LIFE AND TIMES OF A CORRECTIONAL OFFICER
By R. Mark Shepard

(Chapter 10)

Getting away from the problems of the different Departments and the Department heads, employees and officers, the whole life as a Correctional officer is focused with being inside that fence, being with Convicts and inmates alike.

The hardest time for a correctional officer is upon entering the prison, and the stress level of an officer goes up as soon as he walks onto the Prison compound, and begins doing time with the inmates 8 hours a day.

You can be one of the nicest people around, but after you spend time with a few hundred inmates, and you ARE in contact with them 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, your nice attitude starts to deteriorate, and believe me, it does not take long. After all, this is REAL LIFE.

This is what happens when you get caught doing something you are really not supposed to be doing in LIFE. It's not as if you get caught stealing money from your mother's purse, or sealing hubcaps, or smoking a joint because someone dared you to: THIS IS IT! Spending your time in a Level 7 prison the rest of your life, never to get out, NEVER! As a Correctional Officer, if you don't think about that once in awhile, you will not get the Picture of how to do your job and do it effectively.

If a Fight breaks out on the prison yard, these inmates may be out to just get even. They will kill each other, and if you are in the way, they could care less if you are wearing a Blue inmate shirt, or a Brown Correctional Officer shirt. On any one day, at any one time, these convicted criminals, [some of whom] have no conscious about what they have done, could come up to any one Correctional Officer and stab you, or beat you to death and not blink twice.

The Superman of an Officer that I had mentioned earlier about slapping the inmate on the yard [Mckenzie], got off easy. The inmate he slapped didn't matter to the other inmates, but the inmates wanted that officer hurt or killed Because he was not a Professional Correctional Officer. AGAIN, He had Zero communication skills.

The inmates who cause problems with themselves, and otherson the prison compound, are trying to survive in the only way that they know how, or were brought up to know, and they will be in prison for the rest of their Natural Life.

Everyone knows about gangs and the racial problems in the prison system, as it is the same on the outside. It's the 'Crips against the Bloods', the Folk nation against the people nation, the 'Blacks against the whites', the 'Latin kings' against all the rest, and the list goes on and on.

If a Correctional officer does not keep up with the multitude of different kinds of gangs and supremacist groups, he will not be doing his job effectively enough to stay alive on the compound for that 8 hours. And if he or she does not think about this, and have some kind of sense about how to handle it, He or SHE, WILL NOT SURVIVE AT ALL.

If you don't think for a minute that the Correctional Officer like myself, who has 20 plus years in Law enforcement, or even the officer who has 2 or 10 years in is not bothered by the Stabbing or the killing of an inmate or a massive fight among inmates, you are profoundly wrong. You need to walk a mile in my shoes, just for one day, and you will have a change of heart, or else you will tell yourself to leave, and probably never come back.

Quick thinking helps in situations, but sometimes things happen so fast that you just React and think later. One day in broad day light, I saw an inmate stabbing another inmate in the chest repeatedly, over and over again right in front of a housing unit.

While running as fast as I could, I saw another officer came out of the housing unit. He ran into one of the cells, and took a mattress off one of the bunks, ran outside and threw it on top of the inmate that was being stabbed. That is quick thinking, and because of the officer's quick thinking, the stabbed inmate actually lived. All of this took place in seconds, whether it was just quick thinking or quick reacting, it did save a life.

When inmates disrespect each other, they get even. Some inmates handle the situation so that you would not even know anything had happened. Other inmates might pay another inmate to do their dirty work for them. This is a situation that usually causes a Disturbance or a Riot on the compound. The stronger of the inmate would step to the inmate that disrespected his friend, just to find out what the problem was all about, to see if his friend had a legitimate complaint.

Of course the verbal argument usually begins. If it's verbal enough to attract the attention of other inmates, it's usually verbal enough to attract the attention of the Correctional Officer. If an officer with good communication skills and common sense steps in between the argument, sometimes he can be a good mediator between the two and help settle the problem. If the inmates respect the officer enough to know that he would not lie to them, then the problem would be solved.

The Key word here is LIE. This is one of the main things that an officer does not want to do to an inmate or Convict is LIE. From day 1, Sgt. Tom and I would tell inmates that we would NEVER lie to them. They might not like to hear what we have to say, but it would be the truth.

That Statement gives you more respect and CONTROL over an inmate than any fib or lie ever will. And if you think an inmate doesn't know whether you are lying to them or not, try it, and see what happens.

When inmates argue amongst themselves, most of the time you cannot do much about it, but handle the situation when it occurs.

CONTACT MARK SHEPARD
markshepard2003@yahoo.com