So, You Want to Be a C.O. (Correctional Officer)?
Who is Guarding the Guards?
Some states train and screen the people they hire as guards, but some states will hire just about anyone that is healthy enough to be a guard. I belive this is where the problem of abusive guards come in. Guards that don't understand what thier job duties consist of, and have no training on how to handle situations.
The inmates are there to pay their dues to society for the crime they have committed, and it's know to all that some inmates are actualy innocent, that fact has been proven many times. With the use of DNA, inmates are being released as they are proving their innocence after years behind bars.
What happens when there is an untrained, unskilled guard? Someone who isn't there to protect the inmates, as this job requires, but is there just for a paycheck, or someone who has contempt for the inmates.
I recently came across a blog online. It was a Myspace blog of a young women who is a correctional officer in one of the Texas Units. Texas has the highest inmate population in the United Sates, and also the higest execution rate in the nation. I was shocked at what she was writing in her blog, about her job as a C.O.The blog title is "Welcome To Hell, Has Anyone Seen My Mace? That alone speaks volumns. http://www.myspace.com/phiefay
She started off writing about the uniform she wears, and how her day began, but then goes on to say how she would like to see the inmates in diapers, and and sucking on pacifiers. She wishes that for twenty four hours there would be no rules, no laws, no cameras, and that they (the inmates) would be taken care of during that time, "those who lived through it". She laughs and cusses like a sailor the whole time.
Well, obviously people began to comment about this behavior, and most of the comments were deleted. I think she was tired of deleting the comments and began leaving them there.
Are these the kind of correctional officers we need in our prisons? Or do we want well trained, compassionate people working with the prisoners? These inmates will someday be released into society, and if they are abused, humiliated, and mistreated, they will be full of anger and hatred, and could someday end up living next to you.
Published by Dee
I am a prison activist/advocate writing about prison issues, hoping to make awareness, and bring reform. One out of every thirty-two people in the USA are currently on parole, probation or in prison. I am ow... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a CommentMy ex husband was a CO and he was one of the most depraved, cruel and insensitive people I've ever met. I think that people who go into this profession do it because they're insecure bullies who aren't smart enough to do any other type of job.
I love how some people take the bad actions of one person and generalize a huge problem that does not exist. CO's who don't treat the offenders with respect and do not act accordingly within their departmental policies while the gate is shut lose their jobs pretty quick in that profession. I was a CO for about 3 years, it is a great job and I have so much respect for people in that profession. If that person really did write those words in that blog on her myspace she is an idiot, and obviously has control issues. However, for the most part, the C/O's are constantly the scapegoat for shoddy hiring practices, issues arising from lack of supervision, and know all too well when people who sympathize too much for the offenders spawn unfounded issues that the media loves to exploit, all making the CO's job that much more difficult. People like this guy who wrote this blog either never set foot in a prison, or has no idea what it is like to work at one. What inmate symp
As a C O these guys either want something need something or are asking for something. That lady whom has the blog and says she is a C O should be fired. Yes inmates are criminals but they are also humans. I think about how I could get even with a car theif especially after I had my car stolen, or how I can give that molester an uncomfortable stay in his accomodations, but I dont act on it. Simply because there are 1,000,000 unemployed and I don't antiicate being 1,000,001. We guards walk a fine line and these guys do not rest on creative ways on getting over. There are many whom are over zealous guards while there are others whom just abide by the guide lines do 8 and then go home.
You're OBVIOUSLY somebody related to an inmate and not a crime victim.
I wouldn't want their job. I'd fairly certain that I'd be full of hate being surrounded by criminals everyday. I didn't read the blog you wrote about, but I could tell from what you write that you have some sort of feelings for a criminal and would rather they get massages, ice cream, and pony rides while locked up.