What would prisons be like without a correctional officer? Imagine what life would be in prisons around a bunch of inmates, not having any protection from anyone, being around people who you know have killed, or have done other crimes. A prison officer, also known as a correctional officer, detention officer or penal officer, is a person responsible for the supervision, safety, and security of the prison, jail, or similar form of secure custody. Historically, terms such as jailer, jail guard, prison guard, and turnkey have also been used.
Correctional officers are not just helpful in prisons, but also when transporting inmates from one place to another. The correctional officer is an immense help in the society. Without them, we would not have any security when being in prison, prison officers have been around for a very long time and were designed to keep major offenders off the street after they have been arrested by the police. The offenders are put in a jail and it is the duty of the correctional officer to cater for their safety and welfare while in prison, the correctional facility is a jail with 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.
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They are the first line of defense in prisons, observing, and monitoring the behavior of people in custody, identifying and responding to breaches of security and order. It is the responsibility of the officers to watch the electronic control room (ECR) by making sure that movement and security of staff and prisoners throughout the prison
Block officers are primarily responsible for the security and safety of inmates in the housing areas and are greatly outnumbered by inmates they supervise (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). These officers accomplish this by conducting count checks, maintaining orderly conduct, inspecting property, keeping watchful eye on inmate activity, and searching the inmates (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015).
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.
Newjack is Ted Conover’s personal memoir as a correctional officer in one of New York’s famous maximum security prisons: Sing Sing. The job of a correctional officer consists of long days locking and unlocking cells, moving prisoners to and from various locations while the prisoners beg, aggravate and abuse them. After a short time at the academy and a brief period of on-the-job training, Conover found himself working, often alone and always unarmed, in galleries housing sixty or more inmates. He heard of many stories that happen in prison. Stories include inmates beating inmates and burning their cell house, an inmate who was beaten by correctional officers after striking an officer in the head with a broom handle. Surprisingly, there are even some instances where there are voluntary sexual encounters between female staff and inmates. It is really a welcoming job for the “newjacks” and for the readers. On top of that, supervisors do not mentor or guide new officers and officers on one shift push problems off onto the next. Conover sees and realizes that correctional workers are very flexible characters, neither good nor bad, but must cope with stress and problems in a well-organized manner. As Conover points out, that at Sing Sing is against the possibility of staff getting to know prisoners. It is ridiculous to see that there are problems that prison administrators clearly could have solved but do not, instead, they care more about the inmates and officer’s relationship. In particular, enticements for better supervision and more support for effective staff are clearly needed.
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.
What are prisons for? This is a question that must be asked in order to understand the problems facing prisons. Prisons serve two main functions; separation and rehabilitation. Criminals cannot be allowed to walk around with everyone else without being punished; they must be separated from society. The thought of going to prison helps deter most people from crime. Rehabilitation is the main goal of prison; making a bad person into a good person by the time they are released. These seem like cut and dry functions, but as of late some believe that prisons in the United States have failed in their attempts to separate and rehabilitate.
As a newly promoted Lieutenant in charge of jail operations in the Houston Police Department (HPD), there are several critical issues regarding the jail environment that require immediate attention such as, inadequate conditions of confinement, health care, security measures, and sexual misconduct between correctional officers and inmates. The aforementioned issues are a controversial topic all across the U.S. and it usually attracts media attention and creates negative publicity towards the Department of Corrections. A lieutenant of jail operations is responsible for his or he shift and oversees multiple areas of the jail facility. Responsibilities of a jail lieutenant includes but is not limited to the following: (1) coordinate shift activities;
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”
This would be eliminated as part of a proposed budget-cutting plan, "Executive director of the Texas department of criminal justice, warned that the $294.3 million in cuts requested by state leaders, will likely increase recidivism, cause significant growth in the prison population, negatively impact both supervision in the community and security within our institutions, and more than $50.4 million could disrupt operations"(Livingston). Prison guards losing their job is terrible, the prisons will be more dangerous. This will also cause so many unemployed American citizen 's, and thus making taxpayers pay more money, because they will have to collect unemployment. Without the parole officers the inmates that were originally with them will have the freedom to do whatever they want , because there 's going to be less of them than there is inmates in the parole system. More guards are being put in dangerous positions, because of the laying off of all the other guards. The guars are really out numbered now more than ever, and feel even more unsafe. Its not just the guards that are being laid off, the people that work in the cafeteria are being laid off as well. This is a huge problem, because it will take twice as much longer to get your food. This could cause the inmates to get aggressive with each other, or cause them to try and cut in line, and
The way correction officers are treated in prison is dreadful. “A corrections officer was seriously burned Monday morning in an attack by an inmate at the Green Bay Correctional Institution” (Roberts, 2016). This topic interest me because most of my life my brother has described the working conditions of correction officers in prison. I remember him telling me how one officer had his finger bitten off by an inmate. Correction officers are the guards who work in prison to enforce prisoners, so that inmates do not find themselves constantly in trouble. In addition, the officers ensure inmates’ safety. Despite the fact that the officers want to secure the inmate 's safety, people are unaware of the hardships officers face every day. A great deal of the rigorous challenges guards go through are never mentioned on the news or make it to newspapers. Correction officers are rarely mentioned within society, even though they are a huge part of the law enforcement. There is a
The jobs of correctional officer are some times overlooked. Correctional officers are playing a huge role in society because they need to perform important tasks. A correctional officer’s job is not easy and can become very stressful at times. Correctional officers are required to enforce and keep order, supervise inmates, help counsel offenders, search inmate cells for contraband, and also report on inmate actions. Correctional officers need to contain power over the prisoners in order to enforce the rules of the prison, or else the prison will not function correctly. In the book, Conover says, “The essential relationship inside a prison is the one between a guard and an inmate…the guard, it is thought, wields all the power, but in truth the inmate has power too” (Conover, p. 207). In the book, the importance of power the prisoner’s hold can be seen through the sudden increase of prisoners, the Stanford Prison Experiment and through the contraband they make.
Prisoners have little or no personal privacy. Guards monitor the inmates' movements by video cameras. Communication between prisoners and control booth officers is mostly through the vents. An officer at a control center may be able to monitor cells and corridors and control all doors electronically.
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.
Sometimes even corrupted correction officers help them with smuggling contraband into the prison. There has also been situations where prisoners were planning escape plans with people on the outside. As well as handling business, for example gang and drug related. Nude photos is quite controversial in prison. If an inmate possesses a photo of someone important to him such as a spouse or gf, this can cause an issue if it becomes lost or stolen.
It has a Board of Directors, it includes the Director, the Chief Executive Officer, the Deputy Director, the General Counsel and Review, the Executive Office, and the Program Review Division, then it branches off into the programs within the prison itself. These include the Administration Division, Health Services Division, Correctional Programs Division, Information, Policy, Public Affairs Divisions, Industries, Education, and Vocational Training Divisions, Reentry Services Division, and Human Resource Management Division. The Regional Offices are then listed and the Field Operations. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is run under the closed system model meaning all the resources are running within the prison, they have their own medical staff, correctional officers, education classes, and administration staff and policies. Each of these divisions has major functions such as the Population Management which proactively manages the prisoner population to ensure safe and secure operations. The Public Safety, National Security, and Inmate Programming which provides services and programs to address inmates needs, provides productive use of time activities, and help inmates with reintegration back into society. There is also a counterterrorism division which helps provide public safety and security by focusing on preventing, disrupting and responding to terrorist attacks within the prison (Organization
Prison was designed to house and isolate criminals away from the society in order for our society and the people within it to function without the fears of the outlaws. The purpose of prison is to deter and prevent people from committing a crime using the ideas of incarceration by taking away freedom and liberty from those individuals committed of crimes. Prisons in America are run either by the federal, states or even private contractors. There are many challenges and issues that our correctional system is facing today due to the nature of prisons being the place to house various types of criminals. In this paper, I will address and identify three major issues that I believe our correctional system is facing today using my own ideas along with the researches from three reputable outside academic sources.