With better mental and medical care in place and new rules and procedures coming together, the V.I. Bureau of Corrections hopes later this year to see the end of longstanding federal court consent decrees mandating improvements to its facilities, Director Julius Wilson said Monday.
In commemoration of Corrections Week, Wilson and the bureau held a ceremony at Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility honoring corrections officers who gave their lives in the line of duty. Wilson and Prison staff took the opportunity to highlight strides Corrections has made in the care, custody and control of V.I. prison inmates and the facilities in which they reside.
The territory’s one prison at Golden Grove has been under federal court-ordered consent decrees to improve security and living conditions since 1986. Since then, the system has been sued by the ACLU, put under a second consent decree affecting the Criminal Justice Complex and Alva Swan Annex on St. Thomas and has struggled with escapes, understaffing, overcrowding, smuggling in of contraband and weapons, and violence.
Wilson has served as BOC director since 2008, when Gov. John deJongh appointed him to clean up in the aftermath of the escape of four prisoners. Wilson served for more than 20 years as a corrections professional within the Ohio Department of Corrections before coming to the territory.
Last June, visiting District Court Judge Stanley Brotman gave the territory one year to meet a menu of conditions, from improving security procedures to providing mental health care. In October of last year, Corrections split off from the V.I. Department of Justice into a separate agency, in hopes changing the lines of authority and formal structure would help the system implement the changes it needed.
"This is the first Corrections Week since we split off into a separate agency," Wilson said. "There is a lot of pride in the new organization, and with the celebration this week we try to lift morale and bring something back to the community," Wilson said.
Meanwhile, efforts to meet the court’s conditions continue apace.
Corrections staff was "working diligently on both islands to meet the consent decree," Wilson said. "Next month we finish up with training on new policies and procedure," he said. "Those are a big part of the consent decree. Corrections set a target date of December for full compliance, he said.
"However we want to be in full compliance in August or September," he said. "That does not mean we will have the entire physical plant completely repaired. But all the staff, the training, rules, policies and procedures will be in place."
Medical and mental health care were major areas of concern for the court, said Warden Keith Francois. "But now it is up to par," he said. "After 26 or so years, we are going to close those consent decrees this year."
Activities for prisoners have been expanded since Wilson took over in 2008, said Francois. This coming year, Golden Grove is putting in two ponds for raising tilapia and expanding an inmate agriculture program, he said.
Consent decrees on the prison system have been in place so long, they have become the normal state of affairs. But that is changing, Wilson said.
After Wilson, Francois and other Corrections staff answered questions, a detail of top officers adjourned to the prison courtyard for a brief ceremony. With taps playing over the loudspeaker, two officers raised the V.I. and U.S. flags and presented a wreath, while top prison officials stood and saluted in honor of fallen corrections officers.