Please allow me to remind you that not all Corrections Officers are like this.

I say this from personal experience. I know that SOME allow the 'authority' of their jobs to go to their heads. But let me assure you that some are very caring people who know their main objective is Safety, Security and Welfare of the inmates.

I don't agreee with what some people, the aforementioned Sheriff included, choose to do when it comes to another human being. But, keep in mind that prison isn't a pretty place and CO's aren't the bad guys a lot of people try to make them out to be.

A CO's job is HARD, even though when you visit you don't see them 'working' as one might think they should. But they DO work, and they work HARD!

Think about it, would you like to have to watch the backs of 128 men in a unit ALONE? No wonder some are crabby! LOL!!

Gator...To quote author Dyer, "The way we look at things changes the way they look." I think the blame for prison abuse doesn't fall solely on the CO's but encompasses the complete administrative system and their willingness to correct the abuse as well as protect their employees when abuse occurs. Since it is a closed system, it allows for abuse more so than if it were exposed to the light of day. There is no doubt that CO's have a difficult job, and many inmates try the patience of those in charge, but it is about the power balance. Inmates have no power in a closed system and those in charge have all the power. Employees should not be in the system if they abuse their power. As in any position of authortity care must be taken to be fair and impersonal. That is rarely the case in the prison system. They protect their own.

CET, well said!! You're right on the mark! Hey.....is there some kind of class where I can go to learn how to say it all in as few words as possible, like you did? Your post was great, without being long winded like I always am!

Gator, maybe it is the result of all the writing classes I took in college and all the editing I did on my writing. You are doing fine, the message board is not the Magna Carta. (smile)

I worked in both men and women's prisons for 15 years, (not the same prison) I am a nurse and I worked in the medical depts of 4 prisons, over the 15 year period.
We laughed on a daily basis!! Yes, there is many sad stories in prison, but the medical dept. had a good give/take with the inmates. We shared pictures of their kids, their wife,,as long as we didn't cross the line, we did just fine. Yes, a few did cross the line, not all medical staff, but stuff happens!!

Here is just one tiny story. As inmates come in the medical building for sick call. We had them sit out front and saw them in the order they came in.
On a routine day my friend and nurse steps out in the waiting room and asks, "Anderson, why are you here?" Inmate Anderson had failed to write why he wanted to be seen. -----Inmate Anderson pipes up with "I killed my wife" The whole place went up in laughter!! Inmates and the staff!! Anderson, then said, rather sheepishly, "athletes foot." Stuff like this went on all the time.

With the staff we had, we just had a great time while we were at work. I'm sure the inmates appreciated it also. Medical dept. had a open door policy and whatever the inmate needed (within limits) someone tried to help them. Sometimes they just heard their wife was divorcing them. We then found a counselor to talk with them. Maybe there was some bad heroin in the prison, and some guy was sick. We sent them to see the Dr. or PA and no, we didn't report it. Now, if you really think there are prisons without drugs,,LOL. There was a line you don't cross as far as medical problems of inmates and telling the security staff, also. It just wasn't done unless we thought the inmate might hurt himself or others. Just because a few inmates were sick from bad drugs was no reason to tell security.
Not every prison medical system is going to work this well with Security and Inmates. I know at the time we were blessed with an excellent medical crew that really cared. But, we had a lot of fun.

It's good to hear your side of the story, Colobeth, and you are right. We often only hear the bad side of things from our inmate PPs. Even my own PP, as much as I thought of her, had nothing good to say about the medical staff or the COs. And, I know that there must have been some good ones . . even in Texas.
When you think about it, many of those inmates are DANGEROUS Criminals, so it is easy to understand how many of the COs do have to be on edge. It is unfortunate, but a necessary evil.
Welcome to WAP and thank you for your 2¢.

I have a funny story to share with you that happened with my pp's prison a few months ago. When he called me this one Saturday afternoon, he told me that this one inmate decided he was going to try and escape from the prison a couple of days earlier. What this other inmate did, was to grab his Bible and walk out the gates when the gates were open to allow this delivery truck to leave. The inmate walked along the side of the truck so that the guards couldn't see him leaving. Lo and behold, it turns out that 1 of the guards sees this inmate trying to escape when the inmate wasn't looking. When the inmate was caught with nothing but his Bible in his hands, 1 of the guards asked him why he did it. The inmate's reply was, "The Good Lord told him he has served enough on his sentence and it was time for him to leave that place."

LOL. Yeah. I'll bet they bought that story, tupplady. I just wonder how much extra time he got for his troubles.