Using experience gained working in High Security of a Maximum Security prison for the State of Texas, all points are right and wrong. Texas has requirements that have to be met on a yearly schedule, but when they tried to make them tougher in order to maintain some sort of physically fit CO's, all the old timers who could not pass the new standards whined and complained. So the more physical standards were thrown out.
The prison I worked at had 3,667 inmates more or less at any given time. The number of CO's was always less than needed and the states prisons were always understaffed. In a good economy it was very hard to find people willing to work in a maximum security prison. We always wondered when a new class came through, what elementary school did they get them from. Kids, just a bunch of kids.
In discussing the issue of men in woman's prisons and woman in a men's prison. I can only relate to women in a men's prison. The ones that stay, want to be there. As with a lot of the male CO's, it's a power thing. They love the power they have over the offenders, and a lot of times this is why some will get assaulted.
As with the female guard mentioned above, that situation should never have happened. But I'm assuming all prisons work as reactive and not proactive. Our's didn't have a clue about being proactive. Something bad would have to happen before they would do anything, and then just to react and never realize how bad they screwed up.
In our little part of the world back in high security, we have a place called MC1, which rolls all the doors in the building, including cell doors. And we had certain people that always were rolling the wrong doors. And supervisors kept putting them there (good old boy mentality at it's finest) even though %90 of CO's told them many times what they were doing. It was on one of those occasions where I was having a little heated discussion with one of my supervisors about it an was told I was just lazy and a complainer. He informed me that I needed to do what I was told, when I was told and I had no choice in the matter. Well, I didn't feel I wanted to just hang around and wait for something bad to happen to me or my coworkers, and I informed him that I do have choices. He asked what I could possibly do, and I told him to kiss my ass and threw down my riot baton, body alarm and ID, and told him 9 years of this BS gives me the choice to take my retirement and go on my way. Which is exactly what I did.
Being understaffed creates most of these problems, including the hiring of small petite females , people who have no business in this environment due to their poor physical stature. I would be afraid to work with the majority of them since I didn't feel they would be of any help if anything kicked off. And of course let's not forget the supervisors wanting all the pretty little things to be on their shift. It's a vicious circle and I knew I would never be able to change it and felt my decision to leave was best for me.
Just my 2 cents worth folks
The prison I worked at had 3,667 inmates more or less at any given time. The number of CO's was always less than needed and the states prisons were always understaffed. In a good economy it was very hard to find people willing to work in a maximum security prison. We always wondered when a new class came through, what elementary school did they get them from. Kids, just a bunch of kids.
In discussing the issue of men in woman's prisons and woman in a men's prison. I can only relate to women in a men's prison. The ones that stay, want to be there. As with a lot of the male CO's, it's a power thing. They love the power they have over the offenders, and a lot of times this is why some will get assaulted.
As with the female guard mentioned above, that situation should never have happened. But I'm assuming all prisons work as reactive and not proactive. Our's didn't have a clue about being proactive. Something bad would have to happen before they would do anything, and then just to react and never realize how bad they screwed up.
In our little part of the world back in high security, we have a place called MC1, which rolls all the doors in the building, including cell doors. And we had certain people that always were rolling the wrong doors. And supervisors kept putting them there (good old boy mentality at it's finest) even though %90 of CO's told them many times what they were doing. It was on one of those occasions where I was having a little heated discussion with one of my supervisors about it an was told I was just lazy and a complainer. He informed me that I needed to do what I was told, when I was told and I had no choice in the matter. Well, I didn't feel I wanted to just hang around and wait for something bad to happen to me or my coworkers, and I informed him that I do have choices. He asked what I could possibly do, and I told him to kiss my ass and threw down my riot baton, body alarm and ID, and told him 9 years of this BS gives me the choice to take my retirement and go on my way. Which is exactly what I did.
Being understaffed creates most of these problems, including the hiring of small petite females , people who have no business in this environment due to their poor physical stature. I would be afraid to work with the majority of them since I didn't feel they would be of any help if anything kicked off. And of course let's not forget the supervisors wanting all the pretty little things to be on their shift. It's a vicious circle and I knew I would never be able to change it and felt my decision to leave was best for me.
Just my 2 cents worth folks
