INTRODUCTION

With time on my hand and not able to do much physical activities due to an open left inguinal hernia operation performed on December 14, 2020, I have been catching up on some light duty things such as updating this website and creating a couple new short stories.

While going through a collection of archived CDs from way back when, I viewed one CD that had pixs of the Brown Creek Correctional Firing Range circa 2003 and other data and decided to create a short story with that information. 

LETS BEGIN

Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to see is true, the names have not been changed to protect the guilty as narrated by Sergeant Joe Friday aka Jack Webb in the radio and TV series Dragnet!  My rendition of the Dragnet introduction!

Brown Creek Correctional Institution (BCCI) came on line sometime in July 1993 which was a medium custody grade male felon grade facility and below is an archived pix taken by yours truly Bill Porter with the retired BCCI Armory Officer William Clayton Escott being the pilot.  I was laterally transferred from the Anson Correctional Center, Polkton, NC to the Brown Creek Correctional Institution also in Polkton, NC sometime in April 1995 if my memory is correct on the date, for being a problem employee as will manifest itself later......grin if you must!  However, as I state later, "It was like putting a rabbit in a briar patch."

I met Bill Escott sometime in 1992 at the Anson Correctional Center where he was hired as the Correctional Armory Officer for the new facility Brown Creek Correctional Institution that was under construction and located on the back side (downhill) of the Anson Correctional Center.  Brown Creek Correctional Institution (BCCI) opened sometime around April of 1993 and housed medium custody grade male felon inmates, whereas The Anson Correctional Center housed male minimum custody grade inmates both misdemeanants and felons. 

Below is an aerial pix taken on 09-01-03 of BCCI and LCI (Lanesboro Correctional Institution) under construction with Bill Escott the pilot and Bill Porter taking pictures.  Red arrow indicates the small building (Master Control, Gatehouse and Armory) that was Bill Escott and my self's normal duty station.   By the few number of employee vehicles in the parking lot to the right, it had to be a Holiday (Labor Day): 

The BCCI Firing Range was located about 1.5 +- miles to the East of the Lanesboro Correctional Institution (LCI) in the above pix and presented a serious safety hazard once the facility came on line due to the closeness of the facility and the BCCI firing range did not meet the minimum safety requirements as specified in the of SAFETY, OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SECTION B-2 for firing ranges.

I found this archived aerial pix on a .doc document I emailed alerting BCCI management that there were serious safety issues and violations with our firing range endangering the health safety and welfare of both staff and inmates at both BCCI and LCI facilities.  A bullet projectile over the low 8' rear berm could easily ricochet off the trees and hillside at less than a forty-five (45) degree angle landing into the confines of the Lanesboro Correctional Institution with enough force to do bodily injury and/or death to staff and inmates.  

The above pix is looking from Lanesboro Correctional Institution toward the firing range.  As is often said, "A picture is worth a thousand words", of which was convincing evidence enough.

CORRECTIONAL ARMORY OFFICER DUTIES

Once the BCCI Armory Officer William Escott retired in 1998, I was assigned the duties as Correctional/Armory Officer, Key and Lock Control Officer, Contraband Control, Firing Range Officer along with other duties as Firearms Instructor, Unarmed Self-Defense Instructor and General Instructor, of which I had current certificates for them.  Management allowed me a year to be under the tutelage of Bill Escott before his retirement and an excellent decision indeed!

There were some serious security issues that led up to this decision, of which I will not elaborate on.

I created a data base format/template for Key and Lock Control and our Firearms Inventory and all associated security equipment inventories using Microsoft Access which streamlined our armory operation and my Access data base format was shared with other Correctional Facilities.

Security equipment, radio equipment, firearms, range supplies, training and duty ammunition, etc., procurement and inventory were a major part of the Armory Officer duties, plus maintenance of said equipment.  Radio equipment unable to be repaired was sent to the DOC Radio Shop in Garner, NC.

MONTHLY FIRING RANGE AUDIT

Sometime before the Lanesboro Correctional Intuition was operational in January 2004, Charles Stewart, NCDOC Chief of Security issued a new protocol where the firing range host facility had to do a Monthly Firing Range Audit, completing the inspection check list, annotating any range discrepancies, get the Superintendent of the host facility to sign said documents and then forward a copy to the Chief of Security Office in Raleigh, NC.  This duty was delegated to yours truly by either the Superintendent or the Assistant Superintendent of Custody since I was designated as the Firing Range Officer.  I went on line and found the NCDPS SOP for firing ranges here which is in .PDF format.

RANGE SAFETY ISSUES ANNOTATED

With that said, I completed the monthly firing range inspection check list annotating the discrepancies and alerted our Superintendent Rick Jackson, Assistant Superintend of Custody Herbert Jackson and Wanda Steele, Administrative Officer of said discrepancies on 09-01-03, whereas nothing was done to the firing range rear berm to address the safety issues as funds was the usual issue aka culprit or hindrance.  Said funds to renovate our firing range were not coming from the BCCI budget and/or area budget as well, which was to my understanding.  Trying to save dollars and look efficient on paper at the expense of jeopardizing personal health safety and welfare is very negligent and poor management in my humble opinion!

DOCUMENTATION SUBMITTED

The word (.doc) document 04-20-2004 is hyperlinked here: and earlier document 09-01-2003 hyperlinked here.

To make a long story short and a recap, I had William Escott fly me over the BCCI firing range on 09-01-03 showing the aerial view of the location and proximity of the firing range to both facilities; e.g., BCCI and LCI.  Since nothing was getting done by management to address and correct the hazards present by the low berm height, on 04-20-04 I took detailed close-up pixs of the trees behind the berm of the firing range showing the damage done to the trees from the .223 caliber rifle bullets and other caliber revolver bullets that went over the low berm aka backstop which is the mainline of defense to stop bullet projectiles.

It should be noted that seven (7) months had passed since I alerted BCCI Management of the firing range safety hazards present being fully documented by emails and the Monthly Firing Range Audit.  Lanesboro Correctional Institution (LCI) came on line January 2004 and our firing range was going to be used by the Division of Probation and Parole employees very soon!

I drafted up my final .doc document on 04-20-04 hyperlinked above detailing the serious safety hazards present along with attached pixs of the bullet damage to the trees behind the berm and emailed said documents to the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent of Custody and Administrative Officer the same day the pixs were taken if my memory is correct.

The above referenced and hyperlinked document of 04-20-04 is what I call, "The straw that broke the camel's back" since I had alerted management of the safety issues with the 09-01-03 email document with nothing getting done to the physical range itself, except rifle and shotgun elevation devices were later manufactured by our local Correctional Enterprise to add to the posts at the 50 yard line while using the rifle and shotgun.

From the time period of 09-01-03 through 04-20-04, I don't believe BCCI management fully comprehended the fact that once the Superintendent and/or Assistant Superintendent of Custody had signed the Monthly Firing Range Audit which annotated the discrepancies (safety hazards present) and said document was forwarded to the Chief of Security Raleigh, NC, there was a transfer of personal liability from Bill Porter to the entire BCCI Administrative Management Staff by being notified of said safety hazards manifested by the Monthly Firing Range Audit and pertinent emails with BCCI Management alerted, their said liabilities could not be abrogated.

As per my email document of 09-01-03 hyperlinked, "I am of the opinion that we should cease all range firing until a complete inspection of our range is conducted and the safety issues resolved/corrected."

Anyone that has been in our military knows how the chain of command works, of which you do not violate and if you do, there are major consequences to face!  The same applied to the NC DOC/DPS. 

FINALLY, THE LIGHT BULB BURNS BRIGHT

The following morning, I was called to the Administrative Building (break room) of which Rick Jackson, Herbert Jackson and Wanda Steele were present holding a copy of the email that I sent the evening before from my home personal computer.  I believe the first words that came out of Superintendent Rick Jackson's mouth or Herb Jackson's was, "Do you realize, you have placed this liability on us?" and my response was, "Mr. Jackson, that was exactly my intention."  This definitely wasn't my first major rodeo ride dealing with management at various levels, whereas management has a tendency to not be aware of something using ignorance as a valid defense against incompetence and for the most part get away with it!  Sounds like our Local, State and Federal Government for sure!

Charles Stewart, Chief of Security for the NCDOC in Raleigh was called and advised of the firing range safety hazards present and the range was immediately closed down.  Charles Stewart came down a day or two later and we went to the firing range, whereas I showed him the safety hazards present and the tree damage done behind the berm.  According to the range specifications, the height of the rear berm was supposed to be 20 feet and our berm height was 8' to 10 feet at the maximum, thereby letting bullet projectiles pass over the berm from rounds fired high and/or ricochet. 

Charles Stewart agreed that the money spent to get the range to meet the requirements would be much cheaper than a law suit for personal injury and/or death to DOC staff and/or inmates!

I did a rough draft of the firing range requirements and gave them to our Maintenance Supervisor Charles Hildreth who sent it through the appropriate channels for open contract bid from Raleigh, NC.  We later got in touch with the personnel who were finally issued the contract to renovate our firing range to the minimum standard requirements being Gary Sikes and Brent Pope.

ARCHIVED RECORDS AND HYPERLINKS

BTW, all of the above information is of archived record, therefore I have no problem with naming names!  If the shoe fits, do as Cinderella, wear it.  Also, "Most of the time, the squeaking wheel gets the grease."

The hyperlinks to NCDPS SOPs within this short story, are available on line to the general public!

I noticed in the Range Construction Pixs several paragraphs and pixs down, there is a pix of yours truly, Bill Porter and a black leather monthly Day Timer Notebook in my right shirt pocket.  I kept decades of daily journal entries during the course of my employment.  Memory might fail, but journal entries last!

ARCHIVED RANGE CONSTRUCTION PIXS

I believe the BCCI firing range was closed for over a year waiting on the final bid and contract allocation.  Once construction was started, it took several months to get the range renovation completed due to bad rainy weather.  In the mean time, we used the DOC approved firing range facilities at other units to conduct firearms training until we were back on line.

Above is a pix of the firing range taken on 07-12-2005 which shows several months of berm damage which is normal due to heavy usage since the renovation.  During heavy rains, water would collect and drain from the rear left berm spur leaving a muddy mess around the three (3) yard firing line.  The installation of an underground French type drainage system cured the problem with ground water routed from the left berm spur to the front of the range at about the 50 yard line terminating into Brown Creek which is to the far right of the range out of view.  Our area maintenance completed that job.

BCCI FIRING RANGE BEFORE RENOVATION

How this "rag/tag" firing range ever got approval in the first place is a good question. 

RANGE CONSTRUCTION PIXS

Click on the below thumbnail pixs for a larger screen view:

I took well over a hundred pixs of the renovation while in progress, but the sampling pixs above should be adequate to see what was required to meet the DOC standard firing range specifications.

I believe the price tag for the range renovation was close to 70K, but that is a small price tag compared to what could be paid out if someone was injured or killed by allowing such safety issues documented to go unchecked and not addressed by total negligence.

DIDN'T GET WATER HEADED

One thing was for certain; Bill Porter was not assuming any personal responsibility and/or liability and definitely brought the issue to full light getting the problem fixed!  Supporting documentation on my behalf, backed my tenacity and temerity 100 percent!  For some reason the word stigma comes to mind.

INSTALLING BOAT WINCH ROPE SYSTEM

On 04-25-2005, I installed a rope tensioning system to hold the target backers.  Policy prohibits any type of system that would allow for a bullet ricochet. 

TEST FIRING

This could be the first rounds fired into the rear berm since the renovation!

Looks like Bill Porter has been eating pretty good......grin if you must!  Pix taken on 04-28-05.

OUTDOOR RANGE CLASSROOM

Above pix taken on 05-11-05 of the outdoor range classroom.  The building had a new roof and sides installed by area maintenance staff. 

FIREARMS INSTRUCTORS

I had our local Correctional Enterprise fabricate the metal storage cabinet for range supplies; e.g., target backers, targets, target clips, staple guns & staples, target pasters, etc., and for usage as a teaching/instructing platform.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As I look back at my thirty three (33) years of employment with the North Carolina Department of Correction which later had a name change to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, it was where God wanted me to be.

I was a thorn in the side to many, but had rather be morally correct at the expense of being politically incorrect!   Being a puppet; e.g., "pull my little strings and I will do anything" is not my cup of tea.  There are other words I could use, but would be considered "coarse communications."

Below is a copy and paste from my biography page which will explain how my employment came about:

NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION EMPLOYMENT - JANUARY 16, 1979 TO MARCH 1, 2012 *RETIRED*

After the recession starting around 1973 to 1975; in 1977 things were very tight money wise and decided to sell the mail order business doing so in 1979.  I did not have enough reserve capital to see me through the lean times and went to work with the N.C. Department of Correction and still employed with them today as a Correctional Armory/Officer, certified armorer for Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Remington Firearms and Facility Key and Lock Control Officer with 33 years of service as of January 2012.  I am looking forward to “retiring” on March 1, 2012 from the NCDOC, the Lord willing of course!  I have an Advanced Corrections Certificate since 1992, have been a Firearms Instructor, Unarmed Self-Defense Instructor and General Instructor off an on for 15 years leaving the instructing now to the younger folks. 

It was definitely God's will for me to work for the North Carolina Department of Correction.  I had applied for jobs and most of the time got an answer that I was over qualified for the job and the doors seemed to be closed for the jobs I was interviewing for. 

Over the decades; 33 years, I witnessed to many individuals about Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior and did see some of the fruition of a few giving their life to Christ!  Most of the prisoners used any means they could to exploit the system for their own personal self-greed, self-gratification and benefit, but there were a few that were God fearing and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  The majority of the inmate population have three main objectives/wants and will do whatever it takes to make it happen:  1)  Drugs,  2)  Sex,  3)  Money, not necessarily in that order!

HOW MY EMPLOYMENT CAME ABOUT

Out of the blue, I got a call from Ralph Coble the Brother-in-Law of a Correctional Sergeant, Richard Ingold (now deceased) who later was advanced to the position of Superintendent of the Anson Correctional Facility in Polkton, NC, whereas Ralph Coble stated they had a job opening for a Correctional Officer.  I called the Anson Correctional Facility and went for an interview, whereas the job opening was being terminated within the next few days due to no one applying for the job.  Back then, DOC and DOT jobs were not advertised as they are today and most of those employees stayed on until their retirement, etc.

To make a long story short, they made a special trip to Fayetteville, NC and hand delivered my application to the South Central Area Office for processing and I was hired within a week, if my memory is correct.  

Visit Porter's Retirement Party page for additional information and a few good laughs as well.

UPS AND DOWNS

I experienced many ups and downs with the NCDOC, filed several grievances on the verge of going to outside OSHA to get resolved that got personal health safety and welfare issues changed, such as getting blood borne pathogen safety equipment and supplies issued to our dormitories State wide beginning in our South Central Area and individuals during the outbreak of the HIV back in the early 1980s; got the two man CPR training changed because of personal health and safety issues present.  I was later told that the DOC initially forked out about 100K dollars for the blood borne pathogen equipment and supplies. 

PREMONITION

Prior to getting transferred to BCCI mentioned below, I had a gut feeling aka 6th sense that something was amiss!  My duties at the Anson Correctional Center were:  Clothing Officer for staff and inmates, Clothes House Officer, Key and Lock Control Officer, Firearms Instructor, Unarmed Self-Defense Instructor, General Instructor, Work Release Funds Accounting and updated our Budget Ledger for a couple years until I trained a new employee, drove early 1st shift work release bus and kept up with all the Administrative issues related to our Standard Operating Procedures.  I created a program template using my personal Brother Word Processor for our SOPs and later used Professional Write on my personal computer at home when the DOC started using personal computers.  I had all our facility SOPs in one large 3 inch thick 3 ring binder notebook.  The Professional Write program was password protected, of which the administrative staff knew the password. 

NOTE:  I was loaned out to the South Piedmont Area Office for a week to get the Division SOPs undated of which they sent a copy to the Geographic Command manager's office in Raleigh, NC.

BTW, The Anson Correctional Center's Standard Operating Procedure for Key and Lock Control was the standard the entire State was to use, whereas Bill Ritchie, Geographic Command Manger in Raleigh, NC sent out a sample of my format for each facility to emulate. 

For some unknown reason, a week or two before the unannounced (certified letter in the mail) transfer to BCCI, I changed the password on each of the SOP documents that was saved on one of our Adm. computers.  The SOPs were created using Professional Write on my home computer over the years which took a good amount of my personal time, therefore I had no issue with changing the password at that time!

Later after the transfer, I got a call from the Administrative secretary at the Anson Correctional Center as she could not access any of the Professional Write SOPs that I created.....image that.....grin if you must!  I don't think anyone was able to hack the password since years later, while a member of the area security facility inspection team, I noticed they used White Out to change some things on the cover sheets of their SOPs such as the responsible person, etc., which had changed over the years.

I got laterally transferred in 1995 via a certified letter from the Area Administrator, from the Anson Correctional Center to probably the worst managed correctional facility in the State of North Carolina at that time (BCCI) for being a problem employee, but the final outcome was like "putting a rabbit in a briar patch."  My pride was hurt which later healed, but our God sees the big picture!  Men rule, but God overrules!  I worked a regular security 1st shift post for two (2) years at BCCI which was like a holiday or vacation for me compared to my former duties annotated above and assigned to the Administrative section under the tutelage of Armory Officer Bill Escott for one year prior to his retirement in 1998.

SOULSBORO

I know it was a relief to the stigma attached to BCCI as being the worst managed Correctional Facility in the State of North Caroline when LCI came on line in January 2004 and within a year or two, LCI which street people and other DOC facility employees nicknamed LCI "Soulsboro" due to the management hired at all levels which had quickly taken the stigma "title" away from BCCI.  LCI was the epitome of Affirmative action at its worst in my humble opinion!  Wikipedia uses the terminology to describe both BCCI and LCI as having a "checkered past" which is grossly understated indeed!

A FEW EXAMPLES AT BCCI

A few examples that helped create and elevate the stigma attached to BCCI:

1)  BCCI got a call from Central Prison that two of their Correctional Officers were involved in an accident while transporting an inmate to CP, whereas BCCI said, "We only sent one Correctional Officer with the inmate."  It was found that the Correctional Officer went to his home and picked up his wife who put a Correctional Officer's uniform on since she had never been to Raleigh, NC and desired to do so. 

2)  An inmate escaped by hiding himself in the rear of a DOP supply tractor trailer behind some cardboard and wood pallets.  BCCI was in the process of clearing the inmate head count when Central Prison called and said they had one of their inmates in custody who was attempting an escape, of which the inmate was unable to break out of the tractor trailer while going back to the supply warehouse.  The DOP truck driver heard a commotion coming from the trailer when he parked the tractor trailer and alerted Central Prison who then took custody of the felon inmate.  Technically, the inmate could not be charged with escape, only unauthorized leave because he was still in the confines of the DOC......grin if you must!  Nevertheless, the inmate did escape from BCCI, whereas Correctional Officers failed to detect him hiding in the tractor trailer.

3)  Jeffrey Manchester escaped from BCCI sometime in June 2004 and the escape was later recreated and aired on America's Most Wanted.  Here is a hyperlink from Wikipedia.

A book could be written cataloguing examples, but will leave it at that.

SCREW UP AND ADVANCE UP

In my humble opinion based on decades of personal observations, both BCCI and LCI were examples of "screw up and advance up" and escalates when new facilities are first opened up with other facilities promoting, highly recommending and transferring such individuals at all levels of leadership to rid themselves of their problem staff along with Affirmative action mandates being enforced.  In my case, "I started at the bottom and continued to go downhill"....grin if you must!   Geographically speaking, that is a true statement:  Anson Correctional Center is uphill from BCCI.

As I state in my short stories home page, "Don't expect to win the Kentucky Derby when you have a jackass entered."  It is easy to make the correlation of the last sentence to BCCI and LCI!

All advancements are definitely not screw ups, but like I said earlier, "If the shoe fits, wear it."

Several of these paragraphs are not in chronological order, but rambling seems to be my MO, modus operandi.

KARMA

Myself and a Correctional Sergeant got jacked up for wearing a Distinguished Guest Ribbon to the Governor's Ball on State property on a weekend during Jim Hunts (Democratic) aka DEMONCRATIC second bid for NC Governor from 1993 to 2001, claiming we were campaigning on State Property for Jim Hunt.  Jim Hunt had already won the Governor's election and the above incident was after the fact, of which no doubt planted the seed to the (Republicans) still in management positions in the Area Office.  The later lateral transfer mentioned above in April 1995 for both of us to BCCI was after the Area Administrative Office and positions were relocated, with some high level demotions and reassignments taking place.  The word karma comes to mind!

As for payback in my humble opinion while still employed at the Anson Correctional Center in the early 1980s, I was sent to many HIV and AIDS training seminars and had to teach blood borne pathogen training in our area after my grievances were resolved......another grin is in order!

A RENEGADE FOR SURE

I guess one word would describe myself as being a renegade; e.g., I will follow established protocol, but will go only so far when something is not morally or safely correct at the expense of being politically incorrect.  I will then, break off the reservation, complete what is necessary and have to be snagged back onto the reservation.....another grin if you must! 

NCDPS STILL A GOOD PLACE TO WORK

With all the ups and downs throughout my 33 year career with just a small sampling mentioned in the above paragraphs, the NCDPS is a good place to work and still has many tough challenges and obstacles to face and overcome.  Inmates over the decades have become more aggressive, belligerent and hostile toward staff having no respect for themselves and others creating a very dangerous work environment to say the least.

Working in a correctional environment is not for everyone, whereas weak and immature Correctional staff and other personnel easily succumb and fall victim to all the con games inmates have developed and a constant challenge to DPS management to get staff properly trained in a limited amount of time with somewhat limited resources, low employee salary base, employee benefits diminished and other factors which have led to staff shortages throughout our State adding to an already dangerous working environment for staff and inmates resulting in staff and inmate deaths!

The lure of bringing in contraband such as money, drugs, cigarettes, cell phones, intoxicants, weapons and other elicit items has continued to escalate over the decades with staff being the primary culprits!

In closing, I met some very talented folks over many years that were dedicated to their job, cared about others, a pleasure to work with and on the flip side of the coin, there were many that had the work psychology and ethics of "Eight, gate and a check" in other words, they were just on the premises to dray a paycheck! 

SHORT STORIES HOME PAGE

Take a look at my short stories home page at the paragraph titled, "Looking back to my last employment" for some additional comments.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

One thing is for certain, "Retirement is the best job that I have ever had.  Only one problem, You never get a day off"....another grin is in order!

I give God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the Praise, Honor and Glory in all things!

Web page created by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 12-21-2020.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please take this moment to accept him by Faith into your Life, whereby Salvation will be attained.   

Ephesians 2:8 - 2:9 8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Open this link about faith in the King James Bible.

IN GOD WE TRUST - GOD BLESS AMERICA - "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE"   JOHN 3:16 KJV