Deseret Morning News
Copyright 2007 The Deseret News Publishing Co.
All Rights Reserved
by Ben Winslow
Salt Lake City, Ut - Tom Patterson smiles and eagerly shakes the hands of the corrections officers he encounters. He even says hello to the inmates he passes in the cell block.
“How are you doing?” he asks one.
“Pretty good,” the inmate responds, a little wary of the man in the suit.
The new executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections is trying to win over just about everyone.
In an interview with the Deseret Morning News, Patterson outlined his plans to fix a department that has been blasted in a 2006 legislative audit as having a “good ol’ boys club” rife with favoritism.
“What I’ve chosen to do is look at that as positive feedback as to what we can possibly do here to make this a better place for our employees to work,” he said.
The audit is driving a lot of the changes here at the Utah Department of Corrections. The 71-page report detailed an unpleasant work environment of preferential treatment, undertrained officers and abused state policies.
The report also noted the incredibly low morale at the Utah Department of Corrections. A 2003 employee survey showed 76 percent believed favoritism existed and 81 percent felt frustrated by their employment. From 1998 to 2005, the Department of Corrections beat out all other state departments in the number of employee grievances filed.
The audit troubled members of the Utah Legislature. It was dismissed by then-corrections chief Scott Carver, who said there was a perception problem and blamed a subset of staffers who “harbor a belief in favoritism.”
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. made swift changes.
Patterson was plucked from his job as the director of the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice in a reshuffling that booted Carver over to the Utah Sentencing Commission and brought in a retired judge to take over the CCJJ.
Patterson insists he was not pressured into taking the job but felt a great sense of loyalty to the governor and his vision for the state. Patterson said that at first, he did not see the “opportunity” that he was presented with.
“It was concerning to me. It was surprising at first. Then ... the task at hand seemed a little daunting,” he said.
Pressure was put on Patterson to make changes -- now.
“You need to know this thing is so terrible that in another year I’m going to ask for another audit to see what progress we’ve made,” Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, told Patterson in January.
Culture change
Patterson refuses to say anything critical about prior corrections administrations.
“I think the governor said it best. He said he wanted a culture change,” he said.
The first thing Patterson said he did was open his door for employees to speak and be heard. More than 1,200 e-mails have come into him from corrections employees. Others have submitted comments anonymously through a Web site.
Among the issues Patterson has heard about: Low wages for correctional officers and other support staff. Favoritism in discipline, overtime and scheduling. Friends are getting hired for top jobs and plum promotions. Too many top-level positions. Low morale and trust issues. Vehicle policy abuse raised in the legislative audit. Adult Probation and Parole case loads are too high. A lack of support from the Legislature and a lack of benefits and pay.
Patterson said building trust with corrections employees is one of his highest priorities.
“They deserve to have openness. They deserve to have fairness,” he said.
Since January, he has made several changes, including letting many high-level corrections officials go. Patterson is quick to point out that he has filled many of the vacancies from within. He won’t rule out other changes.
Among them is allowing lower-level supervisors to do promoting and disciplining -- something that wasn’t done before.
“It places accountability where accountability should be. Having a supervisor that doesn’t have supervisory powers is frustrating,” he said.
Patterson himself wants to be seen as above reproach. He had the lights and siren disconnected on his state-issued car to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Patterson is not a police officer, nor does he have a background in corrections.
Members of the Legislature had reservations about Patterson’s qualifications -- or lack thereof -- for the job. Before heading the CCJJ, he was legal counsel for the Utah Department of Workforce Services and, in another life, the Rush County attorney in Kansas.
“How do you change a culture without bringing somebody in from the outside?” Patterson said.
That doesn’t mean he isn’t eager to learn. He has pledged to go through the 13-week Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Academy course to learn what his officers go through.
“Not because I need to, but because it’s something I think will help me be a better administrator,” he said.
‘Ear to the ground’
Patterson is winning over some corrections employees like Capt. Ken Strong, a 22-year officer who has seen bosses come and go.
“He comes down here and he’s talking to the little man -- that’s us -- he wants to know what we need,” Strong said. “For many years we kept our mouths quiet and did our job, worked our 12-hour shifts and out of here.”
As he escorts a Deseret Morning News reporter through a cell block, Strong reveals he was a supporter of former corrections chief Carver and made it clear the first time he met Patterson.
“I liked the old boss as well. I think he did a good job, and I thought it (the audit) was a lot of sour milk that just kept getting repeated over and over and over,” he said. “I’m not against the change by any means, I just didn’t see it as bad as the picture that was being painted in the first place.”
While Strong says he has adopted a wait-and-see attitude, he is willing to give the new boss a chance.
“Tom has his ear to the ground a lot more than any director we’ve had before,” he said.
Growth industry
From his office, Patterson looks out over the prison.
“What you see below here is a city. Everything that is needed is contained in that facility,” he said. “We constantly have issues.”
The department is developing a 10-year plan to handle growth. For the first time, the inmate population reached an all-time high of 6,500. The prison is operating at 95 percent of capacity.
Patterson’s plan calls for the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison to be built out. He also wants to expand contracts with county jails to house inmates. The Point of the Mountain facility will likely be expanded, but it is not moving.
“We’re here, and we’re planning on being here,” he said.
A feasibility study looked at relocating the prison, which sits on prime real estate in Draper. The study ultimately concluded the costs of relocating such a massive facility were not worth it.
“We will need to have additional buildings and so a third site is presently being considered,” Patterson said. “We would need to have a third site in place by 2014.”
Many rank-and-file corrections employees are cautiously optimistic about the future.
“We’re all just kind of worried to see where the smoke clears, exactly where everything is going to be,” Strong said. “I welcome change.”
One thing he wants to see happen more often is a raise -- and more retention of officers. Strong said longtime employees are becoming fewer and he’s often working with people who have only been on the job for a couple of years or less.
Patterson understands the need for higher pay.
“We felt like we needed somewhere between $12 and $15 million to bring us up to par with what county corrections officers are getting,” he said.
Patterson said he wants to do the best he can for as long as he is in the new job.
“They see positive things happening and they see their concerns being addressed and their next question is, ‘How long are you going to be here?”’ he said. “Nobody likes change very much. They want a sense of stability, and so my mentality is, ‘I’ll be here as long as I’m helping.”’