Q&A: Corrections Commissioner Marshall Fisher
Marshall Fisher is a longtime public servant, working his way up through the ranks of law enforcement until 2005 when then-Gov. Haley Barbour appointed him as head of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. In January, the retired MBN chief was asked to lead again, this time by Gov. Phil Bryant as commissioner of the embattled Mississippi Department of Corrections.
The Navy veteran has been on the job for just over six months and in that time has made sweeping changes and more than a few waves.
The Clarion-Ledger invited Fisher to discuss his efforts to clean up MDOC and make the organization more fiscally responsible. The written Q&A is presented with minimal editing in its entirety.
Q: What unexpected challenges have you confronted since becoming corrections commissioner?
A: Interestingly, the question refers to unexpected challenges and acknowledges that there were known challenges. For example, I knew we had to change “business as usual.” Challenges can create opportunities. And, this was the case when the MDOC budget was unexpectedly “cut” by $23 million under the Legislative Budget Office’s recommendation. More recently, we have been asked to estimate the impact of an additional 7.8 percent reduction out of the 2016 appropriations. A reduced budget exacerbates staffing concerns: 51 percent turnover for corrections officers and about 70 percent staffing with probation and parole agents at a time when more offenders are on some semblance of supervised release with each agent having a 200-300 offender caseload. We must maintain the safety of our citizens. I must admit that I was surprised to encounter a significant amount of outside interference from individuals and organizations who somehow believe we can ignore the recent history of MDOC, continue to do business as usual and not expect future similar problems. In some situations, county governments expect MDOC to provide inmate labor to subsidize certain services. Simply put, we shouldn’t base local and county budgets on inmate labor. Part of my job is to be a good steward of state funds. That is exactly what I intend to do.
Q: What have been the most effective changes you’ve implemented?
A: We have increased the length of training for new corrections officers and raised the minimum age requirement from 18 to 21. Eighteen-year-olds are simply too young to be working around hardened inmates. Training is being revamped to include a more physical, para-military regimen, and the academy time will double from four to eight weeks. The curriculum also is being strengthened. The mission of our probation and parole agents continues to be more important as corrections nationally continues to move toward less incarceration and more community-based supervision. The firearms training has changed from annual qualifications to once a quarter. Once or twice annually is simply not enough. Additionally, we are reviewing staffing at our three major state prisons. We have increased the number of mass shakedowns and seized a tremendous amount of contraband. I believe we have assembled a team that is dedicated to raising the morale. It is premature to evaluate the results of some of the ongoing changes but establishing a can-do mindset with our employees is crucial.
Q: Besides ending or reimagining the Joint State-County Work Program, what other cost-saving measures are you planning or evaluating?
A: I don’t have control over the number of folks entering the prison system. Yet, no matter what MDOC’s budget is, we must provide certain services, including food, shelter, medical, education and protection from other inmates. We are planning to rebid private prison contracts this summer and have rebid or are bidding all of the other contracts named in the August 2014 indictment. We feel we can get better quality and price on the food and medical contracts. Additionally, we are beginning to look closer at public vs. private prisons, something the MDOC Task Force recommends.
Q: One of your predecessors, Robert Johnson, recently wrote in an op-ed piece for us that said there are 3,360 empty beds, almost enough to hold the entire prison population housed in for-profit prisons. Do you see continued use of private prisons as still viable for Mississippi given that MDOC’s budget has been cut?
A: Mr. Johnson’s point regarding private prisons and the circumstances under which we turned to them 20 years ago are well taken. But I feel that more analysis of private prisons is in order before we ring that bell. I consider that evaluation a priority of mine, especially for the long-term future of corrections in Mississippi given the drop in the inmate population. Meanwhile, we may be forced to consider closing at least one private institution in order to comply with the 7.8 percent possible FY16 reduction. Even if we do so, the amount of money we owe on the four private prisons is still at $200 million.
Q: While the MDOC Task Force is making recommendations to the governor and Legislature, in the interim how are you approaching the awarding of contracts?
A: MDOC has hired an employee solely responsible for the RFO/IFB process. Committees evaluate proposals pursuant to bid submissions. A recommendation for a contract award is presented to me to accept or reject before we go to the contract review board for approval. I do not discuss contracts with vendors. We are committed to transparency and integrity of the process.
Q: How can you eliminate or at least diminish the influence of gangs not just in the prison population but among corrections officers?
A: We are looking for individuals above reproach. We are going to be much more selective on rehires, considering that we have received intelligence information that criminal gangs/security threat groups recruit individuals to be hired by corrections in order to provide gang member inmates with a conduit to the “free world” and a source for contraband. We believe we must continually analyze and evaluate what works and establish best practices drawn from other states to assist in combating gang-related issues. We are considering creating a prison intelligence unit. Additionally, we are shoring up our relationships with our state and federal partners. To believe we can erase the footprint of gang activity in the prisons is probably not realistic considering that law enforcement has not eliminated it from the free world.
Q: Have you an end goal for your time as corrections commissioner, that by the time you leave you would have met these objectives?
A: My end goal is to leave MDOC with highly trained professionals who are committed to making sure citizens are safe. With that in mind, I expect to have increased the starting pay and upgraded training for corrections officers and parole and probation agents. We must find the funds in order to pay our staff a living wage. MDOC has a cadre of dedicated employees who are second to none. But we don’t pay them enough. Corrections officers do jobs no one else will do. If we don’t fix their wages, I fear we will pay a price. In our business, escapes are constantly possible. The recent escape of two convicted murderers from an upstate New York prison can happen anywhere. I am constantly asking my staff here are we doing it right. Can we do better and how? We must stay abreast of new trends and best practices. Constant re-evaluation of our department will become the norm. I want to make MDOC a career attractive agency for both current and potential employees. I have certain individuals attempting to detract my executive decisions because they are contrary to their “good ole boy” agenda. Doing things their way is part of how we got to where we are today. States, cities, and communities all over America continue to be negatively impacted financially either by shallow, backward thinking leadership or leaders who won’t make the difficult decisions. Often the right decisions are the most difficult ones.