In early October, two members of the Two Bridges Regional Jail staff spent two weeks in Canada teaching techniques for managing inmates. The pair will return to Canada in January for another two week session.
The Canadians called in Sgt. Darryl Groh and Lt. James Bailey to train 60 staffers at Dalhousie Regional Correctional Centre in the Direct Supervision technique employed at TBRJ in Wiscasset.
Canadians have visited Wiscasset for training in the past. After the January trip TBRJ will have trained close to 200 Canadian corrections officers in Direct Supervision.
Developed in the 1970s and first employed at a California prison in 1981, Direct Supervision is a model built on the idea that if inmates are treated like human beings, they’ll respond in kind.
Direct Supervision has been the model used at new correctional facilities in the US for decades, but the two jails Groh and Bailey are visiting are among the first of their kind in Canada.
TBRJ has developed a reputation for excellence – serving as a model facility for jails around Maine and New England – so when two eastern Canadian jails requested training on Direct Supervision, the National Institute of Corrections recommended TBRJ.
During an interview at the jail on Nov. 10, Groh and Bailey said the trip was a huge success.
“We got stuck at the border for a while, but other than that…” Groh said. “They asked a lot of good questions, and they seemed to really like the program.”
Some members the Dalhousie staff had visited TBRJ for tours and training before, but many had never experienced Direct Supervision first hand.
Some of the corrections officers they trained had worked for decades at a jail built in the 1800s and were skeptical about the relatively new theories. “There were concerns, but after seeing the program, they were excited” Bailey said.
Groh describes Direct Supervision this way: “We treat them like adults, and hold them accountable for their actions,” he said. “We spend a lot of time rewarding them for good behavior.”
In response, TBRJ is cleaner, safer and easier to supervise than almost any other jail in New England. “We have porcelain toilets and wooden doors,” Groh said in a previous interview on the subject. “It surprises a lot of people, but broken toilets are not an issue here; we’ve lost a couple of toilets in a few years.”
Jail administrators say that inmates frequently request to do their time in Wiscasset, sometimes going so far as to agree to plea bargains if the judge will send them to TBRJ.
Once at the jail, inmates at TBRJ are much less likely to be violent and disruptive than inmates at other Maine facilities. According to anecdotal reports Groh has received, many Maine jails have three or four violent incidents per week. A violent incident is any disruption that requires officers to put their hands on an inmate. TBRJ averages around four incidents per year, Groh said.
The reason is Direct Supervision, jail administrators say. In previous interviews, TBRJ staff said the program saves the jails thousands of dollars every year.
“It’s a much better way of doing business,” said Jail Administrator Col. Mark Westrum. “Other facilities are just dangerous; they’re very supervisor intensive.”
At TBRJ, inmates are given a lot of time outside their cells in common areas called pods. On holidays they’re given special snacks and frequently rewarded for good behavior.
Inmates participate in events such as spades tournaments and a weekly clean housing unit competition. Groh said the latter is hotly contested because of the pride from beating the other units.
“For us, it means cleaner units, and if your unit wins, they get to watch a movie, which means a few hours of quiet time for the officer,” Groh said.
Inmates with records of good behavior are allowed to participate in work programs, and earn money for their efforts in programs like the jail carpentry classes. Training is available to inmates seeking their GED and other college transitional programs, as well as behavior classes and programs designed to help inmates re-enter society.
Guards at TBRJ are encouraged to act as role models for the inmates.
“It boils down to not treating inmates like inmates; if you expect normal adult behavior, they’ll usually give it to you,” Groh said. “We try to give them the tools to leave here better than they came in.”
On a Nov. 10 tour of TBRJ, the worst behavior an inmate exhibited was teasing a member of the tour about his glasses. “He’s our hard case,” Groh said, apologizing for the outburst. “There’s always one.”
The other inmates were quiet and occasionally polite. “As far as doing time goes, it’s not so bad,” Groh said.
That qualification is import: the inmates are still doing time. While the tour revealed most of the jail to be gleaming white with tables and chairs intact, it’s still a claustrophobic maze of fluorescent lighting and cinderblock walls. After about an hour inside, the desire to see natural light can’t be ignored.
For those accustomed to the correctional system, TBRJ is a model of peace and civility, and with the help of Groh and Bailey, it’s a model that jails around New England and now Canada are seeking to recreate.
