Throwing Taxpayer Money Away!
Washington’s infrastructure, State ferries, hiways, schools and other public services are under financial stress or are failing in many areas. Yet, the State continues to throw taxpayer money away on a particular facility and program that is mismanaged, heavily litigated against, deeply corrupt and in violation of both federal and state laws as well as the Constitutional protections afforded American citizens. The S.C.C. is a ‘gulag’ about which the general public knows little or where the public, courts and media are spoon-fed disingenuous justifications for its existence.
Henry Richards, Ph.D., is a psychologist but by any objective measure is certainly not qualified to manage the Special Commitment Center, S.C.C., Washington Department of Social and Health Services, DSHS, on McNeil Island. The proof of this statement resides in a number of facts and factors. Keeping qualified clinical professionals, much less any real ‘professional’ at the S.C.C. is a near impossibility, based not only in the fact that the alleged mental health ‘program’ is not viable, but also on a significant lack found in leadership and management. The overall ‘attitude’ which impacts not only S.C.C. residents, but also S.C.C. staff, flows directly from the Superintendent, i.e. Dr. Henry Richards.
The S.C.C. budget is, in part, carefully hidden in the State General Fund, and exceeds, by conservative estimate, some Fifty (50) Million Taxpayer dollars a year. With an admitted budget in the area of Forty to Forty-Five Million dollars each year, the S.C.C. generally exceeds that budget by at least ten percent. This cost in taxpayer funds does not include the costs imposed upon the State and Courts by multiple and continuous lawsuits against the facility and Dr. Richards, and/or his staff, for violations of Constitutional and statute law, nor does it always include the costs of expensive medical procedures necessary on behalf of an aging S.C.C. population.
For some 280 “civil status’ men and one woman at the S.C.C., and based upon known expenditures of at least Fifty Million taxpayer dollars per year, the annual cost, per ‘civil status resident’ runs about $178, 500.00 more or less as compared to some $28,000 per year for a prison ‘inmate’. S.C.C. staff “turn-over” is high, due in part to a monumental lack of skilled management. S.C.C.’s ‘program’ has been repeatedly adjudged, in both State and federal courts, as inadequate and as not providing professional mental health care, which is one of the reasons given for S.C.C.’s existence.
Factually, the S.C.C. is nothing more than a warehouse, a continuation of a completed prison sentence for individuals who have paid their statutory “debt to society.” Out of the approximately 280 individuals held at the S.C.C., most do not meet the statutory criteria of RCW 71.09, the statute under which the S.C.C. operates. However, the State will tell ‘any lie to justify’ the continued existence of the S.C.C..
Superintendent Richards tells the media and politicians in Olympia that 80% or more of the S.C.C. residents are ‘in treatment’—but, the truth is otherwise and the average, since 1995, of those in ‘treatment’, is less than 20% who regularly attend the ‘whine’ sessions. There is no viable instruction and the ‘program’ has undergone a number of revisions over the years, but has released only one (1) person [in 2007] since 1990 based on the alleged ‘treatment’ program.
The S.C.C. is a monumental failure, an expensive waste of taxpayer funds when the State is in dire need of such funds and it is time this “White Elephant” is removed from the necks of state taxpayers.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Mismanagement and Liabilities and the Taxpayer Never Hears
Mismanagement and Liabilities and the Taxpayer Never Hears
Thirty thousand dollars of taxpayer funds were recently paid out to a Special Commitment Center, S.C.C., resident because that State facility did not timely answer requests for information under the Public Disclosure Act. Over time a number of S.C.C. residents have been so paid due, in part, to poor management at the S.C.C., but the public never hears of it.
S.C.C. residents have won taxpayer dollars not only for lax adherence to statutory law, but have been paid a number of times for civil rights lawsuits; but the public never hears of it. The right to sue and redress grievances against the government is a First Amendment Right, not to be abridged.
A state audit of the Special Commitment Center found, among other things, that the Center “did not ensure fixed assets were adequately tracked and purchase amounts were correct in the Department’s inventory system”, i.e. thousands of taxpayer dollars wasted, year in and year out, and “The Center commissary warehouse inventory was not adequately protected or closely monitored”, i.e. it is known that food items have been stolen by staff in the past, that certain items never used for residents have been purchased for staff parties, and that ultimately, more taxpayer dollars are wasted; but the public never hears of it. There was more found in the State audit indicating misuse and mismanagement, but the public, who is paying for this waste, never hears of it.
Who, ultimately, is responsible for legal and constitutional violations impacting S.C.C. civil status residents, whose attitude and mind set drives the overall environment at the S.C.C., an environment becoming increasingly punitive, again in violation of law when S.C.C. residents are not to be punished, thus establishing a basis for more lawsuits?
Who places more emphasis on punitive security in one of the State’s most secure island facilities rather than the statutorily mandated “individualized” mental health treatment leading, ostensibly, to eventual release. Who, other than the S.C.C. Superintendent, Henry Richards, can be directly held responsible on a daily basis for the lack of adequate and effective management, controls and monitoring, not only where taxpayer dollars are concerned; but held responsible for the fact a large portion of the staff is unhappy with working conditions leading to a large staff ‘turnover’ vis-à-vis almost any other employment in the area. Yet the public never hears of these problems and consequent waste of tax dollars.
Who, but S.C.C. Superintendent Henry Richards, has allowed certain clinical and line staff, caught in thefts from the Center, caught inappropriately in possession of child pornography, caught with illegal drugs, even caught in sexual liaison, to be quietly fired or re-assigned, and the public never hears of it?
S.C.C. residents are not the only individuals who have committed crimes at the S.C.C.. Over time it has been learned that certain present and past clinical, administrative and line staff personnel have criminal records of their own; but the public never hears of it.
Is it not time that the public should be hearing the facts? After all it is the public that pays for this dysfunctional, corrupt and expensive scheme with their tax dollars.
Thirty thousand dollars of taxpayer funds were recently paid out to a Special Commitment Center, S.C.C., resident because that State facility did not timely answer requests for information under the Public Disclosure Act. Over time a number of S.C.C. residents have been so paid due, in part, to poor management at the S.C.C., but the public never hears of it.
S.C.C. residents have won taxpayer dollars not only for lax adherence to statutory law, but have been paid a number of times for civil rights lawsuits; but the public never hears of it. The right to sue and redress grievances against the government is a First Amendment Right, not to be abridged.
A state audit of the Special Commitment Center found, among other things, that the Center “did not ensure fixed assets were adequately tracked and purchase amounts were correct in the Department’s inventory system”, i.e. thousands of taxpayer dollars wasted, year in and year out, and “The Center commissary warehouse inventory was not adequately protected or closely monitored”, i.e. it is known that food items have been stolen by staff in the past, that certain items never used for residents have been purchased for staff parties, and that ultimately, more taxpayer dollars are wasted; but the public never hears of it. There was more found in the State audit indicating misuse and mismanagement, but the public, who is paying for this waste, never hears of it.
Who, ultimately, is responsible for legal and constitutional violations impacting S.C.C. civil status residents, whose attitude and mind set drives the overall environment at the S.C.C., an environment becoming increasingly punitive, again in violation of law when S.C.C. residents are not to be punished, thus establishing a basis for more lawsuits?
Who places more emphasis on punitive security in one of the State’s most secure island facilities rather than the statutorily mandated “individualized” mental health treatment leading, ostensibly, to eventual release. Who, other than the S.C.C. Superintendent, Henry Richards, can be directly held responsible on a daily basis for the lack of adequate and effective management, controls and monitoring, not only where taxpayer dollars are concerned; but held responsible for the fact a large portion of the staff is unhappy with working conditions leading to a large staff ‘turnover’ vis-à-vis almost any other employment in the area. Yet the public never hears of these problems and consequent waste of tax dollars.
Who, but S.C.C. Superintendent Henry Richards, has allowed certain clinical and line staff, caught in thefts from the Center, caught inappropriately in possession of child pornography, caught with illegal drugs, even caught in sexual liaison, to be quietly fired or re-assigned, and the public never hears of it?
S.C.C. residents are not the only individuals who have committed crimes at the S.C.C.. Over time it has been learned that certain present and past clinical, administrative and line staff personnel have criminal records of their own; but the public never hears of it.
Is it not time that the public should be hearing the facts? After all it is the public that pays for this dysfunctional, corrupt and expensive scheme with their tax dollars.
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