much. 

         21             STEVE MCFARLAND:  We were going to 


                                                                      365

          1   follow up on attempted suicides, and I think you 

          2   were the only one who had that information.  

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  And I appreciate the 

          4   fact that Mr. Houston thought I had it.  I don't 

          5   have the statistics with me.  I didn't realize 

          6   that that was part of the discussion, so I've got 

          7   to tell you, I didn't bring any information or 

          8   numbers with me. 

          9             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

         10             FRED BRITTEN:  And so I don't have any 

         11   figures for you. 

         12             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Is that something 

         13   that you all could provide us?  

         14             FRED BRITTEN:  Absolutely. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  You keep records of 

         16   that, I assume?  

         17             FRED BRITTEN:  We keep records of 

         18   situations that are involved with activity of 

         19   self-harm, and so we do have the information on 

         20   that.  And so it's not something that's not 

         21   available.  It's just something that I wasn't 


                                                                      366

          1   prepared to discuss; I didn't bring anything with 

          2   me. 

          3             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Oh, sure.  No, I 

          4   understand.  

          5             FRED BRITTEN:  I didn't know that was a 

          6   topic of conversation. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  No -- and given your 

          8   experience over the last 31 years in corrections, 

          9   is the number of attempted suicides or attempts 

         10   to harm high at Tecumseh?  

         11             FRED BRITTEN:  I think what -- and 

         12   here's what I find.  Typically, the incidents of 

         13   self-harm, and I'm not trying to minimize what 

         14   we're talking about here, but it really is a 

         15   definition of self-harm as opposed to attempted 

         16   suicide.  And that doesn't mean that that 

         17   inadvertently -- a situation that self-harm 

         18   couldn't lead to something more serious.  

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Sure.  

         20             FRED BRITTEN:  But most of the 

         21   incidents that I see are of self-harm, as opposed 


                                                                      367

          1   to attempted suicide. 

          2             STEVE MCFARLAND:  All right.  

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  And I realize, okay, I'm 

          4   not a psychologist, I'm not a psychiatrist, so I 

          5   can't sit here and tell you from an academic 

          6   point of view, okay, this is attempted suicide 

          7   and this isn't.  But what I can tell you is that, 

          8   based on my experience -- is that often times the 

          9   attempts of self-harm are more inclined to be 

         10   attempts to get attention and then reaction from 

         11   staff, as opposed to really wanting to hurt 

         12   themselves or really wanting to commit suicide.  

         13   It's very few and far between that they're real 

         14   serious attempts at suicide.  

         15             And our mental health staff does an 

         16   outstanding job, including the work that Dr. 

         17   Baker does with our inmates that help us identify 

         18   the inmates that are really at risk for doing -- 

         19   attempting suicide. 

         20             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  Is there, to 

         21   your knowledge, a difference in the number of 


                                                                      368

          1   attempted suicides among male inmates versus 

          2   female inmates?  

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  You know, I don't have 

          4   that information.  I couldn't speak to that 

          5   intelligently one way or the other. 

          6             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Because earlier this 

          7   week, we were talking with one system that had 11 

          8   attempted suicides in a four-month period.  Does 

          9   that sound exceptional to you?  

         10             FRED BRITTEN:  That would be 

         11   exceptional as far as I'm concerned.  If they 

         12   were truly attempted suicide situations as 

         13   opposed to incidents of self-harm. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Yes.  And finally, 

         15   did we hear about all the programs that are 

         16   available?  There was discussion about clubs and 

         17   stamp club, and what else is there to keep your 

         18   inmates busy?  

         19             FRED BRITTEN:  Okay.  Well, part of the 

         20   reason I wanted to mention -- you brought up the 

         21   question or somebody brought up the question, the 


                                                                      369

          1   clubs and, actually, what do we do -- the 

          2   question was about, as far as inmates, what do 

          3   other inmates do to help other inmates get 

          4   through their time.  

          5             And, of course, the clubs are one of 

          6   those areas where it makes me become involved -- 

          7   and, of course, Mr. Houston can speak -- early in 

          8   his career he was -- dealt with clubs, too, and 

          9   so he has probably a more intimate knowledge of 

         10   this than I do.  

         11             But what I do know is that oftentimes 

         12   participation in those clubs is a very positive 

         13   influence on the inmates that are participating 

         14   in them, and so, subsequently, when the 

         15   experienced inmates are in a situation where 

         16   newer inmates are coming in and joining those 

         17   clubs, then they have the benefits of sharing  

         18   because, let's face it, being in a club, they 

         19   share their stories and their histories and those 

         20   sort of things and about doing time and that sort 

         21   of thing.  And so it really does have a positive 


                                                                      370

          1   influence.  

          2             But, of course, all of our religious 

          3   programs -- we have a lot of religious programs 

          4   at our facility, and they're well attended.  The 

          5   inmates take advantage of those.  

          6             We have lots of volunteers who, like 

          7   Mr. Houston was saying, volunteer thousands and 

          8   thousands of hours to work with the inmate 

          9   population and help them keep a positive 

         10   perspective about life while they're in prison, 

         11   as well as life when they get out of prison.  And 

         12   we have hobby programs.  We have recreation 

         13   programs.  Of course, we have the education of 

         14   substance abuse and mental health programs.  And 

         15   our education program, I think I maybe already 

         16   mentioned that. 

         17             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And what goes on in 

         18   the industry?  You mentioned that because of the 

         19   remote nature of the facility, it's hard to get 

         20   private employers to come in, so you've gone to a 

         21   lot of publics there.  Specifically, what public 


                                                                      371

          1   industry is going on in the industry building?  

          2             FRED BRITTEN:  The two industries that 

          3   we have at TSCI is our laundry industry and the 

          4   woodshop. 

          5             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Cabinetry.  

          6             FRED BRITTEN:  And the woodshop is just 

          7   kind of getting up and running, and we have high 

          8   hopes for that as this year unfolds.  It just 

          9   became operational just several weeks ago, just 

         10   earlier this year, actually. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But right now that's 

         12   got about 20 inmates in it?  

         13             FRED BRITTEN:  Well, right now, it's 

         14   probably got about a dozen at most, right now. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  But you've got a 

         16   hundred in the laundry, right?  

         17             FRED BRITTEN:  Well, right now the 

         18   count is about 85.  We can go up to 100 in the 

         19   laundry.  It's been around 85, 83, 85 for the 

         20   most part.  Because guys come and go, job changes 

         21   and so forth, so -- but, of course, the laundry, 


                                                                      372

          1   we were -- 

          2             Also, one of the things we're doing in 

          3   our agency, we have a committee working on this, 

          4   is to create a certification program, so that 

          5   inmates can get a certificate in laundry -- 

          6   laundry management.  I got to tell you, I can't 

          7   recall right off the top of my head the specific 

          8   names of the certification, but it's one more 

          9   thing we've just recently added in our agency 

         10   that will allow this to happen.  

         11             But the beauty of the industries is 

         12   that the inmates are really busy for several 

         13   hours a day, several hours at a time, and it 

         14   keeps their time occupied.  And, of course, doing 

         15   time in prison, the best thing to keep -- the 

         16   best thing is to have people gainfully occupied 

         17   in constructive behavior, and, of course, being 

         18   at work you have to be.  Because they value those 

         19   jobs.  It's, one, the highest-paying jobs in the 

         20   institution as well as the department, and, two, 

         21   if they don't conduct themselves appropriately, 


                                                                      373

          1   they lose those jobs.  

          2             And so, subsequently, they're risking a 

          3   lot if they have to involve themselves in 

          4   inappropriate behavior.  Because those laundry -- 

          5   those industry jobs are -- they have less 

          6   tolerance for misbehavior.  Because the bottom 

          7   line is, if those guys are misbehaving and 

          8   they're getting on room restriction or something 

          9   like that and they're missing work, well, they 

         10   don't need those kind of employees.  They need 

         11   employees that are going to behave themselves and 

         12   be to work on a regular basis so they can 

         13   continue to do business.  Because we do about six 

         14   million pounds of laundry every year.  We need 

         15   inmate workers onsite every day to take care of 

         16   business, and if they're not going to do their 

         17   time in a manner that allows them to continue to 

         18   be in this job uninterrupted, they're probably 

         19   going to wind up working someplace else.  

         20             I don't know if that answers your 

         21   question or not.  But those are the two 


                                                                      374

          1   industries we have.  

          2             And John McGovern, he's our deputy 

          3   director over industries, and he's continuously 

          4   looking for opportunities to expand what we do at 

          5   Tecumseh.  And I know sometime in the next, they 

          6   say two to four years, we're going to add another 

          7   industries building onto what we already have, 

          8   and so we'll have opportunities to expand even 

          9   further the inmates employed in the industries 

         10   area.

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  If an inmate doesn't 

         12   have a high school diploma or a GED, is he 

         13   required to be pursuing it?  

         14             FRED BRITTEN:  Not required to. 

         15             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Okay.  

         16             FRED BRITTEN:  We have a very active 

         17   involvement in our education program, and we 

         18   typically have a waiting list for inmates wanting 

         19   to get involved in a GED.  As Mr. Houston, I 

         20   think, alluded to earlier, we just recently 

         21   switched from having a provider for our education 


                                                                      375

          1   to being self-operate.  And so we are very -- and 

          2   not that participation level wasn't significant 

          3   when we had a contractor, because it was, but 

          4   it's even more so now.  

          5             In fact, we've increased by one the 

          6   number of teachers we had at TSCI, so now we have 

          7   five staff that are dedicated to working with 

          8   ABE, GED, ESL programs.  And so the numbers of 

          9   participants in that program has significantly 

         10   increased since we went self-operate. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And how do you avoid 

         12   hiring any individual, full- or part-time, or any 

         13   contractors that may have a sexual misconduct in 

         14   their past?  Do you run appropriate checks?  

         15             FRED BRITTEN:  Right.  Whenever we have 

         16   an employee come to work for us, we do an NCIC 

         17   check, it's a criminal background check.  We do 

         18   that on every new employee.  Plus, we always do 

         19   our reference checks, and when we hire an 

         20   employee, we always go back to their previous 

         21   employers and do a reference check.  


                                                                      376

          1             Now, I realize that nothing is 

          2   absolutely fail-proof, and I do understand that, 

          3   but I think we've had fairly good success across 

          4   the board with regards to those types of checks 

          5   that we do to help us identify any significant 

          6   issues that are out there. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Ms. Ellis, do you 

          8   have anything else?  

          9             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  No.  Just some 

         10   wrap-up statements when we get to that point. 

         11             STEVE MCFARLAND:  I think we're there. 

         12             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Okay.  I, too, want 

         13   to thank you for your attitude, your approach, 

         14   and certainly all the efforts that are under way 

         15   already in your system, your enthusiasm in 

         16   seeking new ideas and new information.  

         17             I would put forth to you that we use 

         18   something in victim assistance that translates 

         19   across the board in so many instances; that, first 

         20   and foremost, safety and security are of utmost 

         21   importance, and then information.  There's never 


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          1   enough information.  We talk communication all 

          2   the time, but information ought to be readily 

          3   available to everyone -- certainly to staff in 

          4   the form of training, adequate training, and 

          5   certainly to inmates in terms of their rights and 

          6   what they ought to know about sexual assault.  

          7             The other issue involves resources.  

          8   Resources, never enough.  And I hear you talking 

          9   about all of the activities and the programs and 

         10   using resources in the community, using resources 

         11   from every single field that you can possibly 

         12   pull from.  

         13             Most importantly, continuity.  

         14   Continuity across the board, in every aspect of 

         15   your institutions; that everyone ought to meet a 

         16   certain level and standard of performance, and 

         17   that should be reflected, that should be dealt 

         18   with in terms of constant evaluations, constant 

         19   vigilance.  

         20             The other aspect is one that I think is 

         21   so important, and that is the idea of compassion, 


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          1   and I certainly have picked that up from you, in 

          2   a large amount, in a large way, in terms of how 

          3   you feel about the work that you do, about the 

          4   inmates that you house, and certainly in terms of 

          5   your staff and each other.  I think also that 

          6   compassion is a component of professionalism -- a 

          7   very important component of professionalism.  

          8             I think also justice is foremost.  

          9   Justice has to be foremost.  Justice for your 

         10   staff, justice for your inmates that you house.  

         11   Again, continuity in terms of that justice.  

         12             And finally, having voice.  Having the 

         13   ability to sit down and talk about issues.  And 

         14   that, too, applies across the board.  

         15             I would be remiss if I didn't also talk 

         16   a little bit about vicarious traumatization.  

         17   Burnout.  Working in proximity to horrific 

         18   stories and events.  And certainly you are on the 

         19   front row of that type of drama, and so it's very 

         20   important to address the issues associated with 

         21   burnout, with trauma, across the board for staff 


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          1   as well as inmates themselves.  

          2             And lastly, I see so much hope here.  I 

          3   see so much hope and unbelievable potential, and 

          4   I say that in regards to the fact that this is a 

          5   new facility and you are not belabored by all of 

          6   the problems that we see in old facilities.  

          7   You've got new things to work with here, so it 

          8   must be an unbelievable environment in terms of 

          9   your technology and your ability to put certain 

         10   things in place.  

         11             I can only wish you the very best and 

         12   say to you, if there's anything that we can help 

         13   you with further in pointing you in the direction 

         14   of resources, we're happy to do that.  You've 

         15   been an unusual experience for us in the course 

         16   of our week in terms of having the opportunity to 

         17   actually address your issues in a very, very 

         18   positive way.  

         19             So I thank each and every one of you.  

         20   I'm pleased with the staff that you've brought 

         21   along.  I like your sense of humor; that's been 


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          1   delightful as well.  So I wish you safe travels 

          2   back to Tecumseh.  

          3             FRED BRITTEN:  Thank you. 

          4             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Mindful of the 

          5   director's request that we offer any ideas, and I 

          6   know that you've been gracious enough to be 

          7   taking notes, but just in case we've missed 

          8   anything, let me just run down 13 things that I 

          9   think -- again, nobody elected us any great 

         10   expert, but for what it's worth, having sat 

         11   through quite a few hours of this and looked at a 

         12   lot of documents, this might be helpful.  

         13             One is in the investigations.  Consider 

         14   having some means of, like CVSA -- some kind of a 

         15   voice stress analysis, short of requiring an 

         16   inmate to pay 300 bucks for a polygraph, so that 

         17   you don't necessarily discount a prisoner's 

         18   eyewitness or a prisoner's testimony.  

         19             Second, I would suggest that you get 

         20   rid of the porn.  You may get sued by the ACLU, 

         21   but allowing anything short of bestiality in the 


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          1   possession of the inmates, as Lieutenant Simon 

          2   said, is probably not helpful.  

          3             And third, more investigators would be 

          4   a suggestion.  Two for ten units all over the 

          5   State and no onsite inspectors who don't have day 

          6   jobs -- you know, I mean, captains and majors and 

          7   everybody, unless they're especially trained, 

          8   they're probably not going to have the time to do 

          9   a thorough investigation.  And so every time your 

         10   investigation department gets a call, they've got 

         11   to wonder, you know -- Mr. Noordhoek needs to do 

         12   a triage, and it might be a lot better if you had 

         13   somebody onsite.  

         14             Fourth, your staff hiring and staff 

         15   training could be a place to start as far as 

         16   really looking at the level of training and 

         17   seriousness, because there's not a whole lot 

         18   there about your biggest problems, and that's the 

         19   staff sexual misconduct.  It's kind of -- it's 

         20   focused, and it's pretty male-oriented and it's 

         21   pretty inmate-oriented, and, ironically, it looks 


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          1   like it's female perpetrators, staff members.  

          2             The fifth, and this plays on what Ms. 

          3   Ellis just said, support for the staff in very 

          4   stressful -- and we're not just talking about 

          5   EAP, you know, alcoholic hand-holding or 

          6   something, but we're talking about support 

          7   services for high-stress individuals who are 

          8   working with the worst of your system.  You can 

          9   only handle getting feces thrown at you so many 

         10   days before -- and then you add some mandatory 

         11   overtime, and you get that on your head in the 

         12   15th hour and you just might want to kill 

         13   somebody, or at least might want to look the 

         14   other way if you heard something going on in a 

         15   cell.  

         16             Which relates to the sixth one, which 

         17   is no mandatory overtime.  And I know that that's 

         18   certainly something you'd love to get rid of.  

         19   But tell your legislature you really need more 

         20   staff.  And it would be a lot cheaper for them, 

         21   as well, as long as your union doesn't give you 


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          1   any grief about that.  

          2             Number seven, the PTSD and trauma 

          3   training that Ms. Ellis mentioned would be -- 

          4   post-traumatic stress disorder and other trauma 

          5   training is important, as you well know.  

          6             Number eight, a simple thing of -- 

          7   you've got a great idea in having the TIPS line, 

          8   but just put it in a private place.  Just ask 

          9   yourself, as an inmate, is there anything about 

         10   any of the avenues of reporting that would give 

         11   me pause?  And if everybody in the dorm is going 

         12   to hear me talking on a legal phone, chances are 

         13   I'm not going to make the call.  So just punch a 

         14   window in the multipurpose room so they can be 

         15   seen but put a short cord on the phone; you could 

         16   always see them, they can't wander around, but 

         17   you can't hear them.  

         18             Ninth, line of sight should probably 

         19   include the showers.  Your command centers, the 

         20   lieutenant indicated, in Units 2 and 3, I think, 

         21   do not have a line of sight into the showers, and 


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          1   the BJS study seems to indicate that's, not 

          2   surprisingly, a hotbed.  

          3             ROBERT HOUSTON:  We'll try to look at 

          4   that in terms of where we have staff located 

          5   inside the institution when they're not walking 

          6   around. 

          7             STEVE MCFARLAND:  Tenth would be 

          8   making sure that you have avenues for family to 

          9   give you tips, give you hot tips, and that they 

         10   are affirmatively encouraged.  There's nothing in 

         11   the brochure that says you really solicit input, 

         12   I don't believe, so the inmates may not know that 

         13   you're as open as you are.  

         14             Eleventh is, more and more programs and 

         15   evaluating the programs, including getting inmate 

         16   evaluation.  You know, an idle prisoner, 

         17   especially in a maximum-security, is a bomb 

         18   waiting to go off.  

         19             And twelfth, something real simple is 

         20   numbering your incident report forms.  So if 

         21   somebody took one and filled it out and it didn't 


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          1   show up in the lockbox, it's got to be traced, or 

          2   somebody's throwing them away.  And that somebody 

          3   is probably a perpetrator.  

          4             And thirteenth is, really affirm your 

          5   desire to -- that was mentioned about rotating 

          6   posts.  Because it's the librarian, it's the 

          7   person in the law library, it's the gym 

          8   coordinator, whatever, and he sees just one or 

          9   two inmates all day every day.  You get too 

         10   familiar, somebody gets compromised, and then you 

         11   have contraband or whatever to bribe or extort 

         12   sexual favors.  

         13             And lastly -- let's make it 14, and 

         14   that is, whatever it takes, always tape your 

         15   videos and keep them for 60 days. 

         16             ROBERT HOUSTON:  That's just a matter 

         17   of the budget, and we're moving in that 

         18   direction. 

         19             STEVE MCFARLAND:  And broadcast that to 

         20   -- not literally broadcast.  Tell everybody in 

         21   the institution the eye in the sky is always on 


                                                                      386

          1   and we tape it.  So it's not just a matter of 

          2   whether somebody happens to be looking at it.  

          3   They'll always assume that they're always -- when 

          4   they're in the shower, when they're in the 

          5   laundry room, any of the places that you consider 

          6   blind spots, they never know, they have to assume 

          7   somebody's watching.  And I think that's cheaper 

          8   than personnel and it's a lot cheaper than 

          9   lawsuits. 

         10             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Yes.  We'll get 

         11   digital recordings, so they'll be permanent, not 

         12   just tapes.  

         13             CARROLL ANN ELLIS:  Great. 

         14             STEVE MCFARLAND:  So, again, I really 

         15   thank you for your time, for bringing your 

         16   excellent staff out here.  This was a breath of 

         17   fresh air for me and I think for Ms. Ellis, as 

         18   well.  And enough gushy stuff, but thank you for 

         19   your attitude, and if we can be of any help, 

         20   please don't hesitate to call us. 

         21             ROBERT HOUSTON:  Thank you very much. 


                                                                      387

          1             STEVE MCFARLAND:  We are adjourned 

          2   until March 27 in Houston, Texas.  

          3             (Proceeding adjourned at 4:39 p.m.)

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                                                                      388

          1                 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

          2             I, Warren Brey, Digital Recorder, do 

          3   hereby certify that the witnesses named herein 

          4   personally appeared before me at the time and 

          5   place herein set according to law, and were 

          6   interrogated.

          7             I further certify that the examination 

          8   was recorded digitally by me and then transcribed 

          9   from my digital recording to the within printed 

         10   matter by means of computer-assisted 

         11   transcription in a true and accurate manner.

         12             I further certify that the stipulations 

         13   contained herein were entered into by counsel in 

         14   my presence. 

         15             I further certify that I am not of 

         16   counsel to any of the parties, not an employee of 

         17   counsel, nor related to any of the parties, nor 
              in any way interested in the outcome of this 
         18   action.

         19   

         20   

         21   


                                                                      389

          1   

          2                            ________________________

          3                            Warren Brey
                                       Digital Recorder
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          5   

          6   

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          9                            ________________________

         10                            Donna J. Bellous

         11                            Digital Transcriptionist

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         18