My next source that I chose came from the Supervisor’s Manual of Wisconsin. I chose two chapters to talk about because after finding out how Dahmer was killed, I thought it’d be important to know how Colombia’s Correctional Institution polices were before they changed them. I also put these two chapters together because they connect with each other and it would make more sense to do that than to separate them. Chapter 101 talks about the work rules from September 1990 while chapter 403 talks about employee discipline from 1992.

The authors of these documents are the committee of the Department of Corrections. These are reliable become they come from the supervisor’s manual that comes from the state of Wisconsin.  The audience is workers who want to find out what their rules and discipline is for their job along with supervisors who are using these rules to keep their employees in place. The purpose of these documents are to inform and knowledge their readers about the work rules and employee discipline.

Chapter 101 states what is prohibited to do while at work. Some things it brings up are things like language use, unauthorized weapons, alcohol and drug use, stealing, injuring inmates, inappropriate dressing, violating health and safety procedures, moving of materials without permission, not reporting a bribe, not giving complete information when asked, letting inmates enter areas they’re not supposed to be in, and not inspecting packages brought into work areas. Some other procedures that are forbidden are “unauthorized solicitation for any purpose while on duty or on state property” and “ Failure to give proper notice when unable to report for or continue duty as scheduled, tardiness, excessive absenteeism, or abuse of sick leave privileges” (Chapter 101, 2). Now that we know the rules, chapter 403 talks about what happens when rules are disobeyed. Specific rules and steps are to be followed when work rules are disobeyed. There is a disciplinary system which depending on how serious a workers punishment is, they could be counseled, get a verbal warning, get written up, suspension without pay, or get discharged (Chptr 403, 3).  Also when a worker fails to follow rules, there are steps in the disciplinary process. Step 1 is for the manager to investigate right away and gather all facts together (Chptr 403, 4).  There is a list of questions that must be answered but following that the worker who disobeyed the rules has to get an investigatory interview, which is when they get asked questions about what happened. If an Employee wants someone to represent them, it is allowed for them to do such thing (Chptr 403, 5). Interviews must be scheduled and done in private. While getting interviewed, writing down the employee’s response, having a typed up summary, and no tapings are some things that must be remembered (Chptr 403, 7).  Step 2 is to have a pre-disciplinary hearing, which is a meeting with the worker. These hearings are similar to the investigatory interview. After this due process, step 3 is to give the right punishment to their given action.

Finding out what the rules and discipline is helped me gain knowledge on Colombia’s correctional institution regulations.  I trust everything that the sources had to offer because the information was given straight from a supervisor’s manual that they actually used during that time.

This source helped me with my question by giving me the awareness of the institutions rules and employee discipline. I found out what was prohibited and what their consequences would be if they were to break a rule. This supervisor’s manual had a lot of value to me because now that I know the rules before Dahmer’s death, I can go on further into my research and find out what was changed after his incident. All this reading is shaping my thinking because it’s making me find information that isn’t that easy to find and challenging me to do more work, along with having more questions on the employee’s who were in charge of Dahmer and Scarver at the time.

Citation:

Supervisor’s Manual. “State of Wisconsin, Department of Corrections.” Chapter 101.  Print. 2.  Wisconsin. Department of Corrections. Legal Counsel’s subject files, 1979-1999. University of Wisconsin – Madison. Madison, WI.

Supervisor’s Manual. “State of Wisconsin, Department of Corrections.” Chapter 403.  Print. 12. Wisconsin. Department of Corrections. Legal Counsel’s subject files, 1979-1999. University of Wisconsin – Madison. Madison, WI.