There are some enticed by the pay, but the “career” is often just a holding pattern for federal law enforcement and state department contractors.

The abuses and outright sadistic mental illness you see among them are culturally encouraged not just within the ranks of guards and other staff, but in society as a whole. As a long time Republican voter, I am ashamed to say that it often comes from those posing as “conservatives”, but let me clearly state, those are posers. Sick haters who think that conservatism is a justification for hating the poor. The real test is when they talk about wanting to cut welfare and food stamps, ask them if they would be willing to cut the fat government pension plans. That’s where you start sorting the fakes from the real conservatives.

I have a criminal justice degree and sociology degree and when I started applying at various law enforcement agencies I ended up being shown the door mainly because I had a case in the 1980s where I was found not guilty, but these people have a mentality that once you are targeted by the system, then you deserve to be pursued forever. I was told at one point that I could probably be approved to work at a prison. I checked it out and figured out pretty quick that the whole system of it is evil. Those people have zero, zip, nada moral integrity or credibility. I’ll take that back, maybe (and it’s a long shot) 10% do. It’s that bad.

Years later I ended up being set up and burned by some assholes from the justice department posing as people from the state department asking for some illegal “favors” which I was known to do for some people some of the time. It was bad enough getting busted, but the “prison guard community” was constantly trying to burn me for more time, constantly. I saw them do it to other people to the point that I have to wonder if around half are simply demon possessed freaks looking to collect souls.

All that said, it is not exactly their role in the world to rehabilitate you, but 20+ years on a dope case is injustice. They probably figure they are doing you a favor by not murdering you for publishing this blog. Prisons themselves and higher administration do, however, have a responsibility to society to release people who have been made capable and likely of becoming productive citizens again. For those of us in society, with or without a “past” there is more value in ex-prisoners entering the workforce or productive business community than simply being more likely to get desperate, commit crimes to survive, and then get locked up again at taxpayer expense.

Much of that is not so much the responsibility of the guards who lock and unlock doors, but the prison counselors, probation people and sentencing judges. You only need to look carefully at the resource allocation to see where their real priorities are at. Thousands spent on hardware and manpower for surveillance, very little on job creation or even credit lines to start businesses. Even the federal bonding program for employers who hire ex-cons has been cut back drastically. Of the jobs that they do put ex-offenders in, most are not a sustainable living wage so it puts you back to the “be a criminal again or go broke” mode.

Now, with regard to Lisette’s question, I do not believe that prison guards have much of an interest in correcting prisoners. Their job requires them to preserve security, and I think they do an admirable job at preserving security. They are not nearly as effective at inspiring prisoners to commit to adjustment patterns that will help them succeed.

As the Pew Report shows our country confines 1 in 31 Americans. The numbers are worse for blacks and Hispanic people. The costs of this massive incarceration policy result in lower expenditures on useful social programs like health care and education. We need prison reforms that will result in fewer prisoners reverting to behavior that brings them back to prison after release.

Incentives can encourage more prisoners to pursue productive prison adjustments. Those encouragements can result in more prisoners concluding their terms with values and skills that enhance their chances for success upon release. We can hope prison reforms result in lower prison population levels, and more effective corrections.

Mr. Santos,

In your article entitled “They’re Prison Guards Not Correctional Officers” you indicate that prison guards are not correctional officers, due to the fact that prison guards merely secure the prison rather than “correct” the offender to law-abiding citizens.

My question to you is that do you believe that prison guards are actually correcting the prisoners through disciplinary actions, by that I mean removing every means of freedom.
Also, I understand incentives are created to encourage prisoners to actually want to become better people but if incentives only promote early release for the prisoners then why institute incentives? The real purpose then would be to leave early and not reflect on their real purpose why they got incarcerated. Please let me know how you view that.

I really appreciate your work and your contributions to society. I am currently reading your book and you have me with eyes wide open in shock. It is incredible to read the things you have experienced and the people you have run into.

Thank you,
L.Temblador
CRJU major-CSULB

P.S- You have a wonderful wife; she truly loves you and cares about you.

In your article, “They’re Prison Guards, Not Correctional Officers,” you take the stance that prison guards do little to attempt any type of corrective behavior upon the offender. While I agree with your position, I believe the dangerous institutions requires prison guards to behave in the manner in which you describe. Any type of correctional behavior couldn’t be applied if the facility itself is not secure.

Can correctional treatment be applied in a sub-culture like prison where violence is prone to happen on a day to day basis? It just seems hard for me to comprehend trying to be a correctional officer in a violent institution where the constant threat of violence preempts any type of positive corrective behavior. It would make more sense to act like a prison guard to protect yourself and the facility from the violent surroundings. Therefore, do you believe it is possible for a prison guard to make the leap to a correctional officer when the security of the institution remains the top priority?

M. Browning
CSULB STUDENT – CRIM MAJOR

p.s. I’d like to thank you for taking the time to field all of these questions from students like me. Its hard to get an idea of the prison sub-culture from a textbook, but your book opened my eyes to things I never would have thought occurred in prison. Thanks again!

Michael responded to your questions here:

http://prisonnewsblog.com/2009/03/prison-guards-interfere-with-corrections/

Best wishes,
Carole Santos

Thank you!
Noel

Reading your article, “They’re Prison Guards, Not Correctional Officers” got me thinking. You stated that the guards perfom tasks such as searching for contraband, questioning and investigating prisoners or even searching prisoner’s mail, and that this is part of what makes them prison guards, as an outsider I would think that duties like these are necessary in order to avoid conflict within the jail. If it is tasks like these that are done to promote order that make the guards, prison guards and not correctional officers what kind of duty and policy changes would you enact in order to consider them correctional officers. Also, if the policy changes that you would make are more lenient, how do you think prisoner’s behavior would change? Would their behavior change for the postive or negative?

Thank you!
Katie A.
CSULB Crim Major