Damn,so thats why she didn’t call…..LOL

Recently, our institution held a staff shakedown unexpectedly one morning. Two medical employees were fired for bringing in cell phones. One had it in her pocket and had a lame excuse about how it didn’t work, and the other had one wrapped in plastic and hidden in her mashed potatoes…. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

On the other hand, our SRT team were issued our cell phones last week, and I have yet to have the urge to use it. Guess it all depends on the person and if they are responsible enough to handle doing their job without having to be on the phone with their “homies” while on the clock. I’ll probably never even use this thing.

Shakey, You are SO RIGHT. The ultimate responsibility lies with the offending officer. While we have had our share of “dirty” officers, I have been blessed to not have had to work personally with them. Our Sheriff, who prior to being elected was our Director of Corrections and is a 25+ police veteran demands high standards of integrity. I am further blessed to have the best officers working directly with me that any supervisor could want.

I understand the contraband drops, transportation concerns etc. I must admit, our policies are more lax, but we are a medium security county prison. Inmates are generally sentenced to one year or less. We are not Pelican Bay or anything close.

Be Safe Brother,

Gary

In respect to you and the officers that walk in the light, good job but it’s the ones who are in the dark that have made the policies the way they are. We have crooked officers/staff, there’s a fact. Inmates who have unmonitored access to the outside world can create a very unsafe inviroment for the rest of us, mainly our transportation officers during trips (Inmates are not informed they are going on a trip at our institution untill after the phones are cut off, so they can’t inform anyone, that they are on the move). They can also monitor the movements of the perimeter vehicles to coordinate drops over the fence, harrassing call, ect.. Plus the fact remains that anything that is brought into a prison can be taken/given to a inmate. As to your comment of “If officers are on the phone too much, IT IS THE SUPERVISORS FAULT. period”. We can’t blame others for the misstakes we ourselves make, in our line of work, we should not have to blame a supervisor for our lack of professionalism. It’s mainly because of these idiot’s, who can’t comprehend the ideal of professionalism, that we are not thought of as being in the same ranks as other law enforment groups.

That was my.02 cents worth….Ok maybe .03 ..?

I understand…and sad. I teach my officers that we have no control over what gets thrown on our badge…On the side that faces the public. What we DO control is the other side. The side that faces us. That side needs to be the shiny side. Yet, there are those who will (figuratively speaking) shine the public side, while the back side is dirty. They are not our Brothers. Wolves in Sheepdog clothing.
It is easy to say “just get rid of them”, however in practice, it is another matter.

Stay Safe Brother,

The problem with us and carrying mobiles is not that officers were using them but some Officers have been arrested for supplying inmates with them and others had theirs stolen by inmates. So the policy now is No mobiles inside the main gate.

I know that I’m coming in late here, but I just joined and am scoping everything out…First, let me say that after going through alot of the threads here I appreciate my department and administration A WHOLE LOT MORE. Ok, to the point of phone calls. When we built our new Pre-Trial in 1990, all the phones could make and take outside calls. Officers started camping out on the phones. A short time later the phones were blocked from accepting incoming calls. a few years ago we had a policy change allowing our officers to carry cell phones with a few rules: Not in a housing dorm…must be on vibrate, etc.

If officers are on the phone too much, IT IS THE SUPERVISORS FAULT. period.

My 7-9 Officers (depending on our count) have the authority to make life and death decisions. They are responsible for the care, custody and control of over 500 inmates. They have OC…Tasers…Radios. They have the authority to put an inmate in the prostraint safety chair. I can trust them with that but in a sarcastic voice here OH NO! HEAVEN FORBID I LET THEM HAVE A CELL PHONE. end. Now, there are those who bring up legitimately, the concern of distraction, but again, address the SPECIFIC INCIDENT, and you will find the supervisor not supervisn’.

Jest my .02

Be Safe.

Hi RetiredCO. The book looks purty good. Have you read it?

Finally a book about PRISON written by a NYS Correction Officer
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/prison/7781061

Personal phone calls are fine until/unless they compromise security.

I have to disagree co350, just look at some of the officers we have now, you can’t get them off the phone at work, think about what they would be like with the use of outside calling privleges. We have a job that requires us to be on watch at all times during shift, I know we have the one who won’t do thier job anyway but lets not give them more toys to play with.and in an emergency or if you know the operater who controls the outside calls, you will be able to call anyway. Oh, and if they trusted us with watching the Inamtes, why do we have all the CCTV’s watching us?? I know,I know, it’s for our safety. and to use against us, if things are not going according to managments plan.

DCI SRT TRT and STAR carry cell phones. And to jon I can give you a clear picture of how to manage the situation. We as officers should be given the same rights as any other employee that can make a outside call at will. Management trust us to watch convicted felons 8-16 hours at a time yet you dont trust us to place phone calls. Grow up.

“I work for the ohio prison system. It’s the same deal here no cell phones unless you are management SRT or Star which are tactical team members.”- walton350

walton, which institution do you work at that SRT has cell phones? I know our STAR/TRT guys have them, but we have yet to receive anything like that for SRT, we are still rockin’ the pagers (which typically do not work).

walton350, could you give us a clear picture of how you would manage things differently when it comes to issues of personal calls received and made by correctional (custody) within a prison?

I work for the ohio prison system. It’s the same deal here no cell phones unless you are management SRT or Star which are tactical team members. Its funny they use their cell phones all day for personal calls yet we cant make any or receive any unless it’s an emergency sent through management. I also find it funny the inmates have access to make phone calls 16 hrs a day. Seems to me like managements priorities are messed up. But then again we feel like the inmate more often than not as an employee here in Ohio.

With us it’s the same with mobiles. But Officers can receive calls anywhere in the prison via the control room and have access payphones in the Officers mess and main hall.

It’s the same here as a state Correctional Officer in Ohio, no cell phones or outside calls unless it’s an emergency and then it has to go thru the Capt’s office before it gets to you.

My wife works for the local county and I’m at a private prison. My supervisor says that I can not get a call from my wife unless it is an “emergency”. You can’t have a cell phone in the prison so how do I know if my wife not getting home is my emergency? She is day shift and I’m swings. Anyone seen this before?