Keen and His Teaching Gigs

CPT David Collins, who works for NorCo Corrections, has been suspended (with pay) for making "unfounded allegations" about Corrections Director Dan Keen. He first followed his chain of command, going to a Deputy Warden. He was told that Keen would speak with him, but was ignored. So he went to Human Resources Director Amy Trapp. Her response was to suspend him in an attempt to silence a whistleblower exercising his First Amendment rights.

I'm unable to say whether CPT Collins is right about everything, but know he is acting in good faith. I also know his complaints about Keen's outside employment are very well founded.

Let me share what I know with you. In addition to being the Corrections Director, Keen is also a paid instructor with Penn State's Justice and Safety Institute.(JASI).

In September 2015, he was paid $240 to assist JASI with a service presentation. Since I do not have the date of this presentation, I am unable to say whether he was being paid by the County at the same time.

From January 18-20, 2016, Keen taught a First Line Supervision course in Hudson County, NJ. He was paid $600 by JASI as a stipend, and also claimed $660.88 in expenses. January 18 was MLK Day, a holiday in Northampton County. But January 19th and 20th were regular work days and Keen's time card report shows him at work during days when he was actually in New Jersey. He received $402.88 per day from Northampton County for the 19th and 20th while getting paid $200 per day by JASI to teach a course for corrections officers.

This facially appears to be some form of double dipping.

From May 1-5, 2017, Keen was paid $600 by JASI to teach a leadership and command course in the slate belt. This was just two weeks after Controller Steve Barron issued a report recommending that there be stronger controls over outside travel. Keen decided to take one personal day. The remaining days are reported as regular work days.

On June 12-14, 2017, Keen was paid another $600 by JASI to teach first line supervision. He took one personal day, but his time card report shows him at the courthouse and on duty on those other days. This is the course that Keen insisted his lieutenants attend. He took either four or five of them, even though that left CPT Collins short-handed at the jail. These officers had to go to Penn State for a course that Keen could have taught here. The County spent $1800 just for the course, to say nothing of the travel expenses.

It appears that Keen used the authority of his office to recruit these lieutenants and beef up his class size. He benefited financially. In this situation, the prudent practice would be for Keen to use his stipend to reduce the cost of this class to his lieutenants and continue to receive his county pay. That way, no one could accuse him of packing the course so he could get paid. In fact, this practice is followed in other counties

Can anyone say state Ethics Act?

Amazingly, Collins is the one who has been suspended.

In the interest of fairness, I presented Director Keen with this story and asked him to set me straight about any factual error I may have made. He has declined to respond.

My experience with him is that he has a deep sense of personal integrity, but I am troubled by these gigs.

NorCo Corrections Director Dan Keen Is a Rolling Stone

When Dan Keen was confirmed as Corrections Director in late 2014, he promised he'd be moving to this area. He did move, but to Hazleton. That's 62 miles away from Easton and is hardly what I consider to be this area. Keen already has a two-hour commute every day, but on top of that, appears to be a rolling stone.

A review of Keen's expense reports between 1/1/15 and 3/25/17 reveals that that he's made 16 trips. Most have been overnight stays. He's been to Valley Forge, Mechanicsburg, Lancaster (4 days), Altoona (4 days), Gettysburg (2 days), State College (2 days), Cranberry Twp (4 days), State College (1 day), State College (3 days), Carlisle (2 days), Atlantic City (4 days), Woodloch Springs Resort (4 days), Camden, NJ, Bellefonte (1 day), Gettysburg, and Windham, Maine (3 days). He must have used his county issued credit card, called a P-card, to pay for his hotel stays at Harrah's Resort, Springs Resort, Penn Stater Hotel. I failed to ask for those records. But over a two year time frame, he's been away 39 days.

Keen is a very dedicated NorCo employee. He is careful in his expense reports to avoid charging the county any more for meals than he is permitted. And he always responds to emails or calls, usually within a few hours. But 39 days over two years above and beyond the normal holidays and vacations is bound to breed resentment, and has. I wrote him once before about complaints that he is never at the jail. He said he was surprised at the complaint because he is on the go 24/7.  As much as I appreciate what he does, it is irresponsible and poor management to put a prison director on the road for 39 days over two years.

That is no fault of Keen. That's on Executive John Brown, who should recognize that Director of Corrections is not a wandering hockey goalie.

Keen tells me his travel this year is related to his investigation and research into a new jail. Well, he's not going to be able to house county inmates in Windham, Maine. Besides, a new jail is very far from reality. It will be extremely unpopular politically and require a hefty tax hike.

Blogger's Note: The information contained in this story is based on information contained in a Right--to-Know request filed with Northampton County on  4/6/17.

NorCo Gets $500,000 To Help Inmates Find Jobs

Flanked by Nancy Dischinat on the left, and John brown and Bob Werner on the right,
Corrections Director Dan Keen announces $500,000 Grant For Mini Career Center at jail.
Yes, he is one big dude. 

Over nine million people are released from county jails every year with dim prospects for a job. In some cases, they lack even a basic form of identification. "With no ID, you can't even cash a check," observed Northampton County Corrections Director Dan Keen. Under circumstances like these, it's little wonder that many released inmates soon find themselves back behind bars. The United States Department of Labor is trying to change that statistic. It has invested $10 million into 20 communities throughout 14 states, in an attempt to close the revolving door at county and local jails. Northampton County and the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board will receive $500,000 to help inmates find jobs as they are released. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez calls this series of grants "a commonsense approach that strengthens communities and improves public safety at the same time."

Statewide, Montgomery County and its Workforce Investment Board will also receive a $500,000 grant.

Nancy Dischinat, who is the Executive Director at the Workforce Investment Board, cobbled together the grant application with Keen. "This is so cool!" she exclaimed at a recent news conference announcing the award.. Acknowledging that there are "serious barriers," she nevertheless insisted that "the jobs are going to be there. It's all about jobs. It's all about putting people to work."

The grant will fund a staff of four people from the Workforce Investment Board, inside the jail. establishing individual plans over the next two years. Keen stated inmates can be trained to drive forklifts or receive SafeServe certifications from the restaurant industry. Those programs used to exist at the jail, according to long-time corrections officers.

This program will be available for up to 212 inmates at any one time in a jail with a population of about 689. The goal is to keep released inmates from returning.

According to Keen, each inmate costs the County about $36,000 a year.

Dischinat, who hopes to have a program up and running within the next four to six months, stated there will be a sustainability plan in place to determine whether the program is really working. If it does, Executive John Brown said he would ask Council to support funding the program after the grant expires.

Victor Schmidt, President of the 950-member Lehigh valley Chapter of the Society for Professional Human Resource Management, explained that the grant effectively creates a "mini career center" inside the jail. "We will be helping to find the jobs and support the training," he promised.

The award was also praised by Council member Bob Werner, who called it a positive sign.

The Great Jail Raid: Much Ado About Nothing

Let's say you're a bad guy, someone who smuggles contraband into Northampton County Jail, either as a corrections officer or as a visitor. The last day you'd do this would be on a Wednesday, when jail staffing is at its highest, and everyone is crawling over each other. Yet that's precisely the day that NorCo Corrections Director Dan Keen chose for a surprise shakedown. Over the course of six and a half hours, 79 state corrections officers and 14 K-9 dogs searched every inch of the place. And found nothing. A dog and pony show that afternoon created the false impression that drugs had been found in two cells and a locker, but District Attorney John Morganelli confirmed on Thursday that the massive search had yielded nothing worthy of his attention.

All they found were lots of autographed pictures of me!

Basically, state taxpayers wasted about $40,000 in wages and salaries for a wild goose chase. I'm sure state investigators will come right away the next time Keen cries "Wolf!"

Just so you know, there's no doubt in my mind that there really is a contraband ring inside the jail, as there is in nearly every jail. But instead of letting professionals look into the matter, Executive John Brown listened to Cathy Allen, a Deputy Director of Administration with absolutely no experience or education in corrections or criminal investigation. She conducted her own investigation, developed her own stoolies, persuaded Brown to hire Keen and then arranged with Keen for this sweep, which was doomed to failure from the start.

Keen had assured everyone there would be tons of drugs and cellphones .But he picked the worst day possible in a sign of naivete and inexperience that have become Brown trademarks.

Morganelli, who actually has gone through a few of these, could have told them they are wasting their time and our tax dollars. "It's hard to get into a locked down facility," he explained, noting that word always gets out.

On Thursday, when it became clear that no drugs or criminal contraband had been found, Keen stopped taking questions from The Express Times.

There's a rumor that about eight corrections officers were escorted out of the jail last week, but nothing has been referred to Morganelli for prosecution.

Updated 12:13 am: Morganelli told The Morning Call's Riley Yates that this search was "like the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." Keen has apologized for any "miscommunication" when he asserted that drugs had been found in two cells as well as someone's locker. Jail inmates were apparently strip-searched.