WGBH Journal; Blue Rooms, Open Spaces For Children Play, Louis Lyons

Ok speaking for myself I have learned and I've done a lot of work on this issue. It is possible. To install. The kinds of facilities that make it possible to have very disturbed. Which. Basic equipment that we in our society view as necessary to some sense of personal dignity and worth as a human being that it is our obligation to move as rapidly as possible to get his input stored in those rooms. My personal effort will be to make sure that there are no such. Rooms used. In the future in this commonwealth. A report on the use of so-called Blue Room isolation cells in three Massachusetts prisons. A look at the problems of finding open space in which city children can play

a commentary on the news from real life. Three features on today's edition of Welcome. Blue rooms are six by eight prison isolation cells blue tiled and empty with a hole in the floor serving as a toilet in Walt both state prison where there are seven such rooms. This whole occasionally backs up flooding the silo and any inmate. I'm lucky enough to be in there

was still a GE Concord prison has three blue rooms rigid water State Hospital has six. Last October three state legislators following a visit to Walpole asked Governor Dukakis to ban the use of the blue roans. To date however the cells are still in use at all three institutions. Amy sands tries to find out why. It's not that the governor and the corrections department haven't taken steps toward abolishing the blue rooms but that the steps have been taken with such apparent reluctance corrections officials did not even address the issue publicly until late January when instead of announcing the blooms would be either closed or furnished they issued guidelines governing the circumstances under which an inmate could be confined to a blue room. It took a meeting with the governor secretary of Human Services Gerald Stephens and representatives from the attorney general's office before corrections commissioner Hall finally announced that six of the seven blue rooms and Walpole would be furnished with beds toilets and sinks. This still left the question of the seventh

Walpole cell as well as all of the Bridgewater and conquered little rooms. And today while corrections officials have decided to install toilets beds in sinks in all of the blue rooms in both Walpole and Concord they have announced they will continue using one room in each institutions infirmary until renovations are completed. In addition they have made no commitment to either close or renovate the Bridgewater cells. Tom Sellers is deputy corrections commissioner. The intention is to simply convert all the rooms in institutions for image. We have not yet made a determination in terms of what we do. At the admissions unit at the State Hospital in Bridgewater however no decision on that will be made into We've had a chance to confer in detail and the commission has had a chance to meet extensively with the psychiatric staff there who by their very excellent staff from the plains hospital that we have working with us on contract in terms of this special unique need for those types of facilities at Bridgewater State Hospital. That is a unique kind of situation will be dealt with separately.

In the meantime are you planning to use the security ones in the present condition. My intention is to make very limited use of security rooms if we have a suicide case or suicide situation someone who requires that kind of seclusion. Then we would make use of the room in the hospital in the interim and we would do it consistent with the policy that was issued in January which has a great many requirements for reporting and for accountability in the process. Have these security rooms been used since commissioner Hall announced that they would be remodeled. They've been used in the past he was issued at least three times. There's a question about a fourth time around the time that they were used with a used according to the guidelines and industry in the three occasions where seen the full report on they were used according to the guidelines. There was one occasion where there may have been a short term use matter of half an hour or so which is

currently under investigation. That would have been outside the guidelines of the faxes as they have been alleged are the true sellers. The fourth incident mentioned by sellers involves an inmate's allegations that he was confined naked in a blue room on March 3rd for persistently asking for milk. Ultimate responsibility for corrections policy and reform rests of course with Governor Dukakis and prison reform advocates close to the bloom's issue have criticised the governor for not stating categorically that the cells will not be used until they are supplied with sinks beds in toilets in addition there is the question of why the governor has tolerated the corrections departments rather piecemeal institution by institution approach to abolishing looms particularly when the Civil Rights Division of the attorney general's office has called the physical condition of the bloom's unconstitutional. Dolores Mitchell is the Dukakis most closely connected with the blooms issue. She worked with Human Services and corrections officials to develop a timetable issued last week for the installation of BET's

toilets and sinks in the blue rooms. Small matters such as the ordering of equipment and how long it takes to get delivered. The necessity of conforming with the state's bidding process so that you can get contractors to do things under the under the law. The governor neither the governor nor the government has a magic wand. I don't want to be specific about other jurisdictions but there are many other examples for other institutions of government in which. The finding of unconstitutionality is one thing and the implementation of rights. Now. I suppose you could say about my comparison an impatient person and I'm an impatient person and I suppose one of my jobs is to and I use that word advisedly department heads and secretaries and commissioners to get on with the job.

But it takes time. I wish I had a magic wand but I don't. The Loris Michel. It's hard to get an answer to a question like Why are the blue room still around. Certainly much practical progress has been made toward abolishing Bloom's conferences with Bridgewater psychiatrists a timetable for renovation. A clear policy for bidding the use of the rooms for purposes of punishment. But the fact remains that the blooms are still around and in use. And the question remains why. I mean the sense. For children who grow up in large American cities is the problem of finding open space in which to play is very real playgrounds are in short supply and high demand pacts which exist are often poorly maintained. Accessibility of these open spaces is often difficult. So it is really no

wonder that the available spaces which do exist are tempting even when they may be dangerous. Reporter Karen Kasten looked into this problem of places for children to play and has this report. It has not been rare over the past few months to hear of Boston children having fatal or near fatal accidents as a result of playing near railroad tracks or falling off city rooftops. Questions naturally arise as to whether or not these accidents could have been prevented if children in the city had more play options and more open space to play in. Perhaps the greatest recreational need for children is for neighborhood parks in playgrounds that are safe well maintained and open when needed. Boston is like most large cities in that there is a critical shortage of space recreational funds and manpower. Neighborhood facilities are usually under 5 acres and many are no more than one half acre in size. Large open spaces are often miles from the people who need them most. And Transportation has not been designed to take children out to these

areas. The Boston Redevelopment Authority open space study found that 43 percent of all local outdoor recreational facilities have one or more major barriers preventing easy access. Boston has only 5.4 acres of open space per thousand people as compared to the standard of 10 acres recommended by the National Recreation and Park Association and the Urban Land Institute. There is not only a tremendous lack of playgrounds but the facilities that do exist are run down to the extent that they are barely usable. Chief engineer for open space in Boston Frank Clark feels that maintenance of existing facilities is a more pressing problem than the need for new accommodations. Occasionally neighborhood residents make themselves responsible for the upkeep of their

grounds. Eileen Shearer Boston Regional Director of the office for children claims that this kind of enthusiasm is quickly extinguished when children realize that their efforts to keep grounds clean don't seem to make much difference. Mrs. Shearer went on to say that even where parks and playgrounds are well-maintained another problem presents itself when free play activity is stifled because grounds are reserved for more structured activities. Here again the child who is just looking for a safe place to play is not having his needs met. If they're in a place that it's customary for you have to clean it all up before you can even claim they find to do it and no one else seems to be helping to keep it maintained and keep it clean. I think I get discouraged. I think you see groups of children playing in the same way that used to ply. The gun to the extreme of setting up a lot of group

activities in which they themselves limit the number of compliant for instance a baseball team can only have so many players. So what the available space that you do have is set aside for the little I don't know I just don't see children playing the same way I see a lot of the big wheels. Kind of thing skateboards kind of things things that people do individually and children just don't seem to congregate. There are those that believe that even if several of these open space problems and unusable playground problems could be alleviated incidents of destructive play and accidents would still be inevitable. Mr Clark thinks children are challenged by dangerous looking areas and would choose them over playgrounds no matter how attractive the playground might be an abandoned shack is somehow more appealing than a new swing set. Or probably. 18 months ago as I was making a tour about construction jobs I came in through the Jamaica Plain area and very close to one of our play facilities in fact we had

recreation leaders on it were program sports and there was an abandoned three family home and which the kids had taken all the mattresses they probably had about seven mattresses out on the ground underneath the window and they were going up to the stairs to the third floor and then jumping out the window. That's as I mentioned just a few minutes ago that's a play experience that we can't design and you know it's something that's beautiful to the kids it's a thrill it's a challenge. And if we put it in that playground I'm sure we'd have so many kids here that they'd have all of us up on charges for one reason and the magnitude of the problem seems great. Yet youth advocates as well as environmentalist's throughout Boston are actively exploring open spaces and play alternatives and often succeed in providing kids with just the things they need. The city of Chelsea is now completing a major project involving the face lifting of all parks and playgrounds in the area. Of course funding is a major concern. Community Development Officer Kenneth Quist explains how Chelsea obtained money for this and ever so serious.

Only one point eight square miles. Now we have a 25 acres of open space which includes both active and passive. So what we decided we did not have any room to build so we decided to more parks and playgrounds in the city. The former director Patrick scout came up with him using federal money to accomplish just 30 percent money recreation reimburses 50 percent we put up the cost $500000. We put up $500000 that in turn. Comes back and has us back to one of $50000 which we have to go on to do another pack with the same process over and over again. Boston urban wild study is a project that was undertaken to discover existing open spaces throughout Boston. The massive inventory led to the discovery of one hundred forty three natural sites including hilltops salt marshes rock

outcroppings inland wetlands and woodlands. Now the aim of the project is to keep these sites in the public domain and away from the threat of urbanization affirmative. Permanent government protection is needed once designated public conservation land a site cannot be later diverted to other uses except by a two thirds vote of the state legislature. Eugene UBL from the Boston Conservation Commission has been actively involved in the urban wilds project. They used to be people who thought that people that those who live in cities were not only active recreation. And they want mainly to engage the young male in things that will keep him busy and keep him out of trouble. But we're interested in providing a full range of active and passive recreation opportunities and spaces to engage in these for people of all ages whether it's mothers with baby carriages or elementary school kids or older kids or older people. You shouldn't have to go out of the city whether it's New Hampshire or Yellowstone or

wherever. Do enjoy a piece of nature when there are remaining rural remnants in almost every neighborhood in Boston we like to see that these are continued and that those little little and big parcels of natural land still in the condition that it was created in are not developed for other uses. Whether or not new facilities and play alternatives will serve to decrease the incidence of accidents and property destruction does not seem to be the main issue. Rather the point is that children should not be stifled in their play. They need equipment they need attractive play facilities and above all they need room. This is Karen Kasten for GBH Journal. Of thank God. For a look at the various commentary on foreign

affairs. The tragedy in South Lebanon may provide an opportunity for one plus in international affairs. On the face of it the United Nations forces have a chance to reestablish the peacekeeper and rebuild its much neglected status in the world. The Israelis are accepting a rollback from their incursion units arrived to replace them and the Palestinians on their side are reported accepting arrangements to respect a buffer force the UN in recent years has not always been accorded cooperation or respect. It was rebuffed repeatedly. It wasn't convenient for Washington to recognize the role of mediator for the UN. Dean Rusk on the occasion of one brushoff will be remembered the US Secretary of State said the time for mediation was not right. There were many tenders of diplomatic help by the international organization. None of the MC found

acceptable when Egypt and Israel had reached the verge of war 1967. Egypt's Nasser ordered the UN force withdrawn from its buffer patrols and secretary general you tamper with for lack of authority to do anything else. So this land a police line was removed just at its critical need. Since then the rules have been changed on peacekeeping patrols only on a vote of the Security Council can they be removed from their assigned role. They can of course be rendered ineffective by overwhelming force as happened four years ago in Cyprus. The twenty five hundred UN force could not stand against this 30000 man take a shot at me that invaded and drove the Greeks from much of the area. The Congo brought the largest success of U.N. troops in 1960 in the several years following that was not merely peacekeeping a military force of 20000 contributed by a dozen nations fought Katanga rebels and must now raise to preserve the infant independent government

that became Zaire. Those were the years of the Kennedy administration the U.N. action in Central Africa had perhaps the strongest support by Washington that the U.N. had enjoyed since its early years. It's not only in peacekeeping that the U.N. has lost face particularly with Americans. Vivid criticism when he was our U.N. ambassador will be remembered his castigation was an irrational positions on the world political economy and which he felt the U.N. had succumbed to the new majority of small weak nations in Lebanon the U.N. is now launching a lot operation that will require delicate diplomacy as well as resolute leadership. Again as in the Congo support of Washington can be of great importance one is bound to be struck by the instant response of many neutral countries to send units of their own armed services some of them specially trained for special service. President Carter's announced visit to Nigeria at the end of this week extends the kaleidoscopic

range of American diplomacy. His trip forces Nigeria on our attention. Details of the visit will help answer the puzzle many will be asking why Nigeria. It's a country of 90 millions one of the most economically independent largely by reason of great production of oil. It's on our side of Africa just under the bow it's central to the African coast its own riches helps support its position of leadership in Africa. That is among black nations. Its government shares the Carter administration is concerned to see majority rule established in southern Africa if deteriorating relations of Rhodesia or South Africa with the neighbors should lead to military actions. Nigeria is the strongest force south of the Sahara. Its influence among other African states invites Washington's attention it has assisted weaker African neighbors to develop economic projects and unlike others has opened its doors to refugees from the chaos or poverty in some of the lands.

We'll be hearing more about Nigeria and its role as seen through President Carter at the end of the week. Japan has experienced a new form of violence. You know what kind of facts were confidence in the shattering attack on its brand new Tokyo International Airport that was to open this week at two billion nine hundred million dollar construction. The nation is shocked that a band of some 300 radicals invaded a force of 14000 riot police to seize the control tower and destroy much of its essential facilities. This came while the police were controlling demonstrations of six thousand persons protesting against the noise and and air pollution expected of the airport location which is out in the open country. The airport has been the focus of a number of demonstrations during the 12 years of its planning and construction and its run five years behind expected opening. Families protested the taking of cropland inventor and environmentalist have joined protests this week

was designated by the hostile groups as the anti aircraft offensive. The government police but the airports of area and police didn't notice all the trucks that rammed the fence around the control tower and loosed a small red helmeted saboteur occupied the tower and crippled its delicate equipment with pipes and fire. The New York Times correspondent transport official that it's almost hopeless to repair the damage for the scheduled opening of the first commercial flight arrival was scheduled for Sunday. Or Monday the twenty seven seventy eight that's

Monday through Friday at 4:30. Producer and editor for The Journal. Being. Going. On.