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Oregon Jail Guards Lose Access to Porn Sites
Guards at the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) couldn’t be trusted to stay off Internet porn sites during work hours, so Sheriff Bob Skipper pulled the plug effective December 1, 2008.
Rampant, improper use of the Internet at the jail came to light in 2007 when a guard boasted on an online gaming site that he beat a prisoner without provocation, breaking his eye socket. An investigation revealed that the guard, David B. Thompson, had accessed the gaming website from his work computer more than 1,700 times during the previous eight months. [See: PLN, March 2009, p.25].
While examining a computer hard drive during an unrelated investigation, MCDC officials discovered that three guards had separately used the computer more than a year earlier to look at pornographic images, said Chief Deputy Ron Bishop, who manages the jail. An investigation is pending.
MCDC administrators recently began using new software to track Internet use by sheriff’s department employees. Ac-cording to Bishop, the software showed some people were spending far more time surfing the Internet for personal rea-sons than previously suspected. “Is it potentially impacting productivity? The answer is yes,” he admitted.
Under a new policy that took effect last December, employees at the county’s two jails will no longer be able to surf the Internet from work computers unless they submit a written request detailing why they need online access. Computers in most of the jail’s monitoring stations and cell blocks will be disconnected.
Since taking office in July 2008 after his predecessor, Bernie Giusto, resigned under fire for ethics violations, Sheriff Skipper has vowed to crack down on employee misconduct that went unchecked on Giusto’s watch. [See: PLN, Jan. 2008, p.12].
Sgt. Phil Anderchuk, president of the union that represents jail deputies, said that while misuse of the Internet had not been a widespread problem, he did not object to the new restrictions. “We’ve worked for decades without the Internet; it’s not the end of the world,” he stated. “There are times it’s useful, but it’s not necessary.”
Source: The Oregonian
Rampant, improper use of the Internet at the jail came to light in 2007 when a guard boasted on an online gaming site that he beat a prisoner without provocation, breaking his eye socket. An investigation revealed that the guard, David B. Thompson, had accessed the gaming website from his work computer more than 1,700 times during the previous eight months. [See: PLN, March 2009, p.25].
While examining a computer hard drive during an unrelated investigation, MCDC officials discovered that three guards had separately used the computer more than a year earlier to look at pornographic images, said Chief Deputy Ron Bishop, who manages the jail. An investigation is pending.
MCDC administrators recently began using new software to track Internet use by sheriff’s department employees. Ac-cording to Bishop, the software showed some people were spending far more time surfing the Internet for personal rea-sons than previously suspected. “Is it potentially impacting productivity? The answer is yes,” he admitted.
Under a new policy that took effect last December, employees at the county’s two jails will no longer be able to surf the Internet from work computers unless they submit a written request detailing why they need online access. Computers in most of the jail’s monitoring stations and cell blocks will be disconnected.
Since taking office in July 2008 after his predecessor, Bernie Giusto, resigned under fire for ethics violations, Sheriff Skipper has vowed to crack down on employee misconduct that went unchecked on Giusto’s watch. [See: PLN, Jan. 2008, p.12].
Sgt. Phil Anderchuk, president of the union that represents jail deputies, said that while misuse of the Internet had not been a widespread problem, he did not object to the new restrictions. “We’ve worked for decades without the Internet; it’s not the end of the world,” he stated. “There are times it’s useful, but it’s not necessary.”
Source: The Oregonian
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