The career of a correctional officer has always captivated me in a way that is difficult to explain. Even as a child, I recall tuning into shows such as Lockup and Lockdown. In fact, my earliest, most vivid memories consist of me sitting in front of a TV screen with my eyes mesmerized by the hardened criminals visioned on the screen before me. It may seem peculiar, but I’ve always pictured myself inside the prison walls. What’s even more peculiar is that I’ve seldom visioned myself as a correctional officer; in fact, I’ve almost always visioned myself as a prisoner. Given what’s been said, one may ask me why it is that I aspire to be a correctional officer. And the answer to that question is rather simple. I want to be a correctional officer because I thrive for a rush of euphoria to course through my veins. And being a correctional officer will allow an endless supply of euphoria to course through my veins. And with that said, I don’t need to further explain why such a career is what I long for. Unlike a menial position at your local Walmart, a position at your local prison is admirable and moderately difficult to land, hence one has to be prepared and qualified to take on the duties expected of them if they aspire to land a job as To do so, I will attend the law enforcement program at BOCES, a vocational school connected to the school in which I attend. And post high school, I intend apply to the State University of New York of Canton. While attending SUNY Canton, I’ll earn an AAS in criminal justice. The acceptance rate at SUNY Canton is 87%, thus I won’t have to worry about getting rejected. SUNY Canton’s high acceptance rate, however, is overshadowed with it’s incredibly low graduation rate, which is 32%. Since I’m a relatively competent student, I’ll be able to dodge the bullet on SUNY Canton’s low graduation rate and therefore continue to hop down my road to
Unable to get official permission to interview and write about correctional officers, Ted Conover, author of the book Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, “got in" by applying for a correctional officer position. After training, he and his fellow rookies, known as "newjacks," were randomly assigned to Sing Sing, one of the country's most famous -- and infamous -- prisons. Sing Sing, a maximum-security male prison, was built in 1828 by prisoners themselves, kept at their task by frequent use of the whip. Today, the chaos, the backbiting, the rundown building and equipment, the disrespect and the relentless stress that Conover experienced in his year at Sing Sing show, quite well, how the increase of prisons in the U.S. brutalizes more than just the prisoners. Some of the individuals in Conover's entering "class" of corrections trainees had always wanted to work in law enforcement. Others were ex-military, looking for a civilian job that they thought would reward structure and discipline. But most came looking for a steady job with good benefits. To get it, they were desperate enough to commute hours each way, or even to live apart from their families during the work week. Their job consists of long days locking and unlocking cells, moving prisoners to and from various locations while the prisoners beg, hassle and abuse them. Sometimes, the prisoners' requests are simple, but against the rules: an extra shower, some contraband cigarettes. Other times, they are appropriate, but unbelievably complicated: it can take months to get information about property lost in the transfer from one prison to another. Meanwhile, the orders officers give are ignored. Discipline -- even among the officers themselves -- is non-existent. And with the money and benefits of this "good" job come nightmares and family stress, daily uncertainty about one's job and duties, and pent-up frustration that, every so often, explodes in violence -- instigated by staff as well as by prisoners.
...they want to be not only respected but also being able to survive in the prison environment. In prison, there are so many inmates and not two inmates are the same. The inmates will disrespect the officers by calling them names, giving officers difficult times, but it goes the other way around too. It is disturbing image after learning that sometimes it is the officer’s fault and not just the inmates’ wrongdoings. There will be times when officers and inmates will engage in a conspiracy crime and times when the female staff is engaged in sexual actions with an inmate. Conover wrote this book to allow the audience to see the prison society from many different point-of-views and give future officers an early insight to becoming a correctional officer.
In writing the book Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, Conover undergoes a transformation as a correctional officer in order to expose the problems within our prison systems. The reader learns a lot about what is taking place in prisons right now and what it is like to be a guard, but in sum what one must foremost take into account is that this is not how prisons how they have to be. There are social, political, and economic realities that have constructed this system and in order to dispel them it is more beneficial to understand these factors rather than one man’s experience in a place of power at one prison.
After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would like to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life.
Conover did discuss that it takes four to five years to become a good Correctional Officer. I can see what he means with this. To be able to understand the ...
I had the opportunity to conduct a phone interview with Caleb Justice; a corrections officer from the Federal correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana. Caleb is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, where he served four years on active duty as a machine gunner. During his four years he deployed on a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) as well as to Nowzad and Musa Qala Afghanistan. After serving honorably Caleb decided to take his skill set to the civilian sector and began seeking employment in the Criminal Justice System.
Being a prisoner has more restrictions than one may believe. Prisoners are told when they should participate in daily activities and what they are allowed to say or do on a daily basis. This is not a life anyone is determined to experience during any period of time. However, all though for most prison life is just a depiction in a movie or on television, it is a reality for many. Their crimes and behaviors brought them into a world of being stripped of their freedom. Those who oversee the prisoners must control order within the brick walls. An article discussing the duties of a prison officer, defines it as one who “...has responsibility for the security, supervision, training and rehabilitation of people committed to prison by the courts”
The criminal justice field is made up of many facets. The court system includes many professions which include lawyers, judges, police officers and polygraph examiners. The federal justice system has numerous professions as well. Two highly recognizable organizations in the government criminal justice system are the CIA and the FBI. Two careers of interest worth future investigation are a polygraph examiner and a special agent in the FBI.
who have been arrested and are awaiting trial or who have been sentenced to serve time in jail or prison. The correctional officer’s main focus is to keep the inmate safe and secure, meaning to keeping the inmate safe from hurting themselves and others and also from being injured from other predatory inmates. They have to be consistent in their discipline, if they aren’t they will find themselves really struggling with trying to survive in a day of work. Every day that they walk into work they have to have a positive state of mind and be consistent
Correctional Officers are a very important part of the Justice System because it keeps high profile criminals off the street and locked up even before they are proven innocent or guilty. The Correctional Facility in many ways is a lot like a jail, from what I saw when I toured the new Pre Trial Centre in Port Coquitlam. There are large thick metal doors to lock them in at night. Each cell contains a small bed, a desk and shelf, a sink and a toilet. The one thing I found interesting was at the new Pre Trial Facility in Port Coquitlam each cell had a window, which I thought was a little too much for criminals but I guess they are innocent until proven guilty. As this is a NEW facility and it has some nicer things than the older centres.
The criminal justice system is made up of multiple different moving parts working together to catch, control and rehabilitate criminal offenders. In the prison system there are three different sections that make up the operations, the Security Personnel, Treatment and Program staff, and the Service Staff. (Seiter p.376) First I want to start with one of the most misjudged job which are those of the correctional officers. They are the personnel who are the “staff person in a prison or jail who accomplishes the institution’s mission by maintaining control and order within the prison”. (Seiter p.365) They are housed with hundreds of inmates a day without any weapons to defend themselves and are look to keep compliance of the same offenders that committed violent crimes within the community. The average career correctional officer will spend a minimum of approximately 6 years incarcerated with inmates. (Seiter p.358) Within this time frame correctional officers have to maintain a high level of communicational skills to effectively communicate with their assigned inmates and show they are unbiased to everyone. They need to be vigilant at all times to be ready for any attempts of assaults on their lives which can definitely be a
According to experts and inmates, education is a key to successful reentry into society that most inmates are lacking. Over the past twenty years, the need for education within jails and prisons has risen to an all-time high...
Throughout history, the prison systems have had different ways of handling prisoners. Some of the early prisons believed that the public should observe the prisoner’s punishments. Later on, prisons moved to be a place for hard labor and emphasized being able to correct someone. Due to increase crime, the prison system started focusing on trying to control crime (Esperian 319-20). Currently, the United States’ prison system faces high recidivism rates, overcrowding, and rising budgets. It is a cycle that continues to make very little improvement. There is a missing link that needs to be addressed. This link is imprisonment and the lack of education(Kaiser18). Prisons should provide correctional education to help these people change their lives after they are released. Implementing correctional education in prisons can reduce recidivism, overcrowding, and is a cost-efficient investment.
Crime is everywhere and it takes a special group or team of people to stop it, or make crime less tempting to do. The main job of police and security officers is to maintain justice, order and peace. In order to keep peace police officers must go through an academy that will prepare them for most situations that they will have to face later on in their career. Some situations require a more intense way to solve a problem such as using force or putting the perpetrator in fear so they will give in to what the police are asking. In some cases the peretrator(s) are too volatile or risky for the basic trained police officer, so the swat team must be used. The swat team unit or “special weapons and tactics” is a higher trained police force. It is a select group of officers that have been through more training and more experience than the average cop. Without the police or security civilians may not feel as safe as they do now when they are walking in the streets or going to a public event. For the people who want to be part of such a unit and are willing to put people before themselves will need to know what it takes to be a police officer.
I will list and discuss the problems presented to our correctional workers today as institutional staff respond to the changing attitudes and expectations of the American public.