The Tour At Twin Towers Correctional Facility

The tour at Twin Towers Correctional Facility was a great experience. I had the opportunity to experience a brief overview of what inmates with mental illness go through everyday in jail. These inmates are mainly grouped by the severity of the crime they committed, severity of their mental illness, and sexuality. The tour took place in one of the twin towers, which has seven floors and each floor houses different level of inmates. The most severe mentally ill inmates, who have no free time, are housed in the seventh floor. These are the inmates that throw “gases” the most frequently, which are any form of bodily fluids/solids towards the staff. Examples of the typical gases are feces, urine, and blood. As the floors drop, the inmates’ degree of being dangerous to themselves and/or others decreases. Once inmates are put into a certain floor, inmates have the opportunity to go down floors based on their cooperation with personnel and if their mental illness appears to be controlled. Psychiatrists evaluate every inmate upon entering the facility and are able to see his or her progress. Some inmates never make it out of the facility even though they did their time for the crime they committed. These inmates are too mentally ill to be released to the outside world. In addition, inmates wear different color clothes and that lets jailers know how to behave around different inmates. Some are more dangerous than others; therefore, a jailer needs to be more careful with some inmates than others. Also, some inmates do not wear clothes because they are under suicide watch, thus they only wear a blue suicide vest.

To begin with, inmates wear different color clothes based on the severity of crime they committed and the severit...

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...sist either an inmate or a fellow jailer when they need help. Safety is a priority. Psychiatrists are there to diagnose and treat the inmates as best as possible. They are a big part of the facility. Furthermore, there are politics in this jail just like any other jail. Not every unit or floor has politics, but if the floor or unit does, then inmates have to follow it or they will get beat up by the rest of the inmates. Inmates like homosexuals and child molesters get special housing because the system knows that if they are left with the general population of inmates then they will be vulnerable. Last but not least, the cylinder type design of the jail is very convenient to keep a look at all the inmates from the control room. The objective is took be able to have an eye on all inmates all the time; therefore, achieving control and safety over the facility.