Topic: The Club House / Fighting with a inmate?

Just remember that keeping your distance can go along way. More than likely you will not have time to push buttons or make a call if an offender wants to attack you. The offender will usually attack you when you least expect it and you will need to jump into self defense mode to protect yourself. Leave yourself an out when doing rounds and walking among the offenders. When you go into self defense mode remember “closest weapon, closest target”. In other words you use what you can to protect yourself until you can eliminate the threat. Hopefully you will never find yourself in that situation. Be safe and I wish you well with your career in corrections.

Topic: The Club House / Army Medic turned Correctional Officer

I have to agree with Mick. There usually is a structure in the chain of command with staff similar to the military. Wwe as correctional officers definitely are out numbered. Just remember that the offenders are there to serve their punishment given to them by our justice system. All you need to do is make sure the offenders are following institution policies. Have a sense of humor and like Mick mentioned, do not be afraid to ask questions of your co-workers. Even the offenders will help you out if you are unsure of things. Does not mean you take their word on everything, but they can be helpful. Also remember that the offenders base their decision making off of opportunities. It sounds like you are headed to a maximum prison which has the highest rate for prison riots. These offenders know they are in for a long time with nothing else to loose. If they can humor themselves by taking over a unit or holding a guard or two hostage, they will do it if the opportunity presents itself. I am not saying these situations happen all the time, but what I am saying is keep it in the back of your mind of where you are at and be careful with how you move about the institution. With your military back ground I feel you will do just fine in the correctional environment. Be safe and welcome to the world of corrections!

Topic: The Club House / Criminal Rehab Program

R. Recovery – I agree this conversation by others went off track by only discussing the drug issue. The drug factor is a huge part of the puzzle in the rehabilitation process and it would be great if we could find a way to curtail the drug problem. Unfortunately we cannot eliminate the drugs for it will always be around whether it be legal or not. Back to the topic you were trying to discuss. Rehabilitation involves so much more than drugs as you pointed out. The cost of rehabilitation is very high. Depending on who is funding it and how successful it is at preventing recidivism is always going to be a debatable subject. I do agree if we can get the offenders to take responsibility and pay for their own rehabilitation that they should. I do know that there are quite a few offenders sitting in prison right now who have plenty of money. Unfortunately these same offenders are often still trying to buck the system. These particular offenders choose to go to prison instead of paying certain fines just to keep their money. I am baffled by what some of these people do and I will probably never understand this kind of mentality. In my experience, I do believe a combination of mental illness and the economy are the two biggest culprits to criminal behavior. If the mental illness is maintained properly by providing the right amount of medication and continuous observation by health professionals that some of these people will be doing okay in our society. The economy has always been an issue when it comes to crime. If the economy is bad, people are going to find a way to survive and/or keep what they still have regarding their personal belongings and their homes. Big issues like this usually lead to the substance abuse which in turn causes greater issues in their plight to live. This is why I made a point to mention the offenders paying for their rehabilitation. Even though there are many out there with money, most do not have the money to flip the entire bill for their needed treatment and programs. I understand that it should be all about the victims but when we are talking about “criminal rehabilitation”, it is all about the criminal. We need the criminal to change their behavior, not the victim. Should the victim, or what was done to the victim be part of the rehabilitation process? Absolutely!! Hopefully the rehabilitation process helps both the offender and the victim over come the negative effects it has had on their lives.

Topic: The Club House / Criminal Rehab Program

R.Recovery – I just looked at the website www.CriminalRehabilitaion.com and I am impressed with this program. I also liked the idea of putting more of the cost on the offender as opposed to the tax payer. The only issue I see with this is that most offenders do not have the money to go through this program. They are starting from scratch in making a change whether it be a law abiding citizen or a better criminal. Punishment as you mentioned has gone on for years with no sign of preventing recidivism. Something else needs to be done and I think this website you pointed out is on the right track by attempting to help people change their way of thinking to a more positive and productive one. In Minnesota we are going with a TPC (Transitions from Prison to Community) program with a thought process of using more positive reinforcement with the offenders. We need to “change the way we do business”. I am curious as to what roll you play in the criminal rehabilitation program. Are you a part of this program or do you only know about it from the website? If you are in it, I guess I am a little concerned about your interpersonal communication skills. Don’t get me wrong. You bring up some very good points but saying things like “If you took 60 seconds to look at the website and perform a small amount of due diligence before you made such an outrageous comment”, and “lol…..I can’t understand any of that rant at all” is not helping in what is a great discussion topic. I happen to think that Totallackey is making perfect sense. I feel the government definitely has their hands in the drugs coming in and out of our country, and they are also a big part of the problems on the streets. The programs at Criminal rehabilitation are the same programs going on at Hazelden. If you ask me, I would say those at Hazelden are just as much criminals as those in the Criminal Rehabilitation program. The only difference is those at Hazelden are not charged with a crime even though they committed one by taking illegal drugs for instance. Tax payers are still putting their money into these programs through grants and scholarships given both federally and by the state for these kind of programs. There are always loop holes into what, where, and how, the money goes and it has been proven many times that politicians and lawmakers do not make things happen unless there is “kickbacks” like totalackey mentioned.

Topic: The Club House / Yukon

It could not have been said any better Irish Assassin! Unfortunately there is no “real” treatment for this type of problem many of us face. All the studies point to exactly what you explained. They say you need to do something that means something to you, that makes you feel good, such as a hobby or activity (minus the drugs/alcohol) in order to move past the bad feelings that PTSD presents. The same goes for those who are suicidal. In order to help keep someone alive another day is to go out and do something that the suicidal person enjoys. Most importantly, TALK TO SOMEBODY!! Whether it be a hotline, priest, psychologists, or maybe even a good friend, it is best to talk about the issues you have and the feelings you are struggling with.

Topic: The Club House / Yukon

Augustus,

I am from Minnesota. We have several different facilities in MN. Depending on what facility you work at is going to depend on whether the COs are happy or not. I think for the most part we are happy. They pay is okay for what we do and we deal on a daily basis such as the things you mentioned in your post. I liked that Squeeze asked about PTSD. MN started to get a grasp on this subject and are trying some things to help with this issue. Right now they have a class called Fatigue to Fulfillment in Corrections. This class talks about the stress we as COs deal with on a daily basis. What I liked about this class is that it opened our eyes to stress we did not even know we were taking on. We go to work, we do our job with good days and bad days, we go home and we do what we can for our families. What is not shown is how we deal with our stress and many have become statistics of alcohol/substance abuse, divorce, and anger issues. Most military families will tell you that the spouse of the military members have to explain that their children are not troops and should not be treated as such. I heard the same thing from the corrections families except the saying is, “our children are not offenders”. There has also been a rise in suicides of correctional staff. PTSD is an issue that is more common than one would think. I would like to learn more about the corrections in Canada. I hope we can keep in touch!

Topic: The Club House / Women working in Corrections

arzkttn

Hi. I work with the MN DOC. I am also a 24 year veteran with the US armed forces. In my experience, women have always done just as good, if not better, than the men in my working areas regardless of where I work. I currently work in an all male facility. I have seen the inmates play the women officers as if they don’t matter. Once these women put there foot down and address the issue, the inmates soon get that the female officer is no different than the male officers. I have also seen my fair share of male officers being played and really it comes down to you doing what your suppose to as a CO. You do your job, you should do just fine. With the fact you are on this site and asking others about this topic, I feel you will have no problems! Good luck to you and stay safe.