It is a rare opportunity to get insight into a world that very few of us know anything about. Fred Greene, of Transylvania county, is a tremendous source of information as he was the warden of Brunswick Correctional Center and later Mecklenburg Correctional Institution in Virginia, retiring after 33 years of service. <BR><BR>
A modest man, he reluctantly talked about his career, doing so only to express his appreciation for those who do such important work in the shadows of society, while getting little recognition for their efforts.
"I was fortunate to have a successful career and I realize that my success was due largely to those who allowed me to lead them, and who performed in such a manner that enabled us to meet our mission of operating a safe, secure and humane prison," Greene stated.
Like many other successful men, Greene's entrance into the world of correctional institutions was influenced by a friend who knew of an opening in that field. As fate would have it, however, Greene's rise to the top was preceded by a series of steps that equipped him to meet challenges in a manner consistent with his beliefs and life philosophies..
Fred Greene was born in Norfolk, Virginia and graduated from high school there. Growing up in a navy town like Norfolk, it would have been natural for him to join the navy after high school; but Fred chose to be an army infantryman. He was in the service for three years and spent 2-1/2 of that time in Germany, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
"I had the good luck for my military service to be sandwiched in between the days of the Berlin crisis and the escalation to the Vietnam War. However, I feel that my service was very instrumental to my development, as I did a lot of growing up in the army,," Greene said.
Montreat-Anderson Junior College in NC was his choice as he attended what was then a two-year college on the GI Bill, running the student union during his third year. He finished the rest of his studies in what is now called Barton College, majoring in Sociology.
Greene started out working for J.C. Penney in retail and was promoted to the Raleigh, NC branch. However, he felt strongly that was not his proper niche in life and wanted to put his Sociology knowledge to work.
While in Raleigh, Greene had a friend whose father worked for a prison unit in the Commonwealth of Virginia; so he applied for a position there and was hired as a Rehabilitative Counselor.
"It was a misnomer; as we were really facilitators for the inmates The job primarily involved first offenders and we helped them adjust to prison life and to manage some of the problems that come with incarceration. We referred them to trade and academic schools, and often represented them when their classifications were established." Greene related..
It was also his first step into another world that he had never known about: criminals and prison life, Greene gained a lot of knowledge as a counselor, which contributed to his later positions in the system as it helped him understand the inmate's position.
After five years of counseling, the Virginia Department of Corrections wanted to start an Ombudsman Program as part of a federal program being put into the prison system. Greene was one of only five or six people that were hired into this new position of regional ombudsman to help institutions design and operate grievance procedures in their prisons.
"It was one of the more rewarding experiences of my career. and it was definitely a challenge. The system allowed inmates to air their grievances and have them resolved within a reasonable amount of time. Working on behalf of both the Regional Director and the departments chief ombudsman, Greene would attempt to mediate differences between inmates and the prison administration and/or investigate and make recommendations to the regional administrator as to how to resolve differences. Sometimes problems would go beyond that point and be decided by courts, so it let Greene cross many lines in the department. He not only learned guidelines and procedures, but he got to know problems inherent in higher administration. Greene felt that this work added greatly to his background and philosophy when he later became a warden.
Then came an opportunity for Greene to be a superintendent with Virginia's road camps. These road gangs of inmates worked with the Department of Transportation to provide various things that needed doing. It was a good opportunity for the superintendent to view inmates in an outside setting under a gun or not, depending on their classification. For the inmates it provided an opportunity to work and earn a little money and enjoy an outdoor setting. Greene was responsible for about 90 inmates and 27 staff and he enjoy the work a lot.
In 1984, six death row inmates at Mecklenburg Correctional Institution escaped. It still stands as the greatest number of death row inmates to escape in the U.S. Although those men were all eventually captured, a political determination was made to change the top team at Mecklenburg. A new administrative team was put in place. The team consisted of four men, An Assistant Warden of Operations, one for Treatment, a Major and a Warden.
So the call came to Greene: "You are going to Mecklenburg tomorrow as Assistant Warden of Treatment." According to Greene, "The Assistant Warden of Treatment was the easier assignment of the four because Mecklenburg had the largest corps of high profile prisoners in Virginia, as well as Death Row. Those inmates were not generally interested in treatment, Greene noted. However, Greene enjoyed and learned much in helping make necessary changes to the prison".
His method of management was communication by listening and responding, a method that his roles of counseling and Ombudsman developed. So, Greene got his baptism by fire in his new role and it wasn't too long before he became Assistant Warden of Operations.
This new position involved the largest number of staff in the facility and meant a lot more responsibility. The experience was invaluable to his growth as a corrections administrator.
Greene was later promoted to Warden at Brunswick Correctional Center and was responsible for about 800 inmates which grew to over 1000 prisoners and 400 staff members. Inmates at the main prison were males, but an institution was built nearby for females and Greene was in charge of both facilities. He remained at that institution for the next nine-plus years and returned to Mecklenburg as Warden where he later retired from in 2003.
"It was like a little city but it had special areas of surprise. There were good days and there were tough days when you would lose your smile. However, I was blessed as no one got seriously injured or died on my watch in the 15 years I was Warden".
"I feel good that we were able to manage some serious situations without any one getting hurt. I attribute that to the excellent training that Virginia gave their officers at the academy and the professionalism of the staff. I had some wonderful people who would take my vision and put it into operation.
"I had an idea of what I wanted and I was totally amazed at how well the staff took to it. Early in my heavier management roles, I learned the value of empowering employees by giving them responsibilities, helping them in their roles, guiding and supporting them as much as I could and allowing them to make decisions at their own level which allowed them to grow. In that way you not only have a much better operation because people are more invested, but they also take pride in their work and they want to succeed. I did everything I could to give them the credit for their achievements".
"My work load lessened greatly as staff began making more decisions. I had less paper crossing my desk and fewer phone calls as to how to handle some issue".
My success was fully attributable to my people who maintained high scores on State and National audits. I never saw anyone shirk their responsibilities during a crisis. When they were in a very dangerous situation, they handled things with great efficiency. . "Some funny things happened, especially early in my career. When I was a superintendent, a friend and I went out to apprehend some escaped prisoners from somebody else's prison. We had been trained in the use of firearms, so we had them on us. We got word that an escapee was in a particular area where there were old farm shacks. We went into old deserted shacks with guns drawn, like Starsky and Hutch, and scrambled over hay stacks in a pole barn in our search. We acted tough and ready to go, of course, but we were actually scared to death.
"When we established there was no one hiding there, we went back to the command post. I took off my firearm and when I looked at it I realized it did not have the first bullet in it because it wasn't loaded. If I had run up against that fellow there was nothing I could have done aside from maybe throw it at him."
"What had happened was that I always would unload my weapon at night when I came home because of my kids; and when I had been called to duty from my house, I just grabbed my weapon and ran. I never made that mistake again!
"Another event happened when I was the Warden, during serious moments when three inmates had taken five other inmates hostage in the recreation yard which they had secured in a way that prevented officers from being able to quickly get to them. They had fashioned serious weapons and it appeared that one of them was going to kill one of the hostages. I instructed two armed officers to take positions in a nearby building and gave them orders that upon my signal, they were to come out and if necessary and without waiting for further orders, shoot to stop the hostage takers and protect the hostages. I should have given more thought to my signal which was that I would take my coat off. When I got to the area, I immediately realized that I would not be able to take my coat off as several of our strike force officers were in the field of fire. It was at least 101 degrees in the shade. I'm sure the inmates thought I was crazy to stand there and talk to them in that heat with a coat on. I could hardly take it off without starting a bunch of fireworks. Tuff moment for me, but when it all works out, you feel all the better for it".
"There is one point that I really want to make and that is that it wasn't surprising to me when the firemen and officers responded during the 9/11 tragedy by running into situations that others would try to get away from. Those who protect our citizens, whether in the military, or cops on the beat, firemen at work, or officers in correctional institutions, take pride in doing what many other people would not be able to handle. All these people go into service with lesser expectations of receiving respect and appreciation for their service, either monetarily or from recognition from the general population. So, I want to commend all these brave folks for their service to our country and to its citizenry," Greene concluded.
