Sunday, January 31, 1999
Kenton Co. jailer cleaning up facility, morale
New chief brings can-do attitude to daunting job
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — It's a scene that just doesn't look right.
Eighth floor, Kenton County jail. The juvenile wing. Around 8:30 a.m. on a cold, rainy, overcast cliche of a Monday morning.
In a hallway outside one of the cells a pile of grayish bed linens — mattresses, blankets, sheets, pillows — is stacked in a corner.
On the other side of a small, square window that is about eye-level on a heavy cell door four teen-age inmates are asleep on stripped bunk beds. Though their backs, stomachs and sides are sprawled across wire-mesh bedsprings all four appear to be sleeping soundly.
Were they forced to sleep that way? Are they being punished?
“Not by us,” said Bill Schilling, the jail's chief deputy and until recently a Covington cop. “They're doing that to themselves.”
"Things happen'
To understand the logic of that statement is to understand that logic doesn't always or even often apply when it comes to incarcerating human beings.
It seems some juveniles were causing problems at the jail. They would stay up all night, get rowdy and then sleep all day, missing the school work they are supposed to be doing while behind bars.
So the deputies give the inmates their bed linens at night, but take them away during the day.
“They don't need to be sleeping all day, they need to awake and doing what they are supposed to be doing,” Mr. Schilling said.
But rather than comply and conform, they choose to sleep on cold, uncomfortable bedsprings. They're making a point, but is it a point worth making?
Such is life on the inside of a jail. As Kenton Circuit Judge Greg Bartlett said this month: “Jails are not schools. They're not summer camps.
“Things happen.”
Things like teen-age inmates claiming physical, sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of guards.
Things like inmates dying, which is what happened Friday.
Things like inmates fighting with one another, threatening guards, refusing to cooperate with staff, refusing to eat, attempting to manipulate the system and cracking under the pressure of confinement.
Things like low staff morale, not enough guards, crowding, lawsuits, court decrees, budget cuts and an antiquated facility that is outdated, ill-equipped and basically falling apart.
These “things” are Terry Carl's lot. He wanted to be jailer. In November he got what he wanted. Now he's trying to figure out what to do with it.
Mr. Carl is in his office in the jail. Over his shoulder is about the only redeeming quality of the entire place, a stunning high-rise view of the RiverCenter office towers, the Roebling Suspension Bridge, the Ohio River and the Cincinnati skyline.
In front of him are four members of his management team with whom he shares his office.
“We all have to be in here,” Mr. Carl explained. “There's nowhere else to put anybody, no place to go.”
A new detention center the county plans to build will cure the ills of crowded offices, a shambles of a records room, a faulty wiring system, a worse plumbing system and a jail that is spread out across several floors of a building designed to house county offices, not inmates.
Mr. Carl believes the management team he has assembled will help turn around some of the administrative nightmares he has encountered since taking office in January.
“I've always believed a good manager surrounds himself with the best people he can find,” Mr. Carl said. “I know I've done that with the group we have here.”
It's a group that includes Mr. Schilling; Rodney Ballard, a former state trooper; Jerry Muse, a long-time cop and deputy jailer in Mason County; Joe Shriver, who worked in administration for the Newport Police Department and for the city of Newport; and Bill Culbertson, who nearly won the Campbell County jailer's race last year.
Staffing problem
One major problem is staffing. It's so low most guards routinely work 12-, and even sometimes 16-hour, shifts. That means overtime pay, and overtime pay adds up. It's only late January and several months of the overtime budget have already been used up.
The new jail administration wants to house more federal prisoners when space allows. The federal government pays the county to take its prisoners, so that can be a revenue stream that could help pump up the budget.
It's also lobbying the county for more funds and applying for state and federal grants and money.
Even little touches, like buying disinfectant for the floors, are being implemented.
And there appears to be a new attitude of openness. A reporter was allowed inside to write this story. And Friday, when a man in custody died, a press release was sent to the media, which didn't happen much under the old administration of Democrat Don Younger.
Maxine Glenn has already noticed a difference.
The veteran jail staffer is director of personnel. She says morale is up because the new administration seems ready and determined to make changes.
“Terry came in and brought good people with him,” Mrs. Glenn said. “There's seems to be more concern about the employees now, a lot of emphasis on the security of the deputies. I think they'll straighten this mess up.”
"The best people'
She has no political ties to Mr. Carl. He's a Republican, she's a Democrat who worked under past Democrat jailers. But Mr. Carl kept her on because, he said, she is a good employee and knows the job.
“Why would I get rid of somebody like that?” he said. “I want the best people. Period.”
Even Mr. Younger is still on staff, helping Mr. Carl settle in to the job.
As far as dealing with the controversies, the constant threat of violence and the problems that come with locking up a group of people who for the most part have broken the law, who knows?
Time will tell if Mr. Carl and his administration can turn the problematic jail around.
It's a dirty job, and he's somebody who wanted to do it.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. His column appears Thursdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 578-5581, or 502-875-7526 in Frankfort, or by e-mail at crowleys@cinci.infi.net.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for the Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5581, or (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort.
CROWLEY ARCHIVE
