Topic: Health & Wellness / Correctional Staff and Their Unwillingness to Learn Defensive Tactics.

Female inmates can be just as aggressive as male inmates. Sometimes IPC or verbal judo will work with inmates, other times you have to get in-between them to prevent a fight. Safety of officers is always the first consideration.

Topic: Tech Talk / iPads and Community Corrections

None of the probation or parole officers I know take a tablet device or laptop with them on a visit. They use a notepad or legal paper, then write the reports back in the office.

Topic: Security Central / Contraband Bust

Sad to hear that MTA. Certainly difficult for any parent to accept that. Thank’s for doing what you can in corrections.

Topic: A Broader View / Again pulling a double (big money!)

Double shifts sometimes are done by COs to get a 3-day weekend or special days off. As Campi says the problem is you are so tired after doing the shifts it’s hardly worth the money. That stuff catches up with you after a while.

Topic: A Broader View / Is it really as negative as it sounds?

Good point Campi.

Topic: Letter of The Law / Radio Communication/ Welfare Checks

I agree Campi. The less traffic on the radio certainly is better. Using a phone to communicate is much better aside from the fact that you are not broadcasting information all over the facility on a radio.

Topic: Letter of The Law / Use of Chemical Agents

I do recall when I was in the Philippines at an Air Force warehouse we had a bat hit one of the airmen in the chest while he was riding a bike to get airplane parts. It scared the crap out of him.

Topic: The Club House / The Concerns of Inmates

Oh many times inmates would pull the “I am missing my chicken, I am missing my bread, I didn’t get my apple” complaint. So we got in the habit of checking the trays before we put them in the block to make sure nothing was missing and in case one of the kitchen trustees wasn’t passing extra food or notes to the blocks.

Topic: The Club House / Inmate entitlement!?!?

You can search a cell without trashing it. A CO searching a cell can start with one wall, move to the back wall, toilet, sink, shelving then leave the bunk beds for last. A seasoned officer knows what the facility will allow and what is excess property or contraband. I always removed the sheets and blankets from the mattress just to see if they were hiding something.

Topic: The Club House / The Concerns of Inmates

Despite our attempts to change the way inmates behavior are in the facility there are many that cannot be swayed to accept that they made a mistake, most of them don’t understand what we are telling them and seldom listen because they are talking over us to impress others in the blocks or tiers. It may seem to rub us the wrong way to respond to inmates using the same lingo they use but from my experience being a professional is the best way to treat every inmate. Try not to lose your temper, I know it’s very difficult but try not to take yourself down to their level.

Topic: Letter of The Law / Use of Chemical Agents

We had a bat fly into the third tier one time flying all over the places scaring the crap out of the inmates. He finally landed on a concrete wall, this was now daytime so we told the inmates to relax that the bats sleep in the day, course that didn’t help calm them down at all.

Topic: The Club House / The Concerns of Inmates

Agree totally with the discipline aspect at home for the kids. I recall almost being kicked on my ass by my dad for talking back to my mother one time. Back in those days your punishment at home was physical not mental. As a substitute teacher aide I see students who really need to straighten out their attitude, respect the rights of others and respect the teachers. Discipline in the jail environment has to be firm, fair and consistent regardless of the inmate. Inmates do not run the jail, we do.

Topic: The Club House / Inmate entitlement!?!?

You can write all the tickets you want to and I believe that most supervisors wouldn’t critique you on that because management tends to like officers who enforce the rules (even to excess). I suppose in some ways an officer who writes a ticket on everything is despised by the inmates and other officers might be of the opinion that the officer is feathering their own nest. That scenario of course is in stark contrast to an officer who never writes a ticket unless he or she is forced to do so by a supervisor. Either they don’t want to waste their time writing reports or they are oblivious to violations happening on their shift which is not a good thing at all.

Topic: Security Central / Contraband Bust

Mta like others I have deep sympathy for your loss. It’s bad enough to lose your child in an accident or illness let alone in that manner. Our thoughts are with you.

Topic: A Broader View / Is it really as negative as it sounds?

When you are retired or leave corrections then you are safe from the inquiry of the department so you can say what you want to without worrying about a severe reprimand. Problems exist if you make comments which bring the department into a bad light (especially in the press) because they will come after you administratively with vengeance. Generalized comments on these forms for those employed are fine and we sure encourage all of you to comment and make suggestions.

Topic: A Broader View / Again pulling a double (big money!)

Prolly all this zombie stuff is getting the public interested in watching movies about mass attacks of these mal-aligned people. One thing I do think you have to watch in any jail or facility is the inmate who displays himself in a trance,psychotic state all the time. These goofballs are the ones who snap and attack anyone at will and are the most dangerous to supervise.

Topic: Letter of The Law / Use of Chemical Agents

I had one supervisor who had a standard warning for inmates who screamed, banged on the walls disturbing the tiers.He told them, “shhhhh…you’ll wake up the snakes,.” That usually made them shut up for a while and lie on the bunk.

Topic: The Club House / Back in my .element after four years!

I did transports for a few years with a 41 year veteran Deputy. I really enjoyed getting out of the jail, going to different places all the time, picking up and dropping off inmates. I also did a couple years of outside work detail with 6 inmates where we went to a tire dump to bail used tires in a machine then the bales were used later as a base for new roads. Much less stress and rewarding at the same time.

Topic: The Club House / Inmate entitlement!?!?

Absolutely true. Give any inmate an inch and they take a mile. They have 24 hours a day to think up stupid crap just to screw with the COs. One thing that I believe all facilities need to do is let the seasoned (not rookie) officer run their unit. If you make a mistake then supervisors can discuss that in person with you (absolutely never in front of another officer or inmate). When a supervisor comes onto a floor by request of the officer the supervisor needs to listen to what transpired and support that officer unless of course it is a direct violation of the SOPs, etc.

Topic: The Club House / Glad to to be back

Hi USPbob…I am recovering quite well. Of course as my doctors said who really knows if my career in corrections contributed to heart problems or not because I am adopted so it could be heredity. I am sorry to hear about your fellow officer who shot himself, certainly a cause for concern to those who worked with him. Its not like working in a grocery store or retail outlet or any office, being a CO is demanding to all of us. It’s difficult for one to separate the problems experienced in a jail or prison then go home to loved ones trying not to complain to them about what a crappy day you had.

Topic: Letter of The Law / No lunch breaks?

In NY state a 1/2 hour lunch is required for full time officers. What some of the state officers would do was take their lunch on the unit with them

Topic: Letter of The Law / Use of Chemical Agents

Yes we had problems with inmates crying because it was too cold, too rainy in outside recreation so they wanted to come back early. We told them that they cannot come back early from rec, they need to stay outside and brave the weather. Besides, outside recreation is good for them to get fresh air and out of the cell blocks.

Topic: The Club House / Why???

Should mention to Bridgeport that we had a female CO that must have weighed about 120 pounds and abut 5 ft 2 tall. The inmates were scared to death of her, she ran the floor like a drill Sgt so if they screwed up you could hear her screaming for two floors up. In the female unit all she had to do was tell them “ladies you need to shut up or I’m going to punish everyone” then the women would stay in their cells all day after that.

Topic: The Club House / Glad to to be back

Thanks, I am feeling pretty good despite my leg looking like they took a chainsaw to rip out the veins. Commander you are right that being CO does take its toll. Stay safe.

Topic: The Club House / Inmate entitlement!?!?

Speaking of showers, we had an inmate who killed his dad with a long gun while his dad was mowing the lawn (course my sense of humor being a former CO I thought he should have at least waited for his dad to mow the lawn then shoot him). Anyway, this was a real jerk. We told him several times that it was fine to take a shower but the Judge wanted him in court now. We ended up shutting off the shower water and he took 15 minutes to get ready. The Deputies who took him to court said the Judge was pissed and said, well you made me wait-now you can wait…gave him 6 months in jail for contempt of court not including his trial.