Westville Correctional Facility

Last updated
Westville Correctional Facility
Westville Correctional Facility
Location5501 S 1100 W
Westville, Indiana
Statusopen
Security classmixed
Capacity3100
Opened1945 / 1977
Managed by Indiana Department of Correction

The Westville Correctional Facility, located in Westville, Indiana, is a state-operated prison for adult males. The facility contains sections of three levels of security. [1] The average daily population in September 2006 was approximately 3,100. [2] At Westville, 49% of the inmate population are people of color, slightly higher than the average of 42% for the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC) as a whole.

Contents

History

Westville's history actually begins not with the opening of a new state prison but with the opening of a twenty-million dollar mental facility named the Northern Indiana Hospital (now the Logansport State Hospital). Created by the Indiana General Assembly in 1945, the facility admitted both mental patients and the criminally insane from Alaska and Indiana. Two years later, the hospital was renamed after Dr. Norman M. Beatty, a pioneer in hospital sanitation and a leading activist for improving mental health facilities. The hospital housed roughly 1750 patients in the civil section and around 500 patients in the maximum-security portion. Patients ages six and up were admitted into the hospital. Contained within the facility was an accredited school, bowling alley, beauty and barber shop, power plant, sewage disposal plant, fire department and security force. The hospital also helped students from the surrounding community benefit from internships in psychology, music, occupational, vocational and recreational therapy and nursing programs. [3]

In 1977, legislation was passed that transformed the Norman Beatty Mental Hospital from a mental facility into a prison, the Westville Correctional Facility. In addition to the change in the type of residents at the facility, there was also a change in the type of care provided. This change was significant for the facility due to the vast difference between the two types of institutions. Through the two-year period between 1977 and 1979, the proportion of inmates increased and the number of mental patients decreased until, in June 1979, only inmates remained. [4] Following the final transition into a prison came the construction of education and industrial complexes, gymnasium, multi-purpose building and chapel. [3] In addition, a fence, extra lighting and watch towers were added for security reasons. Soon, what was originally intended to be a medium-security prison housing 1,200 inmates became a prison with inmates ranging from trustee offenders to maximum security and a population of over 3,000. [4]

Programs

Westville offers a wide variety of programs to help rehabilitate inmates and give back to the community. Perhaps the most important program is the prison's educational program, Reintegration into Society through Education (RISE). The inmates have the opportunity to take programs on ELS, general literacy, GED, and vocational programs in auto body, building trades, culinary arts, electronics and many others. One of the prison's stated philosophies is that the best way for a prisoner to reenter society is through education. Another program offered by Westville is Thinking for a Change, a course that attempts to teach inmates "an objective systematic approach to identifying thinking, beliefs, attitudes and values." However, at most, the inmates will usually only attend these "education opportunities" once a week. So, as far as the value of the education, that remains a separate issue. [5] This course is an elective through a life changing program called Therapeutic Community at Westville Correctional Facility. "TC" is an intensive, peer driven, highly structured program that enforces cognitive thinking changes along with addiction education. This program aims to teach inmates positive social skills and to change the core thinking to more constructive and beneficial behaviors. In addition to these programs, other courses on substance abuse, transitioning from prison life back into society and many others are offered. Since the DOC began giving time cuts for inmates that complete certain educational programs, many have obtained earlier releases. The facility focuses on keeping fathers connected with their children while in prison through programs such as Inside Out Dads, a program developed for prisons by the National Fatherhood Initiative (http://www.fatherhood.org/) which tries to help offenders develop better parenting and fatherhood skills in order to become more involved with their children. The prison has a children's library for the fathers to use while visiting with their children. TC also has a new program aimed at helping offenders learn to manage money, become debt free, and to save and spend wisely. Dave Ramsey's nationally known program, Financial Peace University is now being taught within the Therapeutic Community. FPU is a biblically based curriculum that teaches offenders how to handle money God's ways.

A new program introduced by the prison is Mixed Up Mutts, which allows inmates to work with stray dogs and teach them basic obedience skills. The prison hopes that this program gives the inmates a very satisfying interaction with animals and that it has a general positive effect on them. [6] The program was cancelled due to a lack of funding.

The prison also has many different industrial programs such as the Lions Club Eyeglass Recycling Program, Compost Recycling Program and Prison Enterprise Network (PEN). The Lions Club Program has inmates sort through and clean donated glasses which are then sorted by prescription. So far the program has processed over two million pairs of glasses. [5] The Compost Program allows inmates to develop skills for using machinery from "shovels and rakes to operation of heavy equipment" while processing the compost in the surrounding area of the prison. [5] The PEN program offers inmates the opportunity to make a range of different products that are sold both within the prison and commercially.

Lawsuits

For Westville's relatively short history, it has had several prominent legal battles. In 1988, the prison was ordered to move 130 female inmates to other state facilities in order to comply with a lawsuit filed claiming that women received unfair treatment at the prison. According to several inmates, the women at Westville were not allowed options such as work opportunities outside the facility, General Equivalency Diploma program and literacy program. [7]

As recently as 2004, Westville faced two legal battles, both pertaining to violations of freedoms. The first dealt with an officer assigned to the vehicle trap, Nancy Spiegla, who began to notice suspicious activity by two officers outside the gates of the prison. Spiegla witnessed two officers transferring large bags from cars. When the officers attempted to enter the facility, Speigla demanded that she be allowed to search their car, which was a routine duty of hers. However, the officers argued that law enforcement vehicles were exempt from this rule and rejected the car search. Later, Speigla decided to inform the assistant superintendent about the incident but was surprised when nothing was done about the matter and she was demoted to a lower-ranking position with a pay cut. Speigla pursued her complaint in court, which ultimately ruled in her favor. However, she was never given back her original position. [8] This story brought attention to a major problem at Westville: drug trafficking by staff. [9]

The second case involved Robert Badelle #7130 , an inmate at Westville, and a letter he wrote to the superintendent. In 1977, Badelle had been charged with murder and sentenced to a prison term of thirty years, even though Badelle and two Indiana police officers maintain that he is innocent. Upset one night about his imprisonment, Badelle decided to write the superintendent a letter in which he explained his discontent and his thoughts of escaping. On reading the letter, the superintendent alerted the DOC and five extra years were added onto Badelle's sentence. "The DOC claimed that mentioning one's intent to flee is the same as trying to escape…" [9] Badelle filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus and won, and the added sentence was removed. In addition to this, the court ruled that Badelle should indeed be transferred to another prison. According to Badelle's lawyer, Westville is a very dangerous "hellhole" and is only meant for "short-termers" and younger men. [9]

The most controversial lawsuit involved inmate Donald W. Holtz #863446 . In August 1986, Holtz was committed to the "Psychiatric Unit" of Westville because of an alleged suicide threat. Once there, he was put on several medications; however, no doctor examination was administered before or after he began taking the medication. After almost 17 months of taking the medication, Holtz one day refused to take his medications. He was then placed in a four-way restraint and given medication through a series of shots, all while remaining in seclusion for three days. He then filed suit over the inhumane conditions at the facility including overcrowding, beds placed fewer than 18 inches part and, worst of all, staff who failed to intervene in fights or sexual assaults. [10]

On April 29, 2009, Westville Correctional Facility was sued by a former correctional officer, Nathan M. Smith, who was dismissed in January 2009 when he told an Internal Affairs officer that he requested a lawyer be present before being questioned about an undisclosed incident. In his lawsuit , Smith alleges Westville and its public information officer John Schrader violated Indiana's Access to Public Records Act ("APRA") when Schrader failed to disclose certain records relating to his dismissal and other alleged incidents that occurred while Smith was employed at Westville. [11]

Incidents

In May 2007, Officer Ashley S. Porter was injured on the job while performing her duties.[ citation needed ] Westville failed to grant her workers compensation and a suit was filed against the company for wrongful termination, harassment and medical bills accrued during her treatment for the work-related injury. The case is currently open.

In April 2000, an inmate from Westville, Phillip Woods #885529 , entered an industrial dishwasher and according to his mother, came out looking like a "skinned squirrel". [12] Normally, the dishwasher is set to a temperature of around 150 degrees Fahrenheit but it had recently been moved up to 180 degrees on the recommendation of a recent health department visit. After Woods woke from his coma, he blamed the Aryan Brotherhood, a group of inmates at the prison, for his injuries. The DOC maintains that Woods had in the past gone into the dishwasher voluntary to win bets and that this occasion was no different. Woods died in the hospital in July 2002, two years after he was released, from complications from burns received during the incident.

Drug trafficking by staff was a problem at the facility in 1996. The Indiana State Police were observed frequently at the gates used by staff to enter the facility to conduct K-9 drug checks of vehicles and staff entering the facility.[ citation needed ]

The water was turned off twice within the years 2013-2015.[ citation needed ] The first was caused by the water tower on grounds malfunctioning. The second was when a pipe burst behind the educational complex. The water line was struck by the maintenance personnel who were digging near the main road.[ citation needed ] Westville had to bring in outside contractors to fix the problem. Offenders were given bottled water, at the staffs' leisure, and were still able to use toilets during the incident, at most twice a day. The offenders who used plastic bags to replace the toilet were not instructed to, since water was shut off and staff refused inmates basic human necessity to relieve themselves, and instead instructed the inmates to use the non-functioning toilets. The inmates then used trash bags to collect their fecal matter and disposed of it out of broken windows in the complexes.[ citation needed ]

Notable inmates

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana Department of Correction</span> State government agency in Indiana

The Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) operates state prisons in Indiana. It has its headquarters in Indianapolis. As of 2019, the Indiana Department of Correction housed 27,140 adult Inmates, 388 juvenile Inmates, employed 5,937 State Employed Staff, and 1,718 Contracted Staff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington State Department of Corrections</span> Law enforcement agency

The Washington State Department of Corrections (WADOC) is a department of the government of the State of Washington. WADOC is responsible for administering adult corrections programs operated by the state. This includes state correctional institutions and programs for people supervised in the community. Its headquarters are in Tumwater, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas Department of Corrections</span> Agency of Kansas, U.S.

The Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) is a cabinet-level agency of Kansas that operates the state's correctional facilities, both juvenile and adult, the state's parole system, and the state's Prisoner Review Board. It is headquartered in Topeka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oak Park Heights Prison</span> Maximum security prison in Minnesota, United States

Minnesota Correctional Facility – Oak Park Heights (MCF-OPH) is Minnesota's only Level Five maximum security prison. The facility is located near the cities of Bayport and Stillwater. The facility is designed and employed with trained security officers to handle not only Minnesota's high-risk inmates but other states' as well. They also have the largest contract to house federal inmates with serious, violent histories. The prison has never had an escape, and only one homicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CoreCivic</span> U.S. prison-operating company

CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas W. Beasley, Robert Crants, and T. Don Hutto, it received investments from the Tennessee Valley Authority, Vanderbilt University, and Jack C. Massey, the founder of Hospital Corporation of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prison officer</span> Law enforcement official

A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. They are responsible for the security of the facility and its property as well as other law enforcement functions. Most prison officers or corrections officers are employed by the government of the jurisdiction in which they operate, although some are employed by private companies that provide prison services to the government.

Pontiac Correctional Center, established in June 1871, is an Illinois Department of Corrections maximum security prison for adult males in Pontiac, Illinois. The prison also has a medium security unit that houses medium to minimum security inmates and is classified as Level 3. Until the 2011 abolition of the death penalty in Illinois, the prison housed male death row inmates, but had no execution chamber. Inmates were executed at the Tamms Correctional Center. Although the capacity of the prison is 2172, it has an average daily population of approximately 2000 inmates.

The Pendleton Correctional Facility, formerly known as the Indiana Reformatory, is a state prison located in Fall Creek Township, Madison County, near Pendleton and about 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Indianapolis. Established in 1923, it was built to replace the Indiana State Reformatory located in Jeffersonville after a fire severely damaged the original property. The Pendleton facility currently offers maximum and minimum-security housing for adult males over 22 years old. The maximum-security portion is made up of 31 acres (130,000 m2) surrounded by a concrete wall. It has an average daily population of approximately 1,650 inmates. Located on the grounds outside the enclosure, the minimum-security dormitory holds approximately 200 prisoners on a daily basis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miami Correctional Facility</span>

The Miami Correctional Facility is a state prison located near Bunker Hill, Indiana, on the site of the Grissom Joint Air Reserve Base at West 850 South and US-31, about 11 miles north of Kokomo, Indiana. It was established in 1998 and houses high-, medium-, and minimum-security inmates, all of whom are adult males. At full capacity, Miami can house 3,188 prisoners, making it the largest facility in the state of Indiana. The level-one inmates are housed outside of the prison fence in dormitory-style living units which can accommodate a maximum of 204 prisoners. The high- and medium-security facilities are inside of the fence and hold the level-two, three, and four inmates in two-man cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana Women's Prison</span> Prison in Indiana

The Indiana Women's Prison was established in 1873 as the first adult female correctional facility in the country. The original location of the prison was one mile (1.6 km) east of downtown Indianapolis. It has since moved to 2596 Girls School Road, former location of the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility. As of 2005, it had an average daily population of 420 inmates, most of whom are members of special-needs populations, such as geriatric, mentally ill, pregnant, and juveniles sentenced as adults. By the end of 2015, the population increased to 599 inmates. Security levels range from medium to maximum. The prison holds Indiana's only death row for women; however, it currently has no death row inmates. The one woman under an Indiana death sentence, Debra Denise Brown, had her sentence commuted to 140 years imprisonment in 2018 and is being held in Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroe Correctional Complex</span>

The Monroe Correctional Complex is a Washington State Department of Corrections men's prison located in Monroe, Washington, United States. With a bed capacity of over 3,100, it is the largest prison in the state.

Atascadero State Hospital, formally known as California Department of State Hospitals - Atascadero (DSHA), is located on the Central Coast of California, in San Luis Obispo County, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. DSHA is an all-male, maximum-security facility, forensic institution that houses mentally ill convicts who have been committed to psychiatric facilities by California's courts. Located on a 700+ acre grounds in the city of Atascadero, California, it is the largest employer in that town. DSHA is not a general purpose public hospital, and the only patients admitted are those that are referred to the hospital by the Superior Court, Board of Prison Terms, or the Department of Corrections.

Edinburgh Correctional Facility is a minimum-security work camp located in the middle of Camp Atterbury, a military training camp near Edinburgh, Indiana. The inmates work on the grounds of Camp Atterbury and on road crews with the Indiana Department of Transportation and park maintenance with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The maximum population, which has doubled in the past year, is 344 adult males.

The Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility is a maximum-security Indiana Department of Corrections prison for juvenile males between the ages of 12 and one minute before they turn 22. The facility is located in Fall Creek Township, Madison County, southwest of Pendleton. The campus-style facility has an average daily population of 245 males. The Pendleton Facility was established in 2000 with the purpose of "preparing young men for re-entry into society with the necessary skills to avoid further criminal behavior."

The Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility was a minimum, medium, and maximum state juvenile facility of the Indiana Department of Correction. It was located on Girls School Road, 8 miles (13 km) west of downtown Indianapolis. The facility currently houses 185 female inmates ranging in age from twelve years to twenty-one years. The facility was originally established in 1907 as an all-girls school and was known for most of its history as the Indiana Girls School. In 2006, juvenile male offenders were assigned to the facility as well. In late 2007 all male offenders were transferred to other state facilities and the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility reverted to being an all female facility. In 2009 the girls were moved to the Madison Juvenile Correctional Facility, and the former IJCF became the current location of the Indiana Women's Prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections</span> State law enforcement agency of Louisiana

The Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C) is a state law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates and management of facilities at state prisons within the state of Louisiana. The agency is headquartered in Baton Rouge. The agency comprises two major areas: Public Safety Services and Corrections Services. The secretary, who is appointed by the governor of Louisiana, serves as the department's chief executive officer. The Corrections Services deputy secretary, undersecretary, and assistant secretaries for the Office of Adult Services and the Office of Youth Development report directly to the secretary. Headquarters administration consists of centralized divisions that support the management and operations of the adult and juvenile institutions, adult and juvenile probation and parole district offices, and all other services provided by the department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane</span> Hospital in New York, United States

Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, established in 1892 as the Matteawan State Hospital by an 1892 law, functioned as a hospital for insane criminals. It was located in the town of Fishkill just outside the city of Beacon, New York; today its buildings form part of Fishkill Correctional Facility.

Bridgewater State Hospital, located in southeastern Massachusetts, is a state facility housing the criminally insane and those whose sanity is being evaluated for the criminal justice system. It was established in 1855 as an almshouse. It was then used as a workhouse for inmates with short sentences who worked the surrounding farmland. It was later rebuilt in the 1880s and again in 1974. As of January 6, 2020 there were 217 inmates in general population beds. The facility was the subject of the 1967 documentary Titicut Follies. Bridgewater State Hospital falls under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Department of Correction but its day to day operations is managed by Wellpath, a contracted vendor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idaho Department of Correction</span> Law enforcement agency

The Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) operates nine prisons, four community release centers and 20 probation and parole offices in seven districts located throughout the state of Idaho. The agency has its headquarters in Boise.

The Indian Creek Correctional Center (ICCC) is a Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) state prison for men. The prison is located in Chesapeake, Virginia, United States, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) north of the North Carolina border.

References

  1. ↑ "Westville Correctional Facility". IndianaFind. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
  2. ↑ "Westville Correctional Facility". Access Indiana. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
  3. 1 2 Document on history of Westville Correctional Facility. Contact the prison's public telephone number at (219)785 2511 to request a copy.
  4. 1 2 Document on time line of events at Westville Correctional Facility. Contact the prison's public telephone number at (219) 785 2511 to request a copy.
  5. 1 2 3 Virtual Tour of Westville Correctional Facility.
  6. ↑ Ochstein, Jennifer (2006-03-05). "Getting Dogs to Go Straight". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
  7. ↑ Morrison, Patrick T. "130 Female Inmates to Move from Westville." Indystar, 2 February 1988.
  8. ↑ Patterson, James. "Court Decks DOC, Strikes Blow for Free Speech." Indystar 19 June 2004.
  9. 1 2 3 Patterson, James. "Still Suffering in Prison Despite Doubts About Guilt." Indystar 28 June 2004.
  10. ↑ Donald W. Holtz, Jr. Statements about Westville
  11. ↑ Nathan M. Smith vs Westville Correctional Facility et al, Case #46D03-0904-MI-198, LaPorte County Superior Court
  12. ↑ Higgins, Will. "For Burned Inmate, Death Was Merciful; Now the Lawsuit?" Associated Press 12 July 2002.
  13. ↑ Adams, Matt (2024-11-03). "Richard Allen's mental state". WXIN. Archived from the original on November 4, 2024. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.